Tokyo, Japan - A commemoration of the United Nations annual World Interfaith Harmony Week was hosted by UPF-Japan on January 18 in Tokyo as the opening program of an Ambassadors for Peace Council Meeting.
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Mr. Sotoji Maeda, president of the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace-Japan, moderated the commemoration and explained that Shintoist, Buddhist, and Christian leaders would offer prayers not only for interfaith harmony and world peace but also for victims of last year’s Great East Japan Earthquake in this event. After the moderator’s introductory remarks, Ven. Yoshihiko Kaminaga, a chief priest of the Hitachinokuni Tenmangu Shinto Shrine who led the program, offered a purification prayer with a Shinto ritual. Then, Rev. Nichiko Yoshida, a Buddhist monk, chanted a sutra. Rev. Shinobu Ishimaru, a Christian pastor, offered a prayer
Representatives of each religion lit candles after their prayer, and the program concluded with a silent prayer by all participants. They prayed for interreligious harmony as well as for a peaceful world.
The interfaith harmony program created a peaceful and energizing atmosphere for the Council Meeting that followed. Mr. Masayoshi Kajikuri, vice president of the Association of Ambassadors for Peace-Japan, announced the plan of activities for Ambassadors for Peace in 2012.
For more information about World Interfaith Harmony Week, click here.