SEEKING INNER PEACE, COMPASSION, WISDOM
The Start of Our Asian Journey
Summer, 1970
Johanna and Deane Shapiro
The attached is a 10 minute movie snippet that we originally made in 1970 at the start of our trip to Japan.
We took video and audio of three different activities: Japanese protests against the Vietnam war, and against the US/Japanese security treaty (and US bases in Okinawa) ANPO—a seeking of “outer “peace. We also filmed some images of the Buddha at Kamakura and of rail commuters. We were trying to figure out how or if we could “fit” into society without getting depersonalized and squashed!
In 2023 we decided to edit this ancient footage as coherently and creatively as we could. It was an interesting effort. And the themes of how to fit into society, how to find inner peace, how to stand up for social justice are timeless and universal ones that we continue to wrestle with.
The vision – inner and outer peace—remains; (as does the love).
“It’s great to see the color images of the protests,… your film gives a sense of your overall perspective quite well. The care with which you helped non-Japanese speakers make sense of the banners and helmets is very much appreciated . We could all do with a bit more peace in the world to be sure.”
William Morotti , Ph.D Associate Professor of History, UCLA;Author, Money, Trains and Guillotines: Art and Revolution in 1960s Japan (Duke University Press, 2013)
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