April 2010

Rissho Kosei-kai Peace Mission Returns from Philippines

The Rissho Kosei-kai Youth Department's annual peace mission to Bataan, led this year by Rev. Nobuyoshi Azuma, minister of the Yamato Dharma Center in Kanagawa Prefecture, returned on April 10 from the Philippines. Rev. Katsunobu Katagiri, a former director of Rissho Kosei-kai's Hokkaido dissemination area joined the ten-member mission as an honorary leader.

On April 8 in Bataan Province, the group arrived in Bagac and visited the Friendship Tower, which stands near the starting point of the Bataan Death March in World War II, as a symbol of world peace and friendship between Japan and the Philippines. They celebrated the tower's 35th anniversary with members of the Bataan Christian Youth Civic Circle. Members of both organizations marched to the tower from the starting point of the Death March and held a memorial service for the victims. In 1942 many American and Filipino prisoners of war died in tropical heat when forced by the Japanese military to walk 55 miles (88 kilometers) along the route to a POW camp.

On April 9 members of the mission took part in the national commemoration of Bataan Day to pray for victims of World War II.

The aim of the annual peace mission is to promote cordial relations between Japan and the Philippines through joint memorial services for the victims of the World War II and to join Bataan residents in commemorating Bataan Day.

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