On March 11, Christchurch observed a memorial service at the Botanic Gardens World Peace Bell to commemorate the Tohoku area earthquake and tsunami, which hit the regions six years ago on March 11, 2011. Notably, Christchurch sister city in Japan - Kurashiki, also observes a memorial service for the February 22 Christchurch earthquake. Speakers at the event included Cuty's Mayor Lianne Dalziel, Japanese Society President Kazzy Matsuzaki and David Bolam-Smith, member of the New Zealand chapter of World Peace Bell Association. Everyone present rang the World Peace Bell to offer their prayers for world peace.

Free admission will give you the opportunity to see three first-rate films at the Japanese Film Festival, which begins at the Charles Luney Auditorium, St Margaret’s College, 12 Winchester Street, Merivale, on Wednesday, March 15.

As political parties kick off their election campaigns, Labour MP’s Megan Woods and Ruth Dyson, and labour candidates, Anthony Rimell candidate for Ilam, Jo Luxton candidate for Rangitata, Tony Condon candidate for Selwyn and Duncan Webb candidate for Christchurch Central, recently met with representatives of the Canterbury Refugee Council.

Justin James, who moved to Christchurch from Kerala in India in 2008, and works as the Supply Chain Manager at Wimpex Ltd, is now one of the hottest property in the music business of India's regional Malayalam film industry. This after, 4 Musics - the music composing team of James and his three childhood friends - won the award for best music direction of 2016 for the regional movie Oppam on January 20, 2017. James, and his friends, are now working on four more confirmed projects, with many more in the pipeline.

The upcoming Auckland Arts Festival, which will run from 8 to 26 March, will feature the world première of a new New Zealand opera, The Bone Feeder. Staged from March 23 to 25, the opera is scored by Gareth Farr with libretto by poet and playwright Renee Liang, that explores the mysteries, traumas and gifts of migration, home and belonging. The Bone Feeder is inspired by the story of the SS Ventnor, which, in 1902, set out carrying the bones of nearly 500 Chinese men who had died in New Zealand. Tragically, the ship never made it. The Ventnor hit a rock off the Taranaki coast and eventually sank off the Hokianga Heads. However, the bones ultimately found a home on New Zealand shores, when they were recovered by the people of Mitimiti and respectfully buried.

French is considered the language of love, and there is plenty of that among the more than 30 movies being screened at the 18-day Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, which starts at Hoyts Northlands on March 9. And one much-loved French actress is Catherine Deneuve, who will be featured in two films this year. They are a re-screening of the legendary 1964 musical, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and a much more recent release, Standing Tall, in which Deneuve plays a youth-court magistrate who becomes a foster mother of a troubled teenager.

The Inner City East Multicultural Festival was held on February 11, at the grounds of Linwood Community Arts Centre with the support of the Hagley Ferrymead Community Board to celebrate the cultural diversity of the various communities that are residing together in Christchurch.

'Towards sustainable futures through multilingual education' - This is the theme of 2017 celebration of the International Mother Language Day, which falls on February 21, as recommended by UNESCO.

The Human Rights Commission has called on New Zealanders to stand alongside Muslim New Zealanders in the wake of the United States ban on immigration from some Middle Eastern nations.

“So many of us are feeling helpless but the one thing we can do is let our own decision makers know that we will not allow hatred and intolerance to spread and become normalised here at home: Not in our New Zealand,” said Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy.

The Christchurch-based Indian Cultural Group(ICG) and Auckland-based community organisation based in Manukau, Sahaayta, came together last Saturday in Christchurch to launch a once-a-month meeting-over-coffee club. “Our goal is to focus on empowerment of South Asian women by providing a platform for women to come together and exchange life experiences.