News Headlines

On October 21, SGI-Bolivia held a general meeting at its center in Santa Cruz. The meeting brought together some 400 members from across the country. SGI General Director Yoshiki Tanigawa and SGI Youth Leader Mitsuo Nishikata attended the meeting at which new leadership appointments were announced: Toshihiro Nakajima as general director, Carlos Contreras as men’s leader, Atsushi Sasaki as young men’s leader and Mariana Ugarte as young women’s leader. 

On the same day, marking the 200th anniversary of Bolivian independence, a ceremony was held at which a replica of Bolivia’s Declaration of Independence was awarded to SGI-Bolivia by the House of Liberty, a historic building where independence was declared on August 6, 1825. The replica recognizes the longstanding contributions of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and President Daisaku Ikeda to peace and education.

On October 19, Brazil SGI also held a general meeting at its Campestre Culture Center in Itapevi in the state of São Paulo. Mr. Tanigawa and Mr. Nishikata were in attendance.

On October 9, in Costa Mesa, California, Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada met with Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College. Dr. Carter is author of the book A Baptist Preacher’s Buddhist Teacher: How My Interfaith Journey With Daisaku Ikeda Made Me a Better Christian, which is based on exchanges he had with President Daisaku Ikeda in 2000 and 2002.

During the meeting, President Harada expressed the Soka Gakkai’s commitment to promoting interfaith dialogue in the pursuit of world peace, and Dr. Carter stressed the importance of global citizenship in today’s world. SGI General Director Yoshiki Tanigawa, SGI-USA General Director Adin Strauss and Soka University of America President Dr. Edward M. Feasel were also in attendance.

From September 20 to 27, the “Everything You Treasure—For a World Free From Nuclear Weapons” exhibition, jointly created by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and the SGI (Soka Gakkai International), was shown at the SGI-Belgium center in Brussels. The opening was attended by local residents, representatives from faith groups and Mayor of Anderlecht Fabrice Cumps. The exhibition characterizes Nuclear weapons as a continuing and direct threat to all that we, collectively and individually, treasure.