April 2009

Thai Rissho Members Visit Tokyo Headquarters and Founder's Birthplace

In April, the Thai Rissho Friendship Foundation organized study tours to Rissho Kosei-kai facilities in Japan. Fifty-six members in two groups visited the organization's headquarters in Tokyo and the birthplace of Founder Nikkyo Niwano in Suganuma in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture.

The first group, comprised of 39 men, visited Japan April 4-11. They traveled to Suganuma first, where they visited the Founder's Birthplace Center and the restored house in which Founder Niwano was born and raised, and heard a talk by the center's director, Rev. Hiroshi Niwano. They stayed for two days at the homes of members of three Dharma Centers in Niigata Prefecture-Nagaoka, Echigo-Kawaguchi, and Tokamachi-making friends with their host families. On the morning of April 8, at Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters in Tokyo, the Thai Rissho members met with President Nichiko Niwano in the Horin-kaku Guest Hall and then attended a ceremony in the Great Sacred Hall celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Shakyamuni. Afterward they were addressed by Rev. Yasutaka Watanabe, chair of Rissho Kosei-kai's board of trustees, and participated in a seminar.

The second group, comprised of 17 young adults, visited Japan April 10-18. They met with President Niwano in the Horin-kaku Guest Hall, made a pilgrimage to the founder's birthplace, and stayed in the homes of members of the Omiya Dharma Center in Saitama Prefecture. They took part in a seminar led by Rev. Koichi Matsumoto, director of the Youth Department.

One participant, Mr. Tragoon Thongrod, said he was deeply grateful for the warm welcome Thai members had received from Japanese members. He said he had learned the importance of accepting everything with gratitude and appreciation, and that he would endeavor to cultivate this attitude in his everyday life in Thailand.

April 4, 2009

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