Ｔｒａｖｅｌ Ａｌｏｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｌｏｎｇ Ｍａｒｃｈ Ｒｏｕｔｅ

At the invitation of the China-Ja- pan Friendship Association (CJFA)， the delegation for studying the Chinese people’s revolutionary wars(Long March delegation for short) organized by the Japan Iskra Industry Company Ltd. came to China to travel along the route of the Red Army’s Long March in Si- chuan Province to learn the Chinese revolutionary spirit from October 25 to 31， 2007.

The Japan Iskra Industry Company has kept a close cooperative relationship with the CJFA for a long time and set up the Iskra Friends Fund through collecting donations from its staff to help poor areas in China to develop education and public welfare programmes and at the same time to give its staff education in revolutionary tradition. Since 1987， the company has sent a delegation to China every year to travel along a section of the route of the Red Army’s Long March. The first round of this activity ended in 1999 and the second round started in 2000. This delegation was the 8th Long March delegation of the second round.

The delegation’s journey this time started from Chengdu， passed Ya’an City， Luding， Shimian and Mianning Counties and finally reached Xichang City. On the way they visited the site where the Red Army captured the Lu- ding Bridge， the site of Moxi Meeting， the Anshunchang Memorial Hall commemorating the Red Army’s forced crossing of the Dadu River， the site where the Red Army commander and the Yi ethnic chieftain formed alliance and the site of Lizhou Meeting.

Before coming to China， the members of the delegation had studied the history of the Red Army’s Long March in Sichuan and made a full preparation， so all of them had a basic knowledge about this period of history. During the visit， they listened attentively to the introductions given by the guide and asked many questions. Some made videotapes， some took pictures and some took notes. Just as they said， the purpose of the visit was “to bring the Chinese people’s glorious revolutionary tradition back to Japan.”

The delegation visited the Aixin Primary School in Xide County of Liangshan Prefecture. When the members of the delegation saw the pupils have their classes in a crowded dark private house， they donated 4，000 RMB yuan on the spot， hoping to help solve the lighting problem of the classroom.

The members of the delegation said， the significance of traveling along the Long March route was not to learn the revolutionary spirit superficially， but to apply the conviction， spirit， strategy and tactics of the Chinese revolution to their future work and lives. They would sum up what they had learnt， experienced and realized during the ten-day visit and imparted them to their colleagues in the company so as to enhance the teamwork spirit.

Kozo Ito， head of the delegation， told us， the Japanese enterprises lack a driving force to make further progress after developing to a certain stage. In order to enhance the vitality and cohesion of the enterprise， the leadership of the Iskra Industry Company Ltd. launched the activity of “traveling along the Long March route to learn the Chinese revolutionary spirit” in 1987. The past 20-year practice has proved that this decision is correct. The Japanese people need to learn not only advanced science and technology， but also successful experience from history， he added.