In Nagasaki, cathedral bells ring again after 80 years. St. John Fisher’s Church marks the occasion with a concert
The bells may stop, but the ringing continues “Bells of Nagasaki: Music for Contemplation” is a special concert at St. John Fisher Church by Bondo Wyszpolski Eighty years ago this month — on August 6 and 9 — atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending the war with Japan but introducing a weapon so destructive it should never have been created. Anli Lin Tong at St. John Fisher Church. Photo by Patrick SmythAmong the worldwide events taking place is “Bells of Nagasaki: Music for Contemplation,” a concert to be performed on Sunday, August 3, at 2:30 p.m. in St. John Fisher Church in Rancho Palos Verdes. It was proposed by, and organized by, Peninsula resident Anli Lin Tong. There’s quite a story behind this concert, so let’s start with some historical background. The Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki was built in 1925 to serve the Catholic community. Nagasaki was the first Japanese port to open up to the West, its window to the world, and along with trading opportunities came missionaries with their Christian theologies. During the 1500s as many as 300,000 Japanese converted to Catholicism, which didn’t sit well with the shogunate. Twenty-six Japanese…
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