Mrs. Nada Kirn Spolar, head of SEZAM, the Association of Parents and Children, is enthusiastic about the project and has carried out tree plantings at the Debeli Rtic, Redcross Ljubljana and Anton Ukmar Elementary School in 2000. The City Museum of Ljubljana exhibits the history of the city. Mrs. Spolar thought that the courtyard of the museum would be the ideal place and repeatedly contacted the person in charge of the museum, however, the courtyard was gone after the renovation. Therefore, though the ceremony and workshop were held at the museum, the seedling was planted in a pot for the time being and will be planted in the ground of the Tivoli Park two or three years later. The park is the largest one in the city and the favorite recreational area of the citizen.
Thanks to Mrs. Spolar’s call for cooperation, many people conducted workshops for children. Mr. Primoz Seliskar, an artist, and the local elementary school children together created a large persimmon tree drawing, It was exhibited in the museum hall. The second graders of Bozidar Jakac Ljubljana Elementary School wrote poems on strips of paper and handed them to the visitors of the museum. 40 pupils of Anton Ukmar Elementary School, where the tree planting took place five years earlier, came from Koper by bus and sang “Sakura Sakura” in Japanese. Ms. Marjeta Godler, a faculty member of University of Science and industry, conducted Kaki Origami workshop and the finished origami works were displayed at the museum lobby. Ms. Taeko Fujita who runs a sushi restaurant there also conducted the workshop on how to use chopsticks.
The ceremony was attended by Mr. Milos, the deputy mayor, and Taja Vovk Cepic, the director of the museum. In the presence of Mr. Ebinuma and Miyajima, the tree was planted in a pot. The ceremony filled with a variety of workshops was covered by a number of local media and produced a lot of reaction and inspired people.
