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TOKYO SHAHEED MINAR
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Tokyo Shaheed Minar, built
at the
Ikebukuro West Exit
Park
About Shaheed Minar
and International
Mother Language Day
There
are six thousand
languages in the
world. However, half
of them will be
extinct within the
next 50 years. Due
to globalization
with some countries
overwhelmingly
dominating the rest
of the world, there
is a growing concern
that 95% of world
languages may not
survive until the
next century.
However, languages
are the most
powerful instruments
for preserving and
developing the
tangible and
intangible heritage
of human
civilization. On
this context,
t he
30th session of the
General Conference
of UNESCO in 1999,
participated and
unanimously agreed
upon by 188
countries, declared
February 21 to be
the
International
Mother Language Day.
February
21 is a very
significant national
day of Bangladesh.
On this day in 1952,
a number of people
lost their lives
at Dhaka city,
trying to protect
their mother
language Bangla,
through a movement
known as the
language movement.
Shaheed Minar is the
monument built first
at Dhaka later on at
many other places , to commemorate
the martyrs of the
language movement in
Bangladesh. After
the 1999 UNESCO
declaration of
February 21 to be
the International
Mother Language Day,
Shaheed Minar became
the International
symbol of love to
mother language.
The Tokyo
Shaheed Minar, bulit
at the
Ikebukuro West
Exit Park, was a
present from the
People's Republic of
Bangladesh to the
City of Toshima, in
the year 2005. It
symbolizes the
cultural exchange
between Toshima and
Bangladesh, which
started with
Boishakhi Mela
(Bangladesh New Year
Festival). This
festival is
organized every year
in mid April, by
Japan Bangladesh
Society (JBS) at
Ikebukuro West Exit
Park, since the
year 2000. The
Tokyo Metropolitan
Art Space is
also located in this
park. Tokyo Shaheed Minar
as depicted above,
has a central part,
which represents
language as the
mother and four
figures around it,
symbolizing children
protecting the
mother
JAPAN BANGLADESH
SOCIETY HAS
UNDERTAKEN A
CAMPAIGN SO THAT THE
INTERNATIONAL MOTHER
LANGUAGE DAY
(FEBRUARY 21) IS
RECOGNIZED AS A
NATIONAL DAY IN
JAPAN AS WELL AS
OTHER COUNTRIES OF
THE WORLD.
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