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Paper cranes, symbol of peace, draw visitors to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

by Kyosuke Mizukawa and Shinji Morito, Staff Writers

The visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Hiroshima has renewed the world’s attention on the origami paper cranes made by Sadako Sasaki, a girl who became a victim of the atomic bomb when she developed radiation-induced leukemia 10 years after the A-bomb attack. On June 9, as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum opened an exhibit of four paper cranes folded by Mr. Obama, visitors to the museum, including one of Sadako’s former classmates, expressed hope that Sadako’s cranes can fly farther out into the world as a symbol of peace and the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.

“I’m happy to see the president’s paper cranes, which are proof that Sadako’s story is well known in the United States, too,” said Tomiko Kawano, 73, a resident of Naka Ward who was Sadako’s classmate at Nobori-cho Elementary School. “I hope that paper cranes can help overcome the differences of nationality and religion and spread the desire for peace in the world.”

At the age of two, Sadako was exposed to the atomic bombing while at her home in the Kusunoki-cho district (now part of Nishi Ward), located about 1.7 kilometers from the hypocenter. She was an active child, even representing her class in a relay race. But in February 1955, when she was in sixth grade, she was diagnosed with leukemia and hospitalized at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital (now part of Naka Ward). During her illness, she persistently folded paper cranes, with the hope that she could recover, but she passed away that October. At the time, around 10 years after the bombing, the incidence of A-bomb-related leukemia, centering on children, reached its peak.

In response to Sadako’s death, her classmates, including Ms. Kawano, called for the construction of a memorial which became the Children’s Peace Monument. With donations offered from across Japan, the monument, which bears the statue of a girl on top holding a paper crane, in Sadako’s image, was unveiled in the Peace Memorial Park in 1958.

In the museum can be seen paper cranes folded by Sadako, along with a flyer which appealed for the construction of the monument. Masao Ito, 75, a resident of Saeki Ward, serves as a Peace Volunteer there. “I want to tell others about the efforts made by Sadako’s classmates to realize the creation of the monument, and the paper cranes folded by President Obama,” she said. The museum placed Mr. Obama’s cranes at the end of the tour route so that visitors can see the items linked to Sadako beforehand.

“I’m sure the cranes carry feelings of mourning. Knowing that innocent children died is just heartbreaking,” said Jim Cavanaugh, 54, an American who was completing his visit to the museum. Mayu Yokomura, 11, a sixth grader at Ouchi Elementary School in the city of Yamaguchi, visited the museum after offering the paper cranes she folded with 114 schoolmates to the Children’s Peace Monument. She said, “We folded the cranes on paper that had the words, ‘All nuclear weapons should be abolished.’ I hope that people from the other nuclear powers will visit Hiroshima, too.”

(Originally published on June 10, 2016)

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