To add to our morning inspiration an inspiring article published on the Raku-Tai Shimpou newspaper today about our presentation on 30th October at the (Kyoto’s) Uji City's Hiramori Elementary School.

Caption photo 1: The 5th & 6th graders dynamically performed Dragon Dance.

Caption photo 2: Children read the message written on the certificate of appreciation.

A synopsis of this article (in English) is as follows:

The school welcomed Peace Run’s 14 international members on September 30. 20% of Hiramori Elementary’s students have roots outside Japan. Peace Run is a world-wide relay founded in 1987 by Indian-born peace advocate Sri Chinmoy. It carries the message: Peace begins with me, and has visited over 150 countries. It has come back to Kyoto after 7 years. The welcome program began with Ryuu-mai [Dragon dance] by the 5th & 6th graders. Harashita Sunaoshi of Peace Run Kyoto Office introduced their international activities to the students: “we may have different languages, different cultures, and we may look different, but we all want peace.” In the Peace Run program, there was a country-guessing game, where different runners gave fun hints, to which the students correctly answered their country names such as Australia, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. There was also an easy-to-understand skit about peace, followed by everyone holding the torch, presentation of the certificate of appreciation and hi-five. The Peace Run team then visited Okubo Elementary and Minori Nursery. The team will visit Mie, Aichi, Shizuoka prefectures before reaching their final destination Kamakura.