Irish Practitioner's Letter to The Prime Minister of Japan, The Honourable Junichiro Koizumi

Dear Prime Minister Koizumi

I write to you today about the arrest and detention of Mrs. Yoko Kaneko, a Japanese resident and Falun Gong practitioner who is currently detained in China. I am sure you are busy with your work and that have received letter from others asking for your help in obtaining the release of Mrs. Kaneko, so I hope to keep this letter brief.

I would like to take this chance to relay my experience of appealing in China, and hope that through this you can understand Mrs. Kaneko’s actions.

In November 2001, I was one of 36 westerners who peacefully appealed on Tiananmen Square. We sat on the square and raised a banner which read “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance” in Chinese and English. Everyone was arrested.

We didn’t go to China to cause any trouble, in fact I believed that we would appeal by sitting in a meditation position for 15 minutes and then leave. We went to uphold a principle and to safeguard the truth. Mrs. Kaneko may also have gone to China to safeguard the truth.

We all seek truth throughout our lives, but quite often there is no one there to help us find it. The appeals in China offer a kind of truth that breaks through the propaganda used against Falun Gong. Our hope was to bring the facts of the persecution to millions of Chinese people; again this may have been Ms. Kaneko hope too.

Finally, I would like to thank you and your colleagues for the support that you have offered so far, and hope this support will continue.

Thank you,

Irish practitioner