Events

On September 16th, the annual Peace Bell Ceremony was held in the Japanese Garden at the United Nations Headquarters and Ambassador Bessho and Madame Bessho attended this event.

The ceremony was attended by H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General, Madame Yoo Soon-taek, H.E. Mr. Peter Thomson, President of the General Assembly's 71st session, along with the members of the UN Secretariat.

Dr. Jane Goodall, Mr. Michael Douglas, Midori, Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio, the UN Messengers of Peace, Ms. Hanan Al Hroub, the winner of the 2015 Global Teacher Prize, Ms. Leymah Gbowee, Ms. Tawakkol Karman and Ms. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Laureates, as well as Permanent Representatives and members of missions, also attended the event and celebrated International Day of Peace.

Following the performance by the UN Choir, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the President of the 71st Session of the General Assembly Peter Thomson gave remarks and rang the Peace Bell to commemorate the International Day of Peace with stronger hope for World Peace. The Ceremony, cerebrated in serene atmosphere, was concluded by the performance by The Tarumi Violin Children’s Foundation for the Arts.

In the afternoon, a book launch event was held at the UN Bookshop, inviting Ms. Seiko Takase, the author of the book and the daughter of Chiyoji Nakagawa, the creator of the UN Peace Bell. Ms. Takase and the students from the Japanese Children's Society and Lyceum Kennedy Japanese School read a few chapters of the book, and Ms. Takase shared a story of her father dedicating his life and fortune to creating the Peace Bell.