On August 6, 2023, we commemorated a day that must not be forgotten. I participated in the 31st Hiroshima WPFC (World Peace Flag Ceremony) with Ms Yoko Takigawa, a Hiroshima WPFC member and a member of the Association for the Preservation of the UN Peace Bell.
The ceremony started early in the morning at 7am, under the strong heat of the sun and listening to the sound of cicadas, each person waved the flags of 194 countries in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, where the bomb was dropped, and prayed for peace in each country and all regions on earth. At the beginning and end of the ceremony, I also rang the four-kilogram UN Peace Bell, which was presented to the City of Hiroshima last year, and prayed silently for peace. We asked passers-by to join us in ringing the peace bell. We also explained that soil from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is buried under the foundation stone of the UN Peace Bell’s belfry in New York.
We are grateful to the representative of the organizer, Ms Miharu Otani, for her various kindnesses and for allowing us to take part in this wonderful ceremony.
