The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration on August 6th at Alton Baker Park is an annual event organized by a community group of concerned citizens of Eugene/Springfield for peace and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. It commemorates the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945.
Each year in Hiroshima, Japan, the city’s mayor delivers a Peace Declaration, calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons from our planet and the creation of lasting world peace.
This year, a video of Mayor Matsui delivering this Peace Declaration in English has been distributed so that his message of peace may reach farther and wider around the globe. Watch this moving video here.
A Hiroshima Peace Tree was planted in Alton Baker Park in Eugene, Oregon on August 6, 2019. Watch the video here. There is also an interactive map showing all peace tree locations planted in Oregon.
This is the culmination of the work of the committee that organizes an annual commemoration of the bombing of Hiroshima Nagasaki in Eugene.
For more information about the peace tree, see the work of Green Legacy Hiroshima Initiative and One Sunny Day Initiative.
| Time | Event |
| 7:00pm | Taiko Drumming–Eugene Taiko |
| 7:15pm | Welcome–Former Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy |
| 7:20pm | Prayer to Ancestors/Peace Tree–Reverend Mark Unno |
| 7:25pm | Speaker: Eugene Mayor-Elect Kaarin Knudson |
| 7:35pm | Letter from Hiroshima Mayor, read by Mike Takahashi |
| 7:40pm | Children’s Peace Choir; vocalist/cello duet; led by Kami Hendrix |
| 7:55pm | Call to Action–Michael Carrigan |
| 8:00pm | Acknowledgement of Event Sponsors: • Asian American Council of Oregon • Community Alliance of Lane County • Eugene PeaceWorks • Planet v Pentagon |
| 8:05pm | Obon Dance–Susie Yamamoto |
| 8:25pm | Viewing of Hiroshima Peace Tree |
| 8:35pm | Procession to Lantern Ceremony and Lantern Floating (Buck Mueller, guitar music by the pond) |
The mission of the Asian American Council of Oregon (AACO) is to create opportunities which foster friendship and harmonious relations among all people by presenting events and activities that will stimulate a better understanding of Asian and Asian-American cultures.
