With the urgent need to nurture the next generation of ocean leaders who can realize sustainable use of the ocean by 2030, the Ocean Policy Research Institute (OPRI) of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation has set a goal of supporting 100 young people over five years starting in 2022.
 
　OPRI invited 20 youths from 12 countries to participate in an ocean education program on the tall ship "MIRAIE". The MIRAIE departed from Yokohama Port and sailed to Koror Port in Palau on March 10, as a companion ship for the Japan-Palau Friendship Yacht Race 2024. During the two-week voyage, the youths discussed issues facing the oceans in parallel with hands-on training in the art of sailing navigation.
 
   OPRI defined the three key competencies of ocean leaders: 1. the ability to identify, share, and build consensus on ocean issues; 2. interest in the ocean; and 3. ocean literacy (basic knowledge), and conducted various educational programs during the voyage. The program included a classroom lecture on ocean literacy by an ocean education instructor invited from Alaska, analysis of ocean observation data, and observation of microplastics collected with a plankton net to learn about the ocean surrounding them.

   In addition to learning about the sea, the young people also engaged in many shipboard communal life and teamwork activities, such as deck and ship cleaning, sailing operations, and weather observation for each watch, in order to improve their communication skills with people of different nationalities and ages as the next generation of ocean leaders.

   Finally, the youths also gave a presentation on the theme " Solving Ocean Problems (microplastics, energy, food waste, etc.) with MIRAIE," based on the knowledge they acquired while on board.

   Many participants from Japanese and Palauan government agencies attended the disembarkation ceremony, held on the 25th after arrival in Palau. From Palau, Mr. Steven Victor (Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment), Mr. Thomas Esang Remengesau, Jr (former President of Palau), Mr. Gustav Aitaro (Minister of State), and Mr. Sam Scott (President of the Palau Sailing Association) attended the closing ceremony. From Japan, Mr. Hiroaki Orikasa (Ambassador of Japan to Palau), Dr. Hide Sakaguchi (President of the Ocean Policy Research Institute, Sasakawa Peace Foundation), and Mr. Hajime Nitta (President of the Japan Palau Youth Sailing Club (JPYSC)) participated in the event. They offered words of encouragement to the participating youth.

  Ms. Sakura Kimura, Ms. Sachi Sato, and, and Mr. Yaman Çakaroğlu, representatives of the youth, gave speeches expressing their gratitude to all involved for the various experiences they had during the voyage, including mast climbing, data analysis of sea water samples, and lectures.

   On the last day, an exchange of opinions was held between the young people and President Sakaguchi. The youths expressed their gratitude to Dr. Sakaguchi and told him that they had made a new "family" of different ages and nationalities on this trip, and that they would hold a reunion in a few years.

  There were four major achievements during the voyage as follows.
 
(1) Capacity building of youths as ocean leaders
   In order to quantitatively evaluate this program, OPRI conducted pre- and post-boarding surveys. The results showed statistically significant increases in all three abilities (1. Ability to identify, share, and build consensus on ocean issues, 2. Interest in the ocean, and 3. Ocean literacy (basic knowledge)) after boarding the ship. A later report will explain about the results of this analysis.

(2) External media dissemination
   Mr. Yaman Çakaroğlu received numerous interviews from the Turkish media about the voyage, along with his own observations of weather data while aboard the ship (1-27). The crew of MIRAIE also posted daily on X (28). The Embassy of Japan in Palau also posted the disembarkation ceremony on its website (29). The Palau media also covered the disembarkation ceremony (30).

(3) Academic Achievements
  Mr. Sanetoki Matsuno and Mr. Miraz Hossain Chowdhury, gave a poster presentation at the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) Program, an international science education program, using the ocean data they observed during the voyage (31).

(4) New "family”
  While the youths are of different ages and nationalities, they now have a new "family" after the two weeks together spent together on board ship.
 
We hope that they will make waves in the world as new ocean leaders in the future.