Historic Japanese Tea Ceremony at USS Arizona memorial

As we reported on Monday, a historic Japanese Tea Ceremony was held yesterday at Pearl Harbor, at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.

Fifteenth generation Grand Master, Sen Genshitsu, former head of the Urasenke School of Tea, perform the ceremony in honour of those who died in the Japanese attack 70 years ago. About 150 dignitaries and Pearl Harbor survivors attended, including current Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie; former Governors George Ariyoshi, John Waihee and Ben Cayetano; Pearl Harbor survivors Ray Emory, Sterling Cale and Alfred Rodrigues; Consul General of Japan Yoshihiko Kamo; and Admiral Patrick Walsh, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet.

Dr. Sen prepared two bowls of tea, the first as a tribute to those who died at Pearl Harbor, and the second for world peace.

Sterling Cale, 89, said the ceremony filled him with joy:

"They had the tea ceremony on the Arizona to honor the men who are still there - those 900-plus men are the heroes of World War II and Dec. 7. Having it there was a good deal. I liked that," said Cale, who was a hospital corpsman assigned to the shipyard dispensary at the time of the attack.

The Urasenke school's Hawaii chapter was established 60 years ago.

See more photos here.