U.N. Chief Rings Bell Sent from Japan Ahead of Peace Day; Bell Donated by Japanese Peace Activist

By Yasushi Kaneko / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

13:18 JST, September 15, 2024

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres rang the Peace Bell, a bell donated by a Japanese peace activist, to pray for a world without wars and conflicts at the Peace Bell Ceremony held at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday.

Chiyoji Nakagawa, who once served as mayor of Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, donated the bell in 1954. During World War II, Nakagawa was deployed to Burma — present-day Myanmar — where he witnessed many fellow soldiers die.

The annual ceremony was held in the headquarters’ Japanese gardens ahead of the International Day of Peace, a United Nations-designated holiday that takes place yearly on Sept. 21.

The U.N. chief expressed a strong sense of crisis regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the fighting in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, where many people have died and buildings have been turned to rubble, shaking the foundations of peace in the world.

“We must ‘cultivate a culture of peace,’” Guterres stressed. “It is a cause all us devotees of peace and justice must rally behind.”