Overwhelming support to Ikeda Sensei the day where he stepped down as president of Soka Gakkai.​

Thirty years ago, the switchboards at the Soka Gakkai Headquarters and the Seikyo Shimbun building were flooded with calls, overwhelming the system. This took place on April 24, 1979, the day I stepped down as president of the Soka Gakkai. Members called in wanting to know why I had to resign. More than 3,000 calls were answered at the Seikyo Shimbun building that day, calls expressing members’ shock, outrage, and sadness at this sudden development. My sincere fellow members all expressed their unchanging support for me at this crucial moment. The operators, many fighting back tears themselves, reassured them, saying: “Sensei will always be our mentor.” My wife and I will never forget this outpouring of support.