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DKG Practice/Program

Peace Education Project: Emily,

the Blue-eyed Doll Ambassador

By Atsuko Ando, Atsuko Oka, Kanon Sumi, Reiko Sumi, and Mari Kamioka

The Doll Ambassador Movement began in 1927, when relations between the United States and Japan were
on the verge of souring. Sidney Lewis Gulick of the United States conceived the idea of sending blue-eyed
dolls to Japan, where Eiichi Shibusawa spearheaded the movement. Children in both countries gave dolls
to each other to improve relations and friendship. Now, only
one original blue-eyed doll remains—in Kochi prefecture.
The doll’s name is Emily, and she is in Sakihama Elementary
School in Muroto City. But the notion of the Blue-eyed Doll
and her place in promoting peace continues. By sharing
about the movement conducted by Gulick and Shibusawa
and about the cruel history during World War Ⅱ through a
special project, members of Japan State Organization provide
an opportunity for children to think about the tragedy of wars
and the importance of peace. They also hope to raise the issue
of what we must do for peace now.
DKG Japan State Organization (JSO) launched the “Emily, “Emily, the Blue-Eyed Doll” is featured in a
The Blue-eyed Doll Ambassador” Peace Education Project in picture-card story show to promote peace.
2015. This project began with the creation of educational materials from Kamishibai, a picture-card story
show titled “Emily, the Blue-eyed Doll.” Meaning literally “paper theater” in Japanese, Kamishibai is a
form of storytelling that combines illustrated paper cards paired with a scripted performance by a narrator
(Wikipedia). The author, Toyomi Matsui, a nurse, was busy creating picture-story shows of folktales in
her spare time. She happened to hear about “Emily, the Blue-eyed Doll” from a friend and immediately
visited Sakihama Elementary School. There, principal Murakami asked her to create a picture-story
show. Although she originally declined because she thought the task would be
too difficult, she was encouraged by her fellow picture-storytellers’ idea that her
work could be used as a peace education material for schoolteachers and decided
to take on the challenge. When she performed the finished picture-story show at
a competition, it won an award for the best picture-story show. Encouraged to
make the story known to as many people as possible, Matsui printed more copies
of the Kamishibai and donated them to nearby schools. DKG JSO and Atsuko
Ando purchased one copy each for their use. Matsui not only began participating
in DKG JSO’s delivery classes in 2015 but, in July 2017, was also a guest at a
workshop at the Southwest Regional Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she
showed off her green one-piece Emily costume. Toyomi Matsui, author
From 2015-2019, JSO used Matsui’s Kamishibai as the basis for a variety of activities.
1. The authors visited schools in the Kochi Prefecture and presented to students in a wide variety of
grade levels. In their presentations, the Kamishibai was projected on a large screen and performed
by Matsui. Reiko Sumi sang the theme song for this peace education project: “Blue-eyed Doll”
(lyrics by Ujo Noguchi, music by Nagayo Motoori, 1921) is a children’s song written before the
Doll Ambassador Movement. Many DKG members were familiar with this song and sang it as
children.

Collegial Exchange · 37