Akita prefecture has been attacked while World war 2 although it is located at north part of Japan where had little experience of the war. But unfortunately, that experience has been forgotten. Soto-Asahikawa Pre School applied to the project because they wished it brings the memory of war to children and makes every generation to think about the world peace. So they prepared to plant the trees and applied to the committee.
They planned some events that whole students of the Pre School could participate for the planting ceremony. They announced name of the kaki tree and had time capsule ready to put drawings by children. At the last part of the ceremony, they released balloons to the sky and watched it with whishes for the peace.
A Japanese artist, Ms.Kazue Mizushima who plays “STRINGRAPHY” performed with children at the ceremony. “STRINGRAPHY” is the performance of playing music at the space filled by weaving string telephones. They did this installation with filling their gymnasium of many strings telephones to play the music and named it as ”Kaki Trees in 10 years after”. The beginning of the performance, children were looked at her playing with great interests and started to play by themselves. The sound they made sounded like birds singing. Those sounds by her and children sounded like dialogue between grew Kaki trees and children.
Ms. Mizushima thought that this installation might make children feel kaki trees closer. She also wished that they could see kaki trees again when they grow up. She talked to children those feelings at the ceremony.
The beautiful sounds played by them in that day remained in minds of participants.
In 2007, July 26th, they held a festival for celebrating 10th anniversary of planting kaki tree. The children in that time had a reunion at the Pre School. They opened the time capsule and received drawings that they drew 10 years ago from teachers. They looked back the time they spend with kaki trees with surprising and think about meaning of kaki trees again.
10th Anniversary / Sotoasahikawa Kindergarten
