News

by Ryosuke Hattori, Staff Writer

Origami with the same patterns as the paper cranes former U.S. President Barak Obama brought with him when he visited Hiroshima in May 2016 have been reprinted. The original sales company went bankrupt and the origami disappeared from sales floors, but printing companies in Hiroshima and Osaka managed to reproduce and offer them for resale. With the upcoming summit meeting of The G7 (The Group of Seven industrialized nations) to be held in Hiroshima in one month, they hope visitors to the A-bombed city will fold paper cranes to express their wishes for peace.

Masaki Harada, director of Harada Printing, located in Asaminami Ward, and Ayumu Fujita, president of Hanshin Printing, located in Osaka, reprinted the designs. Two of the four paper cranes Mr. Obama brought to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in Naka Ward, one with a cherry blossom petal pattern and the other with a plum blossom pattern, will go on sale at the end of this month. Both are made of Japanese paper. The Peace Memorial Museum keeps four paper cranes and displays two of them. One of the paper cranes on display uses a plum blossom pattern.

About six years ago, the sales company in Osaka that sold this origami went bankrupt. The origami disappeared from souvenir shops. Director Harada, who knew the origami was associated with Mr. Obama, had long consulted with Mr. Fujita, president of Hanshin Printing, who printed it, saying he wanted to keep it even if it would not make a profit. About a year and a half ago, the rights to the product were sorted out, and they say there was a prospect of reprinting.

Mr. Harada is negotiating with souvenir shops in the city center to sell the product by the end of this month. The package is accompanied by a message saying this is origami related to Mr. Obama. He said, “I hope people who visit Hiroshima to take in the opportunity of the summit pick up origami and fold paper cranes while feeling Mr. Obama’s wish for peace.”

(Originally published on April 19, 2023)