Community recognition

I am not one to brag by blog. But until last week I would have had no idea what a Civic Award looked like even if I tripped over one. Luckily rather than tripping over, I was presented with one by Lianne Dalziel, mayor of Christchurch. It was in recognition of my efforts in getting the New Zealand World Peace Bell to Christchurch. It has been a prominent feature of our Botanic Gardens for 11 years. It was one of about 40 bells worldwide gifted, from Japan, to countries that had contributed significantly to world peace. Along with being a venue for peace-related gatherings, the bell site is also a meeting place and sanctuary in Christchurch Botanic Gardens. I had been nominated for the award by David Bolam-Smith.

I became interested in the World Peace Bell while a reporter on the Press newspaper. I discovered a reference to a mayor of Shikoku, Japan, Chiyoji Nakagawa, who in 1954 had a huge temple bell cast using coins from member countries of the newly-formed United Nations. The bell was subsequently placed in the UN forecourt, New York, mounted on soil from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nakagawa’s message in gifting the bell was; what happened to my country should never happen to any other.

The success of the World Peace Bell was such that further bells were cast and gifted to countries that had made notable efforts towards attaining world peace.

I considered the actions of Mayor Nakagawa were brave. I then thought similarly of the actions of New Zealand Prime Minister, David Lange, initiating New Zealand’s anti-nuclear policy 30 years ago.

I visited my first World Peace Bell in Cowra when on leave to write a story about the NSW town’s annual cherry blossom festival. The Cowra bell is one symbol commemorating friendship between Japan and Australia resulting from the 1944 tragedy of the Cowra prisoner of war breakout during which some 200 Japanese were killed by Australian gunfire. Four Australian guards died. Many share the same Cowra cemetery.

During the 2001 Japanese winter I had an opportunity to travel to Soya misaki, northernmost tip of Japan, to visit a World Peace Bell.  A temperature gauge at Soya misaki recorded -22 Celsius. Quite a breeze was blowing. The nearest landmass is Siberia.

My subsequent story in the Press was sent to the World Peace Bell Association in Tokyo. The organisation distributed the story to worldwide World Peace Bell chapters.

This provided the opportunity to start negotiations to fulfil an ambition to have a World Peace Bell gifted to New Zealand. Being a keen cycling traveller, I offered, as part of the deal, to cycle the length of Japan.

In the meantime I found out that the World Peace Bell Association had previously approached Wellington with the idea of gifting New Zealand a bell.  Wellington City principals had little enthusiasm for the gift.

Capital cities were preferred locations. But I knew the Australian World Peace Bell did not go to the capital.

I also knew Christchurch, in 2002, had been declared New Zealand’s first Peace City. The concept was founded when a Christchurch peace activist, Kate Dewes, had a Peace City submission accepted by the UN Security Council. Also many of New Zealand’s peace promoters were Christchurch people.

I was advised that if he could swing the World Peace Bell for Christchurch the then mayor Gary Moore and his council would support it.

I signed the agreement with WBPA CEO, Tomijiro Yoshida in Tokyo on August 21, 2004. 

Next day with my partner, Haruko, we flew with bicycles and gear (brought from New Zealand) to Wakkanai City. We were taken 30 km to the cape by a group from Wakkanai City Hall. Once there, we unpacked and assembled our bikes.

Following a ringing of the Soya misaki World Peace Bell the 4200 km journey began. It was our first of many bicycle journeys outside New Zealand.

We had allotted a three month stay in Japan. That was sufficient time to ride to Soya Sata, southern tip of Honshu (69 days) and a ride around southern Kyushu to Kagoshima City, then part of Shikoku and finally to Kurashiki (sister city of Christchurch), finishing the journey in Osaka.

Among highlights was the Atomic bomb museum of Nagasaki. There, I spotted a panel listing countries that had made significant efforts towards world peace.

To my delight New Zealand was Number One.

That evening I opened an email from Barbara August, of Christchurch City Council’s International Relations advising the New Zealand World Peace Bell had been cast was to be loaded onto the Japanese Peace Boat making its first voyage to New Zealand, calling at Auckland.

David Given, then curator of Christchurch Botanic Gardens, suggested the site for the bell. He welcomed an item from Japan saying our Botanic Gardens represented a society descended from Britain.

In the 21^st Century that was no longer the case. Christchurch was multi-cultural. Besides, he had Asian plants he was keen to make use of.

A healthy camphor tree close to the World Peace Bell grew from a cutting obtained from a camphor tree that sprung up soon after the Nagasaki bombing on August 9, 1945.This was despite predictions nothing would grow for at least another 70 years.

Cuttings went to several destinations. The tree lives on in Christchurch, New Zealand.