Japan: Wonderful Performances at the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi

To bring some of the beauty of Falun Dafa to more people, on July 22 and 23, 2005, Falun Gong practitioners in Japan took part in the six-month-long 2005 World Exposition being held in Aichi County. Practitioners hung banners outside the Outdoor Theatre in the Seto Area, and performed dancing and singing arrangements composed by practitioners. After the performances, practitioners demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises, and received an enthusiastic response from the audience. Practitioners gave six performances over two days.

Participating in Expo 2005

Japan had begun preparations two to three years ago for the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi County. The registration period for countries, enterprises and organisations that wanted to participate in Expo 2005 had stopped one year ago. Practitioners in Aichi County, Japan did not sign up due to various reasons and everyone felt regret for it later on.

On July 12, 2005, when Falun Gong practitioners had a conversation with a non-profit organisation, they happened to learn that the organisation would take part in the activities and be a host at the Expo site. The organisation also learned that the practitioners wanted to participate in the performances at Expo 2005. As the organisation had learned about Falun Gong's purity and beauty, even though the time for signing up had passed, the organisation explained the situation to the Expo 2005 administration, and helped the Falun Gong practitioners obtain permission to enter the Expo to give performances. The organisation also offered much support and help in the later preparations, as well as during the performances.

After the practitioners were signed up, there were less than two weeks to prepare for the performances. The Expo has stringent requirements and security precautions for groups giving performances. For example, the performers' personal information, content of the performance and exact time slot and so on all had to be vetted with the Expo administration. Usually, practitioners only learned of specific requirements on the day before they had to submit the information. Many participating practitioners could not confirm for certain if they could participate, but they signed up anyway and then arranged their personal matters, despite all difficulties.

One practitioner has two children, aged two and five. As the children were too young to be left unattended, she had no way to come to the Expo. After obtaining her non-practitioner husband's understanding, her husband took the initiative to take care of the two children in order to make it possible for his wife to come to the Expo.

Another practitioner from Nagoya, due to problems at work, was unable to ask for leave for several years. However, in order to participate in this Expo, he asked for leave from his company. As his work performance was always excellent, his company made an exception and gave him time off.

On Friday July 22, Aichi County was especially muggy due to the arrival of plum season. In addition, the stage on which the practitioners were to perform was an open stage with the blazing sun bearing down. More than ten practitioners drove overnight from Tokyo after getting off work on Thursday evening. After finishing one performance, the practitioners were streaming with sweat. But no one complained. The practitioners said it was all worthwhile as long as people can learn about Falun Dafa and benefit from it.

People are happy to learn Falun Dafa

There have been at least 80,000 tourists who visited the Expo, including overseas tourists and tourists from Mainland China. On Saturday, July 23, it was overcast, without the burning sun, and it was quite cool. Many tourists took programs prepared by practitioners and came to the outdoor theatre quite early to watch the performance.

After demonstrating the five sets of Falun Gong exercises, one practitioner explained in Japanese, English and Chinese to the tourists about what Falun Gong is, and introduced the great benefits of each of the five sets of exercises. He also told people about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong that is happening in China right now.

After watching the practitioners' smooth and graceful exercise demonstration, many people wanted to learn Falun Gong. Many in the audience immediately followed along with the practitioners to do the exercise movements. More and more people have begun learning the truth about Falun Gong and more and more righteous people are stepping forward to support Falun Gong. It is just as the practitioners' dance performance, "Good Wishes" expressed: "We wish eternal happiness for good people".

At 5:00 p.m. on July 23, when the performance was over, the audience gave the Falun Gong practitioners several rounds of warm applause and thanked the practitioners for giving them such a wonderful performance.