The 2003 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding

Your Excellency, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great honor for me to have been selected as one of the recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding this year. I wish to express my deep appreciation to the members of the Foundation for giving me this award, and to all of you gathered here today. This award is not only for myself, but for everyone who took part in greening the desert.

I am especially grateful for the interest taken by our friends in the Philippines, and our fellow Asians, in the problem of desertification, and for this great honor bestowed upon my humble self today.

I consider the desert a place that is not suited to human life. This is the reason why people living in the desert suffer from poverty. It has always been my belief that plants and trees are life itself, and that by planting trees in the desert we participate in creating life. By so doing, we provide peoples of the desert with a means to escape poverty, and live a bountiful and meaningful life.

You are aware of our problem in Asia. One-fourth of the earth’s landmass is composed of deserts. I find it significant that people from Japan, a country with no desert, are able to rise up and join forces with the people of the Philippines, to help our desert brothers and sisters all over the world in overcoming poverty. I believe that as Japanese, who have no experience of the desert, this is our fate, our duty, indeed our life.

In receiving this award, I am especially moved by the deep understanding of the people of the Philippines, and their desire to recognize, and help, our endeavors.

I really can not find the words to express my gratitude. My heart is full of gratitude and happiness.

I am now 96 years old, but I am filled with the desire to give my all to make every person in the world a happy person! That perhaps best explains my feelings on accepting this award.

Our world is a world of turmoil, of strife, and of wars. This is the reason why we can not find happiness on earth. In the midst of all this, I find this recognition and assistance from the Philippines an encouragement for us in Japan to continue our efforts to help the peoples of the world in attaining happiness. For this, I am truly grateful.

Thank you to all of you from the bottom of my heart.