Officials from Japan and the U.S. together placed their hands on a canteen salvaged from the wreckage of two World War II American B-29 bombers in Japan and poured bourbon whiskey into the well of the USS Arizona Memorial on Friday as an ongoing symbol of peace and reconciliation between the two nations.

“Just talking about reconciliation and peace will not get us anywhere without action,” said Dr. Hiroya Sugano, director general of the Zero Fighter Admirers’ Club of Japan, during the ceremony. “If we truly wish to be concerned and bring peace, we need to act on our word.”

Approximately 150 people attended the Blackened Canteen Ceremony on the eve of the 78th anniversary of Japan’s Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the event that propelled the United States into World War II. The annual ceremony was first held as a private event in 1991 and eventually opened to the public.

More than 900 servicemen remain entombed in the battleship USS Arizona since it sank in the bombing.

Fukumatsu Itoh of Japan was the initial caretaker of the canteen when he recovered it from wreckage in Shizuoka on June 20, 1945, after two B-29s collided over the city during a bombing raid, killing the 23 airmen aboard.

Approximately 2,000 Japa­nese citizens died in the bombing that day, said Daniel Martinez, chief historian of the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

Itoh, a Buddhist, built a monument for the Japanese citizens killed in the bombing and the U.S. fatalities as well. He poured bourbon whiskey as offerings to the spirits of the fallen, continuing the annual commemoration until his death in 1972.

Sugano, who was a child during the war, met Itoh and promised to carry on the tradition to promote international peace and reconciliation, Martinez said. Sugano continued the ceremony in Shizuoka and eventually held it at Pearl Harbor.

Consul General Koichi Ito of the Consulate General of Japan of Honolulu said, “The spirit of humanity and tolerance exemplified by Mr. Itoh and Dr. Sugano has moved countless people over the dec­ades, including World War II veterans, and paved a path to reconciliation and friendship amongst the people of Japan and the people of the United States.

“Today, Japan and the U.S. share one of the closest friendships between two nations,” Ito added. “I believe Japan and the U.S. are able to demonstrate around the world the power of reconciliation.”

Former WWII Army Air Forces B-25 pilot Jack DeTour, 96, who attended Friday’s ceremony, said he is grateful to both Itoh and Sugano. “I’m most grateful for the peaceful and friendly relationship we now enjoy. Thank you. Domo arigato,” he said during the event.

Ceremony attendees gently tossed purple orchids into the well.

Bishop Shokai Kanai of the Nichiren Mission of Hawaii chanted in remembrance of the fallen, and bugler and Musician 2nd Class (Aviation Warfare) Alyssa John of the Pacific Fleet Band played taps in tribute to the war dead.

Donned in their service dress white uniforms, Cmdr. Hiroki Hasegawa of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force and Cmdr. Anthony Pecoraro, chief staff officer of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, shook hands to further represent the bond between the two countries.

Pearl Harbor National Memorial Superintendent Jacqueline Ashwell was visibly moved as she spoke of the powerful message of peace conveyed in Friday’s ceremony.

“The canteen is a powerful and tangible connection to the horror of what happened between (Japan and the U.S.), and to now have it every year brought here to Pearl Harbor to offer a libation to the crew of Arizona, that is something that is very difficult to put into words,” Ashwell said after the event.