(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners were invited to participate in the 47th Hiroshima Flower Festival parade and stage performance on May 3, 2024. Many people who got to know about Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) through this event said learning about Dafa was their biggest takeaway from this popular multi-day festival.
Dafa practitioners were invited to participate in the Hiroshima Flower Festival parade held on Peace Boulevard on May 3, 2024.
The scale of this year’s festival has returned to normal after five years (due to the pandemic). With flowers as its main theme, the festival aims to promote world peace. The festival has attracted around 1.6 million people from Japan and overseas some years. It was reported that 752,000 people attended the festival this year.
A total of 75 groups, 6,000 people, participated in the parade, one of the major attractions of the festival. The Falun Dafa entry was led by the Tian Guo Marching Band followed by a float, exercise and waist drum teams, as well as practitioners dressed in kimonos waving to spectators. When the Tian Guo Marching Band started to perform, people on both sides of the parade route took photos and video recordings. The organizers of the festival also introduced Falun Dafa through speakers. The Hiroshima RCC TV station broadcast the parade live.
The Hiroshima RCC TV station showed footage of Falun Dafa practitioners’ entry in the parade during a replay of the festival. (Screenshot of televised footage)
The Biggest Takeaway Is Learning About Falun Dafa
Before the parade began, Mr. Tomohiro Tatsugami and his family talked to practitioners. A practitioner told them about Falun Dafa and Mr. Tatsugami said he looked forward to seeing their performance.
Mr. Tomohiro Tatsugami and his family were introduced to Falun Dafa at the flower festival.
Subedi Narayan and his nephew Subedi Manish, both from Nepal, stopped to watch as practitioners rehearsed for the parade. A practitioner explained to them what Falun Gong is and showed them the Nepalese language Minghui website. They said they would go to the website and read the articles.
Subedi Narayan and his nephew Subedi Manish from Nepal were interested in learning about Falun Dafa.
Ms. Kazue Kurata owns a flower shop. After delivering fresh flowers to the festival early in the morning, she helped practitioners decorate their float. While they chatted, she said it was the first time she’d heard of Falun Dafa and the long-term persecution in China. She was astounded to hear of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) forced organ harvesting atrocities and decided to return to the festival to watch practitioners perform in the parade.
Ms. Kazue Kurata said, “I think your float was the most beautiful one in the parade.”
She told practitioners, “Your group was amazing. I think your float was the most beautiful one in the parade. This is the first time I heard of Falun Dafa, in particular the persecution by the CCP. I am shocked. It has been worthwhile learning about this today.”
A Japanese man and his friend from Indonesia said learning about Falun Dafa was their biggest gain that day.
A Japanese man and his friend from Indonesia learned about the persecution while they watched the parade. The man later told practitioners, “I think it’s ironic that Falun Dafa is practiced in all parts of the world yet in China, where it began, it’s persecuted by the CCP. Doing the exercises does not affect others. People should have freedom of belief. What right does a Communist government have to suppress this? It is indeed the biggest gain to know about this today.”
People Are Interested in Learning Falun Dafa
That afternoon, practitioners performed onstage with music by the Tian Guo Marching Band, dancing by the waist drum team, and an exercise demonstration. The venue was packed with people who watched the performances attentively. Some followed along with the practitioners as they did the exercise movements.
The Tian Guo Marching Band and waist drum team performed on stage. Practitioners also demonstrated the five sets of Falun Dafa exercises.
According to a practitioner, “We were initially chosen as a backup to perform on stage, but we still rehearsed. The organizers informed us we could perform at 2 p.m. That turned out to be the best time as that was when there were the most spectators.”
After the performance, as practitioners said goodbye, the festival staff sincerely told them, “We hope you come back next year and perform again.”
While the practitioners were rehearsing in the morning, a man from Brazil took photos with his mobile phone and asked what they were doing. A practitioner told him they practiced Falun Dafa. The man said he was particularly interested in qigong and had even gone to China to learn martial arts qigong. He asked many questions about Falun Dafa. A practitioner told him, “We follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The exercise movements are slow, gentle and especially peaceful.”
That afternoon, the man caught the practitioners’ performance on stage by chance. He met the practitioner who’d explained things to him in the morning. Holding the practitioner’s hand tightly, he said, “I will start to practice Falun Dafa now.”
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