TOKYO (The Japan News/ANN) - Pope Francis arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Saturday evening to begin a tour as the first pontiff to visit Japan in 38 years, since Pope John Paul II in 1981.

Pope Francis arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Saturday evening to begin a tour as the first pontiff to visit Japan in 38 years, since Pope John Paul II in 1981.

 Planned visits to Nagasaki and Hiroshima on Sunday were included in his itinerary as he strongly desired to go there. The 82-year-old pontiff is expected to send the international community a message appealing for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

 On Monday in Tokyo, he is slated to meet people affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake before meeting with the Emperor. The pope is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Flame of Hope set for Mass

 On the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to Japan, the Flame of Hope arrived in front of Tokyo Dome in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, on Friday, carried by a cyclist caravan that toured various sites in a journey that started in Nagasaki. The flame, to which many people addressed their prayers, will be featured in Monday’s Mass at Tokyo Dome.

 The Flame of Hope project was initiated by Earth Caravan, a Kyoto-based nonprofit organization. Led by Ryokyu Endo, chief priest of Wadaji temple of the Jodo Buddhism sect in Shimane Prefecture, the project has been promoting the importance of peace.

  In its activities, Earth Caravan brought the Peace Flame to Europe and Palestine from Yame, Fukuoka Prefecture, where the flame has been kept burning since it was taken from embers found in Hiroshima following the dropping of the atomic bomb on the city.   

 In March, the project members visited the pope at the Vatican with a flame lit from the Yame flame. The pontiff blew it out as a gesture expressing his hope for a world without nuclear weapons.

 This time, the caravan merged a flame taken from the Flame of Commitment in Nagasaki’s Peace Park with the Yame flame before departing Nagasaki for the journey on Sept. 28. 

 The caravan visited various places by bicycle and car and took a flame from the Flame of Peace in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park to add to the Yame flame on Oct. 7. Prayers for peace were addressed to the Flame of Hope at about 40 places, such as churches, temples and schools, during the caravan’s journey.