Dom Pates - Founding Director, Peace Not War Japan
Dom Pates is the Founder and Director of PNWJ. He moved to Tokyo in 2003 and began the project in 2004. Initially, it was to help the UK Peace Not War group with a Japanese CD release. However, demand soon led it to become a dedicated Japanese project in its own right and PNWJ has grown considerably since then.
He ran a musicians support service called Sounds Phenomenal (now mainly web-based), which began in 1996. Joining as a volunteer in 2000 to help with organizing a Music Industry Conference, he took over the running of the project. This gave him much experience in project and event management, and running volunteer-staffed music ventures.
He is a musician himself, from Brighton in the UK. In 1987 he formed his first band and has been making music since then. His last British venture, The Zamora, had a flourish of success in 2001 where they appeared across the UK press, on both national and local radio, and had a primetime slot on BBC TV. He has just released his first album of electronic music, recording as Control K, and sometimes performs around Tokyo with other local musicians.
Dom first became involved with the peace movement from a young age. The build-up to the 2003 Iraq War and the historic demonstrations in London against it revived that involvement. It led to a determination to try and play a part towards halting the global slide into unending conflict and to add his voice to those across the world calling for an end to war.
In his spare time, he enjoys travelling, writing, digital photography, cooking and reading.
Contact: Dom[at]pnwj.org
