April 2009

Rissho Kosei-kai Peace Mission to Bataan Returns Home

On April 10, Rissho Kosei-kai's peace mission to Bataan, headed by Rev. Norio Sakai, a former chair and now an emeritus member of the board of trustees, returned to Japan after a six-day tour of the Philippines.

After arriving in the Philippines on April 5, the seven-member party visited Bagac in Bataan province April 6 to pray at the Friendship Tower, which was built in 1975 with the support of Rissho Kosei-kai as a symbol of peace and friendship between the Japanese and Filipino peoples. The peace mission held a memorial service for all victims of the Pacific War with Filipino students in the scholarship program funded by Rissho Kosei-kai with its Donate-a-Meal Fund for Peace through the Bataan Christian Youth Foundation. After the memorial service, they tolled the tower's Peace Bell and prayed for world peace. On April 7, they attended a ceremony marking Bataan Day, a national holiday in memory of victims of the Second World War.

In Manila on April 8 they paid a courtesy call at the Japanese Embassy and met the Japanese ambassador, Mr. Makoto Katsura. They reported on the peace activities that Rissho Kosei-kai has implemented through its Donate-a-Meal Fund for Peace as well as the 30-odd-year history of friendly exchanges between young members of Rissho Kosei-kai and Filipino Christian youth. Rev. Sakai, who is also an international trustee of the World Conference for Religions for Peace, explained how that multireligious peace organization has struggled to help resolve conflicts on the island of Mindanao. Mr. Katsura said religious people's involvement in that effort is a source of hope.

April 10, 2009

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