September 5 was the 110th Anniversary of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty

Posted on by September 6, 2015

The Portsmouth Peace Treaty, brokered by President Teddy Roosevelt, that ended the Russo-Japanese War had its 110th anniversary yesterday

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WORLD WAR ZERO

Commemorating Portsmouth Peace Treaty

    • Japanese, Russian dignitaries help mark anniversary of accord

    • Japanese and Russian dignitaries and students joined Mayor Robert Lister and members of the community in a bell-ringing ceremony at Strawbery Banke on Saturday to mark the 110th anniversary of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty.|
 Japanese and Russian dignitaries and students joined Mayor Robert Lister and members of the community in a bell-ringing ceremony at Strawbery Banke on Saturday to mark the 110th anniversary of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty. Each Sept. 5, bells ring out around the Seacoast in remembrance of the treaty, signed at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 1905, which ended the war between Russia and Japan. Photo by Ioanna Raptis/Seacoastonline
By Suzanne Laurent
[email protected]
Posted Sep. 5, 2015 at 7:48 PM

  • PORTSMOUTH – On Sept. 5, 1905, at 3:47 p.m., the bells of Portsmouth rang in celebration of the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard where negotiations took place.

    It ended the Russo-Japanese War, called by some World War Zero, and marked the emergence of a new era of diplomatic negotiation.

    “President Theodore Roosevelt chose Portsmouth because he trusted the people of Portsmouth to be welcoming, impartial hosts,” said Chuck Doleac, chairman of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum, during a special ceremony Saturday afternoon at Strawbery Banke Museum commemorating the 110th anniversary of the treaty signing.

    Mayor Robert Lister read a proclamation by Gov. Maggie Hassan declaring Sept. 5, 2015, as Portsmouth Peace Treaty Day.

    It was also the first time Russian and Japanese dignitaries were together for the traditional bell-ringing ceremony.

    They included Tsutomu Himeno, consul general of Japan, and his wife and guests; Igor Golubovsky, consul general of the Russian Federation in New York, his wife and guests; Kyohei Sakita, mayor of Nichinan Japan (Portsmouth’s sister city) and his guests; and Kiriko Komura, a Japanese descendant of Baron Jutaro Komura, the lead Japanese diplomat in 1905.

    Students from the Nichinan Gakuen Junior-Senior High School also attended the ceremony led by school director Masakuni Soeda .

    At exactly 3:47 p.m., after an official blast at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, bells tolled from around Portsmouth and Eliot, Maine.

    At the same time, all those gathered at Strawbery Banke, also rang bells.

    Visitors were admitted for free during the afternoon to view the ongoing exhibit, “An Uncommon Commitment to Peace: Portsmouth Peace Treaty 1905,” created for the 100th anniversary of the treaty in 2005, in the John Paul Jones House Museum on Middle Street.

    After the bell ringing, two champion karate students, Kento Miyamoto and Taku Taniguchi gave a demonstration of Go-Ju (hard and soft) style karate on the lawn of Strawbery Banke Museum.

    A cocktail reception and program was hosted by the Japan-American Society of N.H. at Wentworth by the Sea Hotel following the ceremony.

  • FROM: http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20150905/NEWS/150909513/101017/NEWS

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