Note: If you would like to see this video translated in Japanese. Click this link: COMMEMORATING "TIBETAN UPRISING DAY" IN JAPAN (IN JAPANESE)

I just returned from seeing the Dalai Lama in Hiroshima and as promised I bring you pictures and videos of my journey! Seeing the Dalai Lama at a spiritual and beautiful site as the Daishoin Temple on Miyajima Island was unlike any other time I have seen him. In total, I have seen the Dalai Lama six times in my life - the first being in 1984 when I was a young child living near Seaside, Oregon. At that time, I was among two children randomly selected among a small Tibetan-Oregon community to be the first in Oregon to greet his Holiness as he exited a car to attend a speaking event at the Shilo Inn Hotel. This most recent event was as memorable I believe. Seeing the Dalai Lama speak in a small religious setting is no comparison to seeing him in an auditorium, this experience was truly unforgettable. An additional highlight of the day was listening to a Tibetan woman living in Japan sing. Speaking in both Japanese and Tibetan, Pema Yangchin charmed the crowd with her incredible voice and her passion to bridge the two countries. “I am a Tibetan first. Tibet is in my heart and I speak to you as a Tibetan daughter-in-law in Japan,” she said in fluent Japanese. According to Phayul.com, "Pema Yangchin sings and sells her self-composed albums in Japan to raise money for the schools she helped to build in Tibet, her homeland." At the end of my video, listen to her voice yourself as she sings for the Dalai Lama! Regarding the Dalai Lama Buddhist teachings and message, he said: “Buddhism is more than a religion. It is a science of the mind” He added, thorough understanding along with proper investigation of Buddhist teachings help in training the mind. In addition, he said lasting happiness cannot be attained without inner peace. “And inner peace is possible through mind training, without which happiness, howsoever great, is fleeting and superficial.” “Spirituality is more than just observing rituals and chanting of mantras routinely. It also requires understanding the teachings in-depth, discipline and practice.” When asked a question about depression, he responded in English that young Japanese should travel the world and help developing countries and the less fortunate. And by doing so, you will see the positives of your life and feel a sense of fulfillment.

More pictures in my Hiroshima album. Check out the link to my VIDEO below!

Depending on where you are in the world this may or may not be on your nightly news, but in Asia the two big economic superpowers, China and Japan are at it again. This most recent conflict of interests stems from a new Japanese history book that the Chinese say fails to admit the extent of Japan's World War II atrocities. The Chinese claim the book distorts facts and attempts to beautify and deny Japan's aggressive assaults throughout Asia in the 1940s and earlier. Now this word "atrocity," which I've seen used on numerous occasions to describe the actions of the Japanese may be justified. However, this word which means an act of unusual or illegal cruelty inflicted by an armed force on civilians or prisoners is used in the context of the past.

Unlike the ongoing and present day "atrocities" the Chinese government have been inflicting upon Tibetans for over half-a-century.

According to recent reports, 20,000 protesters paraded in two cities in southern Guangdong on Sunday, with some targeting a Japanese department store in Shenzhen, one day after angry demonstrators threw rocks, eggs and plastic water bottles at Japan's embassy and ambassador's residence in Beijing. It's really hard to sympathize with what I believe are primarily staged protesters given a green light by their government to do whatever they wish in order to create a public relations out-cry. At least when Tibetans around the world protest for freedom and basic human rights, we do it peacefully with some civility. It's completely ridiculous that a communist government that mutes its own media and people in order to print what it chooses - believes it has the authority to tell another free democratic country what to write in its own history books.

If this was a hundred Tibetans in Tibet protesting that the Chinese government accurately account for the thousands of innocent Tibetans killed by the Chinese in Chinese textbooks - there would be arrests, followed by imprisonment and torture.

For those Chinese that are protesting wildly in the streets for what you believe to be atrocities of the past, I've got a message for you. Look in the mirror and deal with the present first!

Note: This opinion I wrote was published in The Daily Yomiuri, Japan's National English newspaper.

Note: The following is from a press release by the Liaison Office of H.H.the Dalai Lama, Tokyo.

Tokyo, Japan April 5 - His Holiness the Dalai Lama will arrive in Tokyo on 8 April for an eleven day visit to Japan. His Holiness will give a public lecture titled 'Compassion in Human Relations' at Ryogoku Kukugikan, in Tokyo in the afternoon of 9 April 2005.

