SJMN: NATIVE AMERICANS TO JOIN RUN MARKING A-BOMBING
Native Americans to join run marking A-bombing
SAPPORO, June 21 (Kyodo) -- Some 120 runners, including a dozen or so native 
Americans, plan to run the length of the Japanese archipelago to mark the 50th 
anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, organizers said 
Wednesday.

Sacred Run '95 is scheduled to begin Saturday on Rishiri Island just off 
Hokkaido's northernmost tip, with runners hoping to complete their 
4,000-kilometer journey in Nagasaki on Aug. 9 after passing through Hiroshima on
 Aug. 6, the organizers said.

Fifty runners from 10 countries, including the native Americans, and 70 runners 
from Japan are expected to join the marathon.

Since beginning in California in 1978, the annual Sacred Run has been an appeal 
for people to live in harmony with nature for the sake of future generations, 
the organizers said. In recent years, the Sacred Run has carried the appeal 
throughout the United States and Europe.

While in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, the native Americans plan 
to visit the villages of the Ainu, Japan's indigenous ethnic minority.

They also plan to stop at nuclear power facilities in Aomori, Niigata and Fukui 
to perform ritualistic purification ceremonies with tobacco leaves, the 
organizers said.

AP-NY-06-20-95 2307EDT


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