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Japanese descendant in Spain brings offering of 1,000 paper cranes to Hiroshima

Juan Francisco Japón, 47, a resident of Coria del Rio, a city in southern Spain, and president of the Hasekura Asociación Hispano Japonesa (Spanish-Japanese Hasekura Association) paid a visit to Hiroshima for the first time. Mr. Japón, a descendant of Japanese ancestors who settled in Coria del Rio in the 17th century, brought with him a thousand folded paper cranes for an offering to the Children’s Peace Monument in Naka Ward. About 500 local residents of the Spanish city, including children, folded the paper cranes in response to a call from the association. Their wish for a peaceful world, and solidarity between Spain and Japan, is imbued in these paper cranes.

There are about 650 people with the family name of Japón, a Spanish word meaning Japan, now living in the city of Coria del Rio. Those with this surname are said to be descendants of Japanese people who came to the city as members of a mission led by Tsunenaga Hasekura. In 1613, Masamune Date, the head of the Sendai Domain in eastern Japan, dispatched the mission to Europe. Some of the members of this mission are believed to have remained in the city, where they married and settled.

The association is comprised of these Japanese descendants. The members of the association provided support to the Tohoku region in Japan, where their ancestors once lived, after this region was struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. One of the Japanese nationals they became acquainted with through this effort then proposed the idea of folding paper cranes and bringing them to Hiroshima. They learned how to fold a paper crane from a Japanese woman who was living in Seville, using paper that was recycled from cranes previously offered to the Children’s Peace Monument. Mr. Japón said they found the cranes difficult to fold, and the Japanese woman who was helping them died at the age of 82 before they could complete all 1,000 cranes.

Mr. Japón, who traveled to Hiroshima by himself, dedicated the paper cranes to the Children’s Peace Monument with the aid of supporters. He said, “I offered the cranes, thinking about those who have helped us. It was a moving moment for me, and tears came to my eyes.”

He said that, in Spain, people learn about the destruction of the atomic bombings while in high school. “The atomic bombings were acts of genocide by human beings. It’s just insane. No one should be allowed to possess nuclear weapons. After feeling the horror of the atomic bombing first-hand during my visit to Hiroshima, I want to convey this to others when I return home.”

About the visit to Hiroshima by U.S. President Barack Obama this past May, Mr. Japón said that he hopes President Obama will pursue concrete action. “It was a very important visit. However, it doesn’t make any sense unless President Obama takes action afterward, such as abandoning nuclear weapons.”

(Originally published on September 5, 2016)

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