Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Paper cranes and Memories

After reading about Hiroshima, I think it is time to revisit Grave of the Fireflies.

Also I remember when i was a kid, one of my favorite books was a Japanese one about this kid dying (i think she had cancer) and wanted to make 1000 paper cranes. She died before completing it.
I just did some searching and it seems that it is a true story of Sadako Sasaki and it is related to the H-bomb:

The paper crane has become an international symbol of peace in recent years as a result of it's connection to the story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki born in 1943. Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1955, at age 11, while practicing for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, "the atom bomb" disease.
Sadako's best friend told her of an old Japanese legend which said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish. Sadako hoped that the gods would grant her a wish to get well so that she could run again. She started to work on the paper cranes and completed over 1000 before dying on October 25, 1955 at the age of twelve.

The point is that she never gave up. She continued to make paper cranes until she died.
Inspired by her courage and strength, Sadako's friends and classmates put together a book of her letters and published it. They began to dream of building a monument to Sadako and all of the children killed by the atom bomb. Young people all over Japan helped collect money for the project.
In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in Hiroshima Peace Park. The children also made a wish which is inscribed at the bottom of the statue and reads:

"This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world".

Btw, it is funny how the mind works. When I first remembered this story after reading the blog post with all the pictures, I didn't remember that it was Hiroshima related. But somehow my brain knew it. The wonder of it!

1 comment:

Kanmi the Conqueror said...

Really nice to know such story.

About your post below, and the Grave of Fireflies. I think it is also mention how even before the A bomb, the US was bombarding cities with those fire bombs you see in the movie.

I think their concern for civilians was... none.