Equal Lives Talk

If you told me 3 years ago, when I first traveled to Japan to see the cherry blossoms bloom, that I would be making my first documentary, I would’ve laughed in disbelief. But Sakura & Pearls: Healing from World War II had a life of it’s own and I quickly became captivated by the stories of both Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivors and American Pearl Harbor Survivors.

Shigeaki Mori-san was only 8 years old when he survived the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb. He became famous when President Obama invited him as a special guest to the 2016 Memorial Service in Hiroshima. The photo of former Pres. Obama hugging the crying Mori-san made the front page of newspapers worldwide.

If you missed the live talk, here is a video of the talk.

The reason that former Pres. Obama had invited Mori-san to the special commemoration was because Mori-san spent 40 years of his life researching the names of 12 American POW’s who were killed by the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima. His painstaking efforts brought peace of mind to 12 American families who didn’t know what had happened to their family members. The US government simply listed them as Missing in Action (MIA).

In my free talk Equal Lives , I share more about Shigeaki Mori-san’s work to pay his respects to his former enemies, who’s lives he valued as much as his own. Pre-registration is required for this inspiring online event happening Wed. Sept. 30th at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET. Special thanks to the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Univ. of Hawaii for hosting this live event.

Thank you for everyone who came to the talk. We had people in the audience from Japan, Hawaii, the mainland US, Canada, Costa Rica, and Indonesia tune in. If you missed the Live talk, you can click here to view the video: https://youtu.be/Cog6IqnGcUQ

To Register, Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/equal-lives-tickets-119683092351

There will be a Q&A after the 40 minute talk. I will also be giving an update about my documentary Sakura & Pearls; Healing from World War II, which is about Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivors meeting American Pearl Harbor Survivors at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. Sakura & Pearls will be featured at the Long Island International Film Expo (LIIFE) on Fri. Oct 2nd at 12pm.