East Meets West

It’s been 79 years since the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise military strike against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Multiple U.S. battleships and vessels were destroyed, and more than 2,400 Americans lost their lives. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed it “a date which will live in infamy”—thrusting the U.S. into World War II the next day.

At the time, Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) co-founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon was enrolled in Waseda Koutou Kougakko, a technical engineering school affiliated with Waseda University in Japan, while active in the Korean student underground independence movement. The Pearl Harbor attack came on the heels of a decade-long tension between Japan and the U.S. due to Japanese expansion in Korea, China, and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region. 

Though the war continued another four years, the defeat of Japan and independence of Korea in 1945 gave rise to Rev. Moon’s public ministry. 

Years later, Rev. Moon spoke of Hawaii’s importance, where Eastern and Western civilization meet as the central point in God’s ocean providence. He also spoke of reconciling the people of Hawaii, whose cultural background is a melting pot.

Below is an excerpt from Rev. Moon’s 1992 speech explaining why Hawaii is the center of the ocean providence:

“I have purchased land [in Hawaii] in order to build a heavenly village. I have built houses and transported boats to the islands…. It doesn’t rain much there during the four seasons in a year. That is why, as a fishing locale, there is no better place in the world than Hawaii. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter all exist in harmony in one valley…

I am carrying out a movement to have our American members settle in the islands of Hawaii… In line with this, we can create a framework for educating the people… The place where Jesus came as the Messiah was also Asia. He is in a position to recover his body that was lost for the sake of a unified Asian sphere, and to unify Asia by means of the Christian civilization, not just as a realm of spiritual victory, but as a new material sphere of influence. 

When this Western civilization comes to Asia, it must do so based on a mixed and harmonious civilization located midway in the Pacific Ocean. That is why the era of the Pacific civilization is drawing near. Western civilization will be merged into one, with the Pacific civilization as its center. What becomes a problem here is Hawaii. As you all know, American history established a nation while migrating from the east to the west and gave rise to the birth of civilization. In that way it solidified the leading base for influencing the Pacific sphere centering on Hawaii. 

In Hawaii, the people from the mainland are in a minority. The majority consists of people of other races. That is why there are many cases where people who went to Hawaii do not stay for a long time, but soon return to the mainland. They have disputes with each other, and, because of such behavior, they don’t remain long. That is why I went there and built up my base in Hawaii in order to reconcile such people…

Hawaii has become a domain where there is exchange between Western civilization and Eastern civilization… Centering on the land of Hawaii, I am now working on creating a global sphere of influence.” —Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon

Let us unite as we observe the 79th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack—an historic turning point that led to liberation in the Pacific sphere after WWII. 

You can read more of Rev. Moon’s words about Hawaii here. And pledge to be part of our peace movement by registering here for the upcoming Rally of Hope happening December 21 at 6:00 p.m. EST.

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