To Not Lose Hope: "Focus on What You Can Control"

Ms. Shoko Arakaki (left) speaking with a woman at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Sudan – April 2024, courtesy of UNFPA

For girls who live in a world where sexual violence is a part of daily life, the concept that “rape is wrong” is not even known.
With the withdrawal of USAID support, this is the current reality faced by women in conflict zones.
HuffPost WORLD | April 19, 2025, 8:30 AM JST

"In life, many things happen that are beyond our control. But if we focus only on those things, we end up feeling hopeless.
Instead, by concentrating on what we can do and what we can change, even a small sense of hope can emerge.
No matter the hardships or challenges, I always try to remind myself that it’s not all bad."
— Shoko Arakaki, Director, Humanitarian Office, UNFPA

This is the reality unfolding on the other side of the globe when viewed from the Japanese archipelago.
For us in Japan, living peaceful everyday lives, it may be difficult to believe. But regardless of whether each individual chooses to take action or not, it is important that we first know these facts.
Let us be proud that there are Japanese women who, even when faced with such overwhelming despair, are still able to find what they can do—and act upon it.
And let us quietly be grateful for them.

Because the very fact that there are Japanese individuals who face adversity without faltering makes it possible, even if only slightly, for Japan to hold an “honorable place in the international community striving for the preservation of peace and the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance from the earth,” as stated in the Preamble of the Constitution of Japan.
Respect from others—nations or individuals—is not determined by wealth or power. That is a fundamental and self-evident truth of human society.