Peaceboat

Founded in 1983 by two Japanese students named Kiyomi Tsujimoto and Yoshioka Tatsuya, the Peaceboat Organisation was an answer to controversies in Japanese history schoolbooks, mostly concerning Japan's militairy agression in the Asia-Pacific region. Together with a broader group of students from the Waseda University, they organized their first sailing so they were able to visit other countries and learn their stories about the history of the wars in the region, instead of being solely doctrinated by the official Japanese statements.

The first voyage was undertaken at the 1961-built Nippon Maru, then sailing for Mitsui OSK Lines. It was only one voyage per year sailing just within the Asia-Pacific region, something the organisation kept doing each year in the first six years of their operations. In 1990, the organisation changed tactics and started their first world circumnavigational voyage. The ship chartered for that voyage was the Oceanos, owned by the Greek Epirotiki Lines. It was their tenth voyage and it also took them to the Red Sea, where just at that moment the Gulf War had started. This also helped the organisation to get a more international focus, shifting from the purely Japanese internal matters into Global awareness for peace, human rights and sustainability. 

Nowadays, the company sails three Global Voyages and two East Asia regional voyages each year. The Global Voyages visit around 20 countries and carry some 1000 participants Remember that these are not 'cruises' and the voyages are really still meant to bring awareness and learning for the above stated global goals. In 2006, the organisation established a US branch in New York in collaboration with the Hague Appeal for Peace and in 2008, the organisation was been nominated for the Nobel Prize. 

In 2021, both ships then operational for Peaceboat were the former Celebrity Cruises and Pullmantur Cruises ship The Zenith (built 1992) and the former Carnival Cruise Lines ship Tropicale (built 1981). To replace those, Peaceboat aquired the former Princess Cruises ship Sun Princess (built 1995), renaming her Pacific World.

Ecoship

The Peaceboat Organisation is also highly involved in the innovative design for a new kind of passengership dubbed the Ecoship. In april of 2014, the Organisation together with the Basque-based Oliver Design gathered experts on naval architecture, renewable energy, energy efficiency, maritime law, biomimicry and biophilia on Hamburg, Germany to discuss about the design of the most green and sustainable passengership ever created. As a sidenote, Oliver Design was also involved in the design of the most environmentally friendly short-haul ferry in Europe, the 2016-built Texelstroom of TESO in The Netherlands. A link with more information about the Ecoship project can be found here. 

Underneath this page, the page of The Oceanic is placed, a ship used by the Peaceboat Organisation between 2009 and 2011. Other ships used by the organisation that are also on the site are linked below.

Clipper Pacific (2008) is placed under Royal Caribbean as Sundream

Mona Lisa (2008-2009) is placed under Princess Cruises

Olvia (2009) is placed under Black Sea Shipping Company

The Zenith (2020) is placed under Celebrity Cruises

More information about the Peaceboat Organisation can be found here.