Celebrate Peace Day at Honpa Hongwanji

An International Peace Day celebration will be held Friday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin at 1727 Pali Highway. It is sponsored by the Pacific Buddhist Academy, Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, Interfaith Alliance Hawai‘i, Hawaii Buddhist Council and Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin.

The theme this year is "A ‘Peace’ of Aloha." The featured speaker is Yuji Sasaki, nephew of Sadako Sasaki, a Hiroshima resident who inspired people to fold thousands of paper cranes before she died in 1955 of leukemia believed to be caused by the atomic bomb blast.

Sasaki’s story is recounted in the children’s book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes." Music will be performed by a variety of religious and spiritual traditions, including Jiang Xiao­yan, an acclaimed Niko performer from Japan.

Other speakers include the Rev. Nobuko Miyake-Stoner of Harris United Methodist Church; the Rev. Bert Sumi­kawa of Pacific Buddhist Academy; the Rev. Joni­pher Kwong of First Unitarian Church of Hono­lulu; Sister Joan Chatfield, executive director of the Institute for Religion and Social Change; the Rev. Eisei Ike­naga, Nichiren Mission of Hawaii; Raj Kumar, president of the Gandhi International Institute for Peace; and Bishop Stephen Randolph Sykes, Inclusive Orthodox Church.

Peace Day was established by the United Nations in 1981 and first celebrated in 1982.