His Holiness has been invited by Rengein Tanjyouji, Tamana city, Kumamoto Prefecture. He will be there from 10 to 14 April 2005. His programme in Kumamoto prefecture include a public lecture on "world peace through peaceful heart" at Kumamoto Prefecture Theatre, visit to Aso shrine, a public talk to the staff and students of Kyushu University of Nursing, a Buddhist teachings at Okun-in branch temple of Rengein, and a fire puja at Regein Tanjyouji main Temple.

From there His Holiness will leave for Kanazawa prefecture where His Holiness will give two-day public teaching on Buddhist philosophy on 16 and 17 April 2005. The teaching is hosted by Busshokai. Busshokai has hosted several teaching by His Holiness in the past including Kalachakra teachings in India and America. As else where, there is tremendous interest in His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his message of loving kindness and compassion in Japan and in the neibouring countries. All seats in all public talks in all three cities, Tokyo, Kumamoto and Kanazawa have been sold out. A couple of hundred of Korean Buddhists as well as several Buddhist from Taiwan and Hongkong are expected to attend His Holiness teachings.

On 8 April, in the afternoon of his arrival, His Holiness will pay a visit to Majie Shrine in Tokyo, which is the most important Shinto Shrine.Similarly will make a stop over visit at Nishi Ongangji in Kyoto, one of the most important Buddhist manasteries in Japan on his way to Tokyo on 18 April 2005. The pilgrimage to these two very highly significant place of spirituality are in line with His Holiness the Dalai Lama's wish to bring harmony and respect between different religious faiths and that of different tradition of the teachings of Lord Buddha for the common good of humanity. His Holiness will be received by the Chief Priest of Majie Shrine and by the Monshu, The Grand Abbot of Nishi Ongangji respectively.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will return to India on 19 April 2005. This will be His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 10th visit to Japan but 14th including four brief transit stops.

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Recently I was asked by the teachers at the junior high school I teach at to be a guest speaker on the topic of human rights. This was a great opportunity to share with students in Japan about the struggle that Tibetans face every day at the hands of Chinese communism oppression.

FREE TIBET!

I'm sure you've heard it before, now here's what it means. Take a minute to learn about the struggle of the Tibetan people. Thank you.

Tibet is an occupied country. This is the most important fact to remember when working for Tibetan freedom. We are not simply working for human rights or religious freedom in Tibet, we are working to free a nation from a illegal and brutal foreign occupation. At the time when Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1949, Tibet was an independent nation. Tibet had its own government, its own language, its own currency, its own postal system and its own legal system. When we say "Free Tibet" we don't just mean, "Make things better in Tibet." We mean "Free the nation of Tibet from Chinese occupation."

China's People's Liberation Army took Tibet by force. When Chairman Mao came to power in 1949, one of the first things he did was send his troops to annex Tibet. Tibet did not have a large or well-equipped army. While there was a determined armed resistance to the Chinese invasion, the relatively small Tibetan army was eventually crushed by the Chinese army. An agreement was imposed on the Tibetan government in May of 1951, acknowledging sovereignty over Tibet but recognizing the Tibetan government's autonomy with respect to Tibet's internal affairs. As the Chinese consolidated their control, they repeatedly violated the treaty and open resistance to their rule grew.

By 1959, the situation had become dire in Tibet. Thousands of Tibetan refugees poured into western Tibet from the east, where Tibetan resistance fighters were engaged in open battle with the Chinese army. Massive demonstrations broke out in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, when rumors that the Dalai Lama's life was in danger began to circulate. Tenzin Gyatso, Tibet's 14th Dalai Lama, is the spiritual and political leader of Tibet. In 1959, he was only 24 years old. On March 10th 1959, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans massed around the Norbulingka Palace, the Dalai Lama's summer residence, to prevent him from attending an event to which the Chinese authorities had invited him. They feared he might be killed secretively. The demonstrators called for Tibetan independence and for Chinese forces to leave Tibet. When the situation became tense, the Dalai Lama fled under cover of darkness on March 17, 1959 to India, where he has lived since. Tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed by Chinese forces who broke up the mass protests.

Since 1959, Tibet has been solely under Chinese rule. The Tibetan people both inside Tibet and in exile long for the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet to resume his rightful place as Tibet's leader.

Watch a little of the award winning documentary, Tibet - The Cry of the Snow Lion (link provided below):

Note: Tibet - the cry of the Snow Lion