Rumiko Seya Receives Yomiuri Prize for Peacebuilding Efforts

The Japan News

18:57 JST, December 2, 2025

Rumiko Seya, president of the nonprofit organization Reach Alternatives (REALs), received the 32nd Yomiuri International Cooperation Prize and a ¥5 million award at a ceremony at Tokyo Kaikan in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Seya, 48, was honored for her peacebuilding efforts to prevent the recurrence of conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and other regions for more than 20 years.

“Peace is not like a sprint race where reaching the finish line guarantees a lasting state,” she said during her speech at the ceremony. “Rather, it is like continuously running a long-distance race with repeated ups and downs.”

Seya also shared her belief that “conflict zones and Japan share common challenges and solutions,” arguing that supporting conflict resolution and peacebuilding in other countries also benefits Japanese society.

She expressed gratitude to the REALs staff and to companies that support her work saying: “Each of us, as bearers of peace and peacemakers, saves as many lives as possible and brings peace to as many regions as possible. I feel that by connecting these thoughts, a path is being forged.” Seya also thanked her family, especially her mother, who supported her activities.

She expressed her sympathies for those living side by side with war. Her work includes preventing conflicts and nurturing women as peacemakers in Somalia, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere. Seya has worked on the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of soldiers in such places as West Africa.