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Art event on World War II immigrants from Hiroshima to U.S. is held

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer

An art event which focuses on the experiences of World War II involving immigrants from Hiroshima to the United States and their families is being held at the former Bank of Japan’s Hiroshima Branch building in Naka Ward, Hiroshima on January 16 and 17. At this event, works of art conveying wishes for peace are on display and an account from a Japanese-American who experienced internment during the war will be heard. This is part of a joint research project between Tokyo University of the Arts and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the United States, which have been pursuing exchanges through art. Admission is free.

Ritsuko Taho, a professor of Intermedia Art at the graduate school of Tokyo University of the Arts, along with her students, is showing an installation work which makes use of paper cranes received from the City of Hiroshima. About 120,000 paper cranes, a figure linked to the number of Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans who were sent to internment camps during the war, are crammed into nine glass cases (60 centimeters in length, 150 centimeters in width, and 30 centimeters in height). The artwork is said to represent the great number of internees as well as wishes for friendship that can overcome the conflict involving nations and ethnicities.

In the same case are a passport and some pictures offered by Jean Mishima, 79, a third-generation Japanese American and the president of the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society. She contributed a passport that had belonged to her grandfather, who was an immigrant to the United States from Hiroshima, and family photos to the artwork. Ms. Mishima will recount her experiences at an internment camp during the war from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on January 16 and 17. She said, “There are no winners in war,” and she hopes to convey the suffering experienced by innocent people. The event is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

(Originally published on January 16, 2016)

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