Just as we took the Kamo kids on a vitural field trip to the Arizona Memorial they took us on a tour of Hiroshima. We looked at their pictures and reports of their trip to Hiroshima and we emailed over questions to them. Here are some of their answers.


1. Who found Shin-Chan's tricycle and where did they find it? (I think
we have a book called Shin-Chan's tricycle...have you heard of it?)

Shin-chan's father found the tricycle in the garden. One of us have heard of the book, but never seen it.

* Shinichi Tetsutani (then 3 years and 11 months) was exposed while riding his tricycle in front of his house and died the same day. Because Shinichi's father felt that laying a 3-year-old alone in a distant grave was too pitiful, he buried this tricycle in the back yard along with his son. In the summer of 1985, 40 years later, his bones were dug up and placed in a formal grave. The tricycle was donated to the Peace Memorial Museum.
--- quoted from "The Spirit of Hiroshima", An Introduction to the Atomic
Bomb Tragedy by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

2. Did you make cranes to put under the peace statue? (Do all Japanese
schools participate in peace remembrances and movements?)

All the students of Kamo Elementary (1 - 6 grade) folded the cranes at the peace meeting called "Orizuru Shukai" (Orizuru means paper cranes). We do not know whether all the schools in Japan have such peace meetings and learning.

3. Were the cranes Sadako made in good condition when you saw them?

The cranes were in good condition even though they became old. Some of them were made of wrapping paper. The cranes were not broken, but the color faded. (translated by Yoko's mother)

4. Are there a lot of paper cranes under the peace statue?
How many were there when you visited?

There are always donated lots of paper cranes. There were a mountain of them then. An uncountable number of paper cranes!

8. Can you tell us a little more about the Phoenix Trees? Is that their name or were they given the name because they continued to live after the bomb?

"Aogiri" is Japanese name of the trees. Scientific name is "Firmiana simplex". (translated by Yoko's mother) We saw the name "Phoenix Trees" in the booklet mentioned above. Is the English name of "Firmiana simplex" phoenix tree? We could not find its English name in a dictionary. It was said that there would grow no plants on the A-bombed ground for tens of years. But Aogiri sprouted. So someone might have named the trees "Phoenix Trees" considering that the trees gave hope to people. I will ask Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum next Monday. --- Mr G TORIGOE