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Junior Writers Reporting

Student council of Hiroshima high school provides saplings from A-bombed tree

The student council of Yasuda Girls High School, located in the city of Hiroshima, is cultivating saplings from an A-bombed cherry tree that stands on the school grounds. The students then send these young trees to other parts of Japan.

The cherry tree is situated 2.1 kilometers from the A-bomb’s hypocenter. After surviving the bombing, it has managed to thrive to this day. Each spring, it blooms with beautiful cherry blossoms to welcome new students to the school.

Members of the student council have been growing the seedlings since 2007. When the cherry tree begins budding, the students take cuttings to a field on the school grounds and grow the seedlings.

In response to requests, 57 seedlings have been sent to schools and groups from Hokkaido, in the north, to Kagoshima, in the south. Some schools make use of the seedlings as a resource for their peace education classes. This past March, the Hiroshima students sent seedlings to seven elementary schools and junior high schools in Fukushima Prefecture, where the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) power plant took place.

Sawako Yoshikawa, 17, a third-year student and a member of the student council, shared her hopes for the effort, saying, “If people in the area affected by the earthquake and tsunami feel the strength of the A-bombed cherry, and it encourages them, even just a little, to go on with their lives, then we will be happy.” (Miyu Sakamoto, 16, writer and photographer)

(Originally Published on June 4, 2012)

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