Stepping Stone to Peace

In February 2020, I joined a joint East Asian excavation in Okinawa, Japan, to recover the remains of WWII soldiers—a mission rooted in peace-building through shared historical memory. The project brought together volunteers from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Okinawa to work side by side toward a common goal: confronting the brutality of war while honoring those who had fallen.

Our work was sparked by a single photograph published in Life magazine on May 28, 1945, showing a cluster of graves on Okinawa. Decades later, the question of who established those graves, where they were located, and why they existed launched the excavation effort.

Each day, we dug meters into the earth, uncovering human remains and artifacts that offered rare glimpses into the soldiers’ lives. My role extended beyond the physical work. I documented the process through photography and narrative—capturing the collaboration between people who had once been separated by history, as well as interviews with survivors and historians whose testimonies added depth to the story.

The conditions were far from easy: climbing muddy, sloped mountains, crawling through narrow caves, and enduring heat and dust. But the more I witnessed and recorded, the more I understood the privilege and responsibility of telling these stories.

My involvement didn’t end when I left Okinawa. I continue to contribute remotely by maintaining and expanding the photographic archive, collaborating on content to broaden the project’s reach, and supporting initiatives that connect new volunteers with the cause.

This experience reshaped my understanding of communication: true connection requires a willingness to understand lives we haven’t lived. That lesson continues to shape my approach as a designer—I aim to create work that fosters empathy, strengthens connection, and contributes to a more peaceful, understanding world.