ANT-Hiroshima

Seeds from a jujuba tree that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of World War Two have been sent to the Amsterdam Botanical Garden by volunteers from the Green Legacy Hiroshima initiative.

Co-founder and co-coordinators Nassrine Azimi  and Tomoko Watanabe hope that the Amsterdam Botanical Garden will grow the seeds in one of their greenhouses. We will keep you posted on any developments.

Meanwhile, we are pleased to report that a package of peace seeds that were sent to one of our supporters in Afghanistan have arrived safely. :)

Ant Hiroshima

 Tomo Corporation, a trading company recently set up to support the activities of ANT-Hiroshima, received some great news the other day. Their film, "Hadashi No Gen Ga Mita Hiroshima" ("The Hiroshima That Gen Saw") has won a prize - full report.

ANT-Hiroshima

In November Dr. Prabin, a senior neurosurgeon at Norvic International Hospital in Katmandu, launched an initiative that aims to ensure that every Nepalese patient who needs neurosurgical treatment in Nepal will be able to receive it irrespective of his or her financial means. Full report.

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On September 11th, ANT Hiroshima hosted a symposium presented by Dr. Nanao Kamada, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Foundation, and spoke about his findings in regard to a visit to Fukushima to investigate the levels of radiation that remain in the environment following the nuclear disaster that unfolded in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in the north east of Japan on March 11th of this year.

ANT-Hiroshima

The "UNESCO Foundation - Education for Children in Need" received a donation of 9,000 euros, or about a million yen, to be used to help children in Fukushima, Japan, who have been affected by the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and the atomic catastrophe.

The UNESCO Foundation asked HOPE'87 to oversee the distribution of the funds, and they in turn contacted ANT-Hiroshima. This is what we did...

ANT-Hiroshima

An A-bombed tree near Hiroshima castle.

After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6th August 1945 it was thought that nothing would grow in the city for 75 years. However, the following spring new seedlings were seen springing up amongst the debris of the city. They provided a powerful message to the survivors and gave them hope that they could rebuild their city.

Today, 66 years after the A-bomb, Hiroshima is a green and vibrant city. Many of the trees that were planted in the city after the war were gifts from overseas donors and donors from other parts of Japan.

Hibakujumoku

However, 170 of the trees that we can enjoy in the city today had actually been in Hiroshima before the bomb was dropped and survived the bombing and the devastation that followed. After the war, many of those trees were replanted or preserved in 55 locations within a 2km radius of the hypocenter. Today, