Japan Page 2

On August 15, 2005 at 11:30 a.m. the program for the ceremonies began at the Hitachi City Office where a march was initiated on Peace Street towards Bells of Peace. There, Mayor Chiaki Kashimura presided over the ceremonies as Mr. Sumio Takahashi, Manager of Community Relations Section, Department of Life & Environment at Hitachi City Hall served as Master of Ceremonies.

Mr. Takahashi introduced Mayor Chiaki who addressed the attending audience on the commemorative spirit of the day and the addition of Peace Marker Japan. The program continued with an introduction of the attending dignitaries who were at hand to unveil Peace Marker Japan and the mosaic "Sakura" by Ms. Shigemi Okubo.

Ms. Okubo addressed the audience with a message from WPMP and her own message of congratulations to the efforts of all the people who made Peace Marker Japan possible. Her words were followed by a pledge for peace. The ceremonies closed with a chorus of voices from the local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troops who sang, "It's a Small World."

The event was covered by various entities of Japanese media including the Sankey Times, Asashi Times, Ibaraki Times and the Yomiuri Times. From the United States, the renowned American filmmaker John Biffar and his Dreamtime Entertainment crew flew in from Florida including his oldest son, Sean Biffar, behind camera #2 and the patriarch of the family, Harry Biffar, attending technical assistance.

John Biffar, has been collecting my work and documenting my career for over two decades. His interest continues with the WPMP. At this time, he is working on a feature length documentary film that incorporates footage and interviews from WPMP events and now includes the ceremonies at Bells of Peace and a visit to Shigemi's Studio Glass GEM.

Harry Biffar’s brother, the reverend Cornelius Biffar who is a Catholic priest, joined the Biffar team in Hitachi. Father Biffar has directed a school in a town north of Hitachi. His work there spans sixty years since the end of the WWII. Father Biffar became an invaluable aid as a translator for Shigemi and the team. He and Harry joined the peace march to Bells of Peace. According to Shigemi, "It may be the first time that foreigners joined the march."

What a marvelous thing it is with installation art of the sort being created here. The line between art and life all but vanishes and gives way to such an uncommon experience for art of life.

A photographic documentary of the unveiling ceremonies of Peace Marker Japan follows:

Just before the great moment.

Master of ceremonies: Mr. Sumio Takahashi, Manager, Community Relations Section, Department of Life & Environment, Hitachi City Hall, oversees the unveiling.

Pictured are the group who unveiled Peace Marker Japan:

Mayor, Mr. Chiaki Kashimura, WPMP Ambassador Ms. Shigemi Okubo, The chairman of the Hitachi assembly Mr.Takayasu Nagayama, Representative of the International Interchange Mr. Shinichi Sato, Representative & peace keeping observer. Mr. Shin Fuzisaki, Mr. Tatsunosuke Nakayama, and two members of the Boys & Girl Scouts.

WPMP Ambassador Ms. Shigemi Okubo with friends and collaborators.

I'm totally speechless, the honor bestowed on the project, the magnificence of the granite pedestal, the sentiment of the plaque, the sheer beauty of Shigemi's "Sakura,” the warmth of the people of Hitachi City and the generous coverage by the Japanese media. What else can I say other than “thank you all” for helping us to show the world that peace has a new beacon shining bright in beautiful Japan.

Peace Marker Japan was made in Cape Coral, Florida at the Waltzing Waters Inc. fabricating facilities by Jeff Elliott and engraved at the TK Machine Inc. facilities by Timothy Morey and Kurt Esposito.

Tiité

Cape Coral August 27,2005

WPMP ambassador Shigemi Ohkubo and a group of volunteers clean and upkeep the marker at Bells of Peace Park in Hitachi city at a cleaning get together on June 7, 2006.

The occasion provides a wonderful metaphor for the care and exponential growth of peace as a real experience. Unlike anywhere in the world at any other time in the past of civilization, these beautiful people were not just cleaning a symbol of peace but a real point of peace in Japan, the world and the conscious of civilization.

Thank you dear people and Ambassador Ohkubo for nurturing World peace.

Tiité

How can one experience this sublime moment of world peace and not feel optimistic for the future of civilization, here we have art and life so intimately unified that it is best not to try to tell them apart because the reality they are generating is so beautiful that it is best to accepted for what it is; the first indications of the presence of world peace in the culture of humanity.

Ambassador Okubo mentions to me in her letter about today's anniversary celebrations the most profound words I have ever read. She said, "Tiité, it is as if people are thinking that peace is the natural thing."

Thank you Ambassador Ohkubo, I'm so honored to learn from you the reality of something that I have lived for.

Tiité

Cape Coral August 15,2006