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May Peace Prevail on Earth. May Peace Prevail in Japan and the United States of America. The second Ichikawa World Peace Festival in 2001 will coordinate with a peace event in Washington D.C. during the Cherry Blossom Festival. We would like to describe here how this cooperation came to be realized. Ichikawa, one of the neighboring cities of Tokyo, is a beautiful city on the Edogawa River with a long cultural tradition. A volunteer group in Ichikawa held the first World Peace Festival in May, 2000. Since then, we have been expanding the network of peace. We are now working with our friends in Hiroshima who have been holding a World Peace Prayer Ceremony in front of the A-bomb Memorial Dome every year on August 6, called Hiroshima Day. In 2000, the Hiroshima committee held two ceremonies, the second one on December 3. This ceremony was held simultaneously with a Peace Ceremony in Hawaii, December 2 (local time), on the US battleship Missouri in Pearl Harbor. The purpose of these joint ceremonies was to pray for peace and friendship between Japan and the United States of America. Prof. Nakazawa, a representative of the Ichikawa committee, was invited to the event in Hiroshima. Two American ladies, Ms. Barbara Wolf and Ms. Margaret Fikioris, also participated in this ceremony. Ms. Wolf is the coordinator of the web site "Global Meditations". The two Americans were greatly impressed by these ceremonies joining Japan with the United States.
After this event, they traveled to Tokyo to visit the Yasukuni Jinja Shrine and
the adjacent War Museum Yushukan, both dedicated to Japanese war dead. While
they were in the museum praying for peace between the United States and Japan,
their eyes were drawn to an embroidery picture of cherry blossoms made by a war
widow. They remembered the cherry trees in Washington D.C., which are a symbol
of Japan-U.S. friendship and goodwill. They thought perhaps a peace event
joining the U.S. and Japan could be held at this year's Cherry Blossom Festival. >From the note of Ms. Barbara Wolf: In 1912, as a gesture of peace and goodwill, the Japanese gave cherry trees to Washington D.C. Today, in the spring, thousands gather to admire the beautiful cherry blossoms in the nation's capitol. Each year there is a festival, and this year a delegation of Japanese, headed by Dr. Obayashi, will come from Japan to Washington D.C. to join in the cherry blossom festivities.
Japan report of Ms. Barbara Wolf: |