Category: Archives

News from Shiraume Kindergarten, Higashi-gyonin Kindergarten
(Aizu-wakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan)

The saplings from the bombed kaki tree were planted at Shiraume Kindergarten and Higashi-gyonin Kindergarten on 7 March 2013. Children made the “Kaki Babies” drawings during the workshop held on 22 February 2013. The Aizu craftsmen have just finished making fine, pretty boxes to keep these drawings. They will be carefully kept inside the boxes for 10 years. When they get together again in 10 years from the planting, they will open them. We hope that children as well as the kaki trees grow up healthy in the coming 10 years. We would like to express our gratitude to the Aizu craftsmen for their excellent work and generosity, and to… Read more »

Liceo Scientifico Statale “Guglielmo Marconi” Planting Ceremony

Then, Dr. Ebinuma’s message was read out, and another presentation on the “Kaki Tree Project” by the students was given. There was a talk on the Yugoslavian War during the 1990s by Mr. Milka as well. They put a signboard on a big stone and placed it beside the tree. When they put a wreath made of white flowers and tied a white ribbon to the tree, it drew loud cheers from other students who were watching from the window. That was the end of the planting. Then, they went back to the auditorium and listened to the report of the Roots and Wings network and a singing performance with… Read more »

Anken Kitadani’s Workshop in BLD Gallery

Exhibition Celebrating the Publication of “The Story of the Kaki Tree” Guest Artist Workshop No.3 Let’s Make “Kaki Tree Picture-Card Show” By Anken Kidani Mr. Anken Kidani is a member of the Kaki Tree Project Executive Committee and the creator of the well-known picture-card show “Kaki Tree Parent and Child.” The workshop started with the the picture-card show performance by the artist himself. Then, each participant of the workshop chose a scene and drew that scene to make a picture-card show together. Participants of the workshop ranged in age from kindergarten, elementary school, university to adults. Small children seemed to be a bit nervous before the workshop because they did… Read more »

Planting Ceremony, Kabul, Afghanistan

The “Garden of Peace and Hope” was created in collaboration with Global Hope Network International and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Information & Culture. It is located inside the National Gallery in Kabul. The garden and its facilities were designed and accomplished with the purpose of providing beauty and inspiration to the art fields and contributing to peace and hope. The garden gives a sense of “paradise” or oasis, in which people seek refuge from the oppressive and hostile elements that often exist in society. It should be the place of reflection, creation, opinion exchange, and aspiration for development and well-being of the art fields. The garden is hoped to be a… Read more »

Workshop / Karako Primary School

Workshop by Anken Kidani “Let’s make the background picture – Connect our feelings!” The kaki tree planted on 26 February 2007 at Karako Primary School has produced fruit for the first time this year. Since the planting, the school has been organizing a workshop of the Kaki Tree Project to pass on the stories of the school’s planted kaki tree and it’s now an annual event. On 8 November this year, a workshop by Anken Kidani was held and 61 pupils in the third grade joined. This was the fifth workshop held at the school and first the picture-card show “Kaki Tree Parent and Child” was performed. Then, the workshop… Read more »

10th Anniversary / Takaho Primary School

On 31 October 2011, “Experience Kaki Peeling” and “Kaki Peeling Competition” were held at Takaho Primary School in Suzaka City to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the planting. The members of Takaho Regional Development Promotion Committee visit the school every year for the last few years to organize these events since the kaki tree planted on 1 March 2001 first produced fruit. As 4 pupils on behalf of the school visited Nagasaki in August this year and Mr. Ebinuma also came from Nagasaki to attend, the “Peeling Competition” was greater than usual. Firstly, the 4 pupils who visited Nagasaki reported with pictures that they visited the bombed tree and its… Read more »

Donations From Italy Delivered to Watari Primary School

Watari Primary School was supposed to have the tree planting ceremony of the seedling of the bombed kaki tree on 13 April 2011. However, because of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster, hundreds of people had to evacuate to Fukushima-shi and Watari Primary School was also used as one of the evacuation centers, and the radiation problem thereafter, the school had to give up the tree planting. When three schools in Italy, Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Trenzano (planted the tree on 24 March 2010), Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Bagnolo Mella (planted the tree on 18 May 2011) and Istituto Comorensivo Statale di Gussago heard about… Read more »

From planting place / Kaki Tree Already Bears Fruit in the Second Year!

Teacher Fukuda has brought good news that one of the two kaki trees planted in Ushiku Daisan Junior High School on 12 March 2009 bore fruit for the first time. The second-year tree has grown so much that we were surprised. It is unusual for a kaki tree in the second year after the planting to bear fruit. It was very fortunate that the students have been carefully nurturing the trees and had chosen a good place with well-drained soil and plenty of sun. Keep up the good work everyone!

Lecture by Tatsuo Miyajima at Takaho Primary School

Takaho Primary School planted two kaki trees on 1 March 2001 and will celebrate the 10th anniversary in 2011. 4 children on behalf of the pupils will take part in Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Victims Memorial Peace Prayer Ceremony in August 2011 and interact with primary schools in Nagasaki. Prior to the ceremony, as a preliminary study, Tatsuo Miyajima, founder of the “Revive Time” Kaki Tree Project, conducted a lecture titled “The Kaki Tree Project that spread all over the world” on 8 July 2011. All the 190 pupils of Takaho Primary School and Mr. Seiji Arai, who applied for the project, as well as Takaho regional development committee members attended… Read more »

Planting Ceremony / Primary School Comezzano Cizzago

Mr. Clelia Nodari, teacher of Comezzano Cizzago Primary School, applied for the project because he wanted people to remember the atomic bombing and to send a message how strong life is by planting the tree. For the tree planting ceremony, a special stage was built in the schoolyard and children gathered around the tennis court. A national flag of Japan was raised in the center of the stage and everyone applauded when Mr. Ebinuma was introduced. After the mayor made a speech, Mr. Ebinuma and another mayor made their speeches, and then children’s performances began. Upper graders sang and danced. Some also performed folk dance of the former Yugoslavia and… Read more »

General Meeting of Tree Planting Sites in Brescia

Secretariat of The World March for Peace and Nonviolence Since the planting at St. Giulia Museum in 2000, the seedlings of the bombed kaki tree have been planted in 25 sites in the Province of Brescia, Italy. Representatives from several planting sites gathered for the general meeting in the evening of 20 May 2011. About 10 people including Mr. Foletti Francesco from Consorzio Tavolo Della Pace Franciacorta-Monte Orfano, representatives from the tree planting sites of 2011 and residents from the future planting sites attended the meeting. So did Mr. Masayuki Ebinuma and Mr. Takahisa Araki. In the meeting, each planting site provided the status report, the organization which initiated “The… Read more »

Planting Ceremony / Istituto Comprensivo Statale “Leonardo da Vinci”

An international humanitarian association, “World Without Wars,” initiated a project called “The World March for Peace and Nonviolence” in the autumn of 2008. Millions of people participated in the World March, which began on 2 October 2009 in New Zealand and ended on 2 January 2010 in Argentina. Ms. Tiziana Volta, coordinator of the World March in Brescia initiated the tree planting at Istituto Comprensivo Statale “Leonardo da Vinci” in Castenedolo and Giosue Carducci Junior High School in L’Aquila in 2011. Castenedolo is a comune (township) that is known for Valsella, the company manufactured anti-personnel mines until the mid 1990’s. To bring in the kaki tree, Ms. Volta had worked… Read more »

Planting Ceremony / Istituto Comprensivo di Bagnolo Mella

Prior to the tree planting ceremony on 18 May 2011, children paraded in the morning carrying a big flag. Before the parade, they were informed about the Kaki Tree Project by Mr. Foletti Francesco of Consorzio Tavolo Della Pace Franciacorta-Monte Orfano and heard Mr. Ebinuma’s speech. The parade started from the big lawn in the park, took the long path in the park, passed through the town and arrived at the school. At the entrance of school building, a large kaki tree drawing was displayed and many small origami cranes, which were made by all the participants at the workshop on the day before, 17 May, were put in a… Read more »

Planting Ceremony / The Maximilian Kolbe Church

Mr. Molinari Bortolo of Ecological Fire Group Sella applied for the planting that took place in the garden of the Maximilian Kolbe Church. Since 2011 marks the 70th anniversary of Father Kolbe’s death and also the 35th anniversary of the Fire Group Sella’s foundation, they wished to plant the kaki tree “of peace.” The church’s name derives from Father Kolbe, a Franciscan friar who once lived in Nagasaki for some years. At the age of 47, he died in place of a sergeant in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. He was later canonized. Brescia Ecological Fire Group Sella, to which Mr. Molinari Bortolo belongs, watches, protects and restores the hill… Read more »

Planting Ceremony / Nostell Priory and Parkland

Mr Jonathan Adamson, who initiated the planting at Edgerton Cemetery on 26 March 2006, applied for yet another planting. Mr Adamson has been promoting the project in the area where he lives since the first planting in 2006 and has sent a number of letters introducing the Kaki Tree Project to more than a dozen neighboring schools and churches. Two places among those have expressed their keen interest in the project and following the planting at Fylingdales Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School in 2010, the planting at Nostell Priory and Parkland took place in 2011. Nostell Priory is located in West Yorkshire and has a large park with… Read more »

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