As of May 7, Hinokishin Day was observed in Brazil, New Zealand, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S. By the end of May, Hinokishin Day is scheduled to be held at 128 locations in 31 countries.<\/p>\n
Brazil<\/strong><\/p>\n In Brazil, Hinokishin Day was held on May 1\u2014a national holiday\u2014in several locations. By May 6, the event was held in 27 locations and saw 1,663 participants.<\/p>\n In S\u00e3o Paulo, Hinokishin Day was held at Ipiranga Independence Memorial Park on May 1. The day being a public holiday, the park was filled with many tourists as followers young and old alike engaged in hinokishin<\/em>. Some onlookers expressed admiration at seeing families diligently working together.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, in Aracaju, Brazil, 13 people helped clean the coastline on May 6 under a midsummer-like sun. While there is presently only one Tenrikyo mission station in the state of Sergipe where Aracaju is located, there is much expectation for the path to spread here in the future. Onlookers showed much interest in the T-shirts bearing \u201cTenrikyo\u201d worn by smiling followers as they participated in the Hinokishin Day activity. <\/strong><\/p>\n Oceania<\/strong><\/p>\n In Auckland, New Zealand, 13 followers picked up trash along the streets around Tasman Fellowship on April 14 and 21. Elsewhere in the Oceania region, Hinokishin Day is scheduled to be held in Melbourne on May 6, Brisbane on May 20, and the Gold Coast and Sydney on May 27.<\/p>\n Singapore<\/strong><\/p>\n Tenrikyo Mission Center in Singapore, which will hold its 40th anniversary in August this year, held its Hinokishin Day activity at Singapore East Coast Park on April 29. A total of 70 people participated on a day when the temperature reached 30\u00baC (86\u00baF). More than half of the participants were students of the Japanese language course run by the mission center\u2019s Cultural Section. Students took part in the activity with great enthusiasm after listening to an explanation of hinokishin<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n U.K.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the U.K., Hinokishin Day was held in London and Leeds. On April 29, 24 people helped pick up litter at the historic Hyde Park in London. This spring happens to be the wettest in over a decade and since it rained continuously from morning that day, Boys and Girls Association members hastily switched their Hinokishin Day activity to cleaning the interior of Tenrikyo UK Centre.<\/p>\n Although raincoats were prepared for participants at Hyde Park, the weather cleared just before the 2:00 p.m. start of the activity. Followers wore purple T-shirts that read \u201cTenrikyo Global Hinokishin Day.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n U.S.<\/strong><\/p>\n On April 1 in New York, followers cleaned the area around Tenrikyo Mission New York Center and donated blood. This year, there were more blood donors than average as a blood donor bus came to New York Center.<\/p>\n In the state of Hawaii, Hinokishin Day was held on Oahu and Maui on April 28 and on Kauai on April 29. It is also scheduled to be held on the Big Island (Hawaii Island) in three locations in May.<\/p>\n The venue on Oahu was Honolulu Zoo. About 160 people\u2014many wearing T-shirts reading \u201cOne World, One Family\u201d\u2014participated, including 43 students of Leilehua High School. The hinokishin<\/em> activity consisted of cleaning signs and weeding as well as raking up monkeypod leaves and seeds. This year marks the 26th year since Hinokishin Day began to be held at Honolulu Zoo. In prior years, between 1961 and 1985, Hinokishin Day was held at Makiki Cemetery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of May 7, Hinokishin Day was observed in Brazil, New Zealand, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S. By the end of May, Hinokishin Day is scheduled to be held at 128 locations in 31 countries. […]<\/p>\n