One million paper cranes converted to stationery and sent to conflict-torn regions

One million paper cranes converted to stationery and sent to conflict-torn regions

On June 11, junior high school students volunteered to select recyclable paper cranes at Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum in Mabuni, Itoman City.


June 14, 2011, Ryukyu Shimpo

On June 11, the “Thousand Crane Project For a Hopeful Future,” which reutilizes paper cranes donated by peace memorial facilities and battle sites in Okinawa, held its fifth delivery ceremony at Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum in Mabuni, Itoman City.
The museum handed over approximately one million paper cranes to the “Thousand Crane Project For a Hopeful Future,” a non-profit-organization based in Hiroshima City. Those paper cranes will be converted into stationery, such as notebooks, and sent to the children in conflict-torn regions such as Afghanistan.
About 200 people including children and their parents, students and people with disabilities took part in the delivery ceremony and worked on selecting recyclable paper cranes.

The day of the ceremony marked exactly three months having passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. At 2:46pm, the exact time that it occurred, those participating in the ceremony offered silent prayers for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

Reiko Goya, the chief curator of the museum said, “We would like to deliver the thoughts embodied in these paper cranes to the children of the conflict-torn regions. We would like not just to pray for peace, but also to create peace.” Mayumi Shigematsu, the head of “Thousand Crane Project For a Hopeful Future,” said, “We need to do more than praying for peace.”

Twelve year-old Shuhei Kubota and 13 year-old Rai Takeshima, both in their first year at Miwa Junior High School and taking part in the ceremony for the first time, said, “We wish for a world without any wars in which everyone is equal.”

(English Translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey）

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