Pre-trip Preparation

To prepare the Rivervlites for the Japan Home Stay 2013 Programme, a series of pre-trip training sessions are organised. In this training session, the Riverlites are learning to sing the song "Hana Wa Saku" - translated as "Flowers are Blooming". This song is produced by NHK, composed by Kanno, with lyrics by Shunji Iwai. This song is to encourage those affected by the strong earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March 11, 2011. That day will be remembered as "2011 Tohoku Earthquake" 

Once again, we have the honour of Mr Hiro Asai joining the preparatory class as he coaches the Riverlites in conversation Japanese. Today, we have him to tune the Riverlites to the right pronounciation of each word of the lyrics.



The next part of the session Mr Ho taught the Riverlites the art of origami and how is this related to the programme?

The Japanese believes in "Senbazuru" which means thousand "orignami cranes" held together by strings. This is an ancient Japanese legend that promises anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish. This legend is linked to Sadako Sasaki a Japanese girl who was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, near her home by Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima.

On August 3, 1955, Sadako's best friend, Chizuko Hamamoto, came to the hospital to visit, and cut a gold piece of paper into a square to fold it into a paper crane, in reference to the ancient Japanese legend hoping Sadako will be granted her wish of recovery. However, Sadako fell short of her goal of folding 1,000 cranes, having folded only 644 before her death. Sadako's friends then got together and completed the 1,000 and buried them all with her.

After her death, Sadako's friends and schoolmates published a collection of letters in order to raise funds to build a memorial to her and all of the children who had died from the effects of the atomic bomb. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. At the foot of the statue is a plaque that reads:

"This is our cry. This is our prayer. For Building peace in the world."

To this day, Several temples, Atomic Bomb Museums and Memorial Parks in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, have school groups or individuals often donate senbazuru to add to the prayer for peace. The cranes are left exposed to the elements, slowly dissolving and becoming tattered as the wish is released.