Via Eric Matsumoto from ʻAiea Hongwanji (with slight edits for brevity):
On Sunday, May 24, 2026 at 12:30PM, there will be a special ceremony at the Pearl Harbor National Monument focusing on world peace and reconciliation. Yuji Sasaki of Sadako Legacy will be bringing a peace flame from Yame City, Fukuoka to Hawaii. It was originally a flame from an ember from the World War II Hiroshima bombing that Mr. Tatsuo Yamamoto brought back from his relatives’ destroyed home and business in Hiroshima from his relatives’ destroyed home to his home in Fukuoka. Mr. Yamamoto held on to that flame for decades. It represented the anger and hurt that he was feeling.
However, at a certain point in time, he realized that holding on to such negative thoughts and feelings does no one any good. So, the flame was transformed to a peace flame. Subsequently, he donated the flame to Yame City, which built a peace flame monument to house the flame.
Yuji Sasaki is bringing a portion of that flame to Hawaii for this, now, flame extinguishing ceremony. Originally, the hope was to build an Eternal Peace Flame Monument at Pearl Harbor (or somewhere in Honolulu) but it was too challenging. So, we decided to still acknowledge the original symbolism of the flame (of anger and hurt), but extinguish it to symbolize all of us releasing those negative emotions with the thoughts of emphasizing its current symbolism of peace and reconciliation (which Pearl Harbor now also recognizes or has embraced as part of their mission statement).
Also, we are unveiling a new temporary display (until Pearl Harbor builds their new facility/pavilion) for Sadako’s paper crane (which the Sasaki’s had donated to Pearl Harbor close to 15 years. Back then we did a fundraiser for a special nitrogen filled container to protectively encase the delicate paper crane, but the apparatus, disappointingly, seems to have been broken for quite a while (so the Public could not view the crane). We had raised $70,000, of which the largest portion came from Hawaii Kyodan and its members. More recently (while I was still Bishop), Wayne Miyao, Arthur Taniguchi and I embarked on another fundraiser to help Sadako Legacy with this flame and also a documentary on Sadako and her cranes for educational purposes. It is still a work in progress for the documentary. We raised around $35,000 as Hawaii’s contribution mostly from Big Island.
Special guests include: Mrs. Akie Abe, wife of the late Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan (who both folded paper cranes which were donate to Pearl Harbor several years ago), Cliffton Truman Daniel, grandson of President Harry Truman, Mr. Hidetoshi Tojo, great grandson of the late Japanese General Hideki Tojo, Former Governor David Ige and Mrs. Dawn Amano-Ige, and of course Masahiro Sasaki, Yuji Sasaki and his immediate family, and Yuji’s older brother Sumiyuki Sasaki of Sadako Legacy. You can see the significance of the ceremony by knowing the participants!
Please spread the word as the 12:30PM ceremony is open to the public. Just remember you CANNOT bring bags no matter how small, unless they are transparent, into Pearl Harbor! It takes forever to place in paid storage there so it is best to leave larger bags including purses at home. Cellphones are okay. Thank you.
In gassho, Eric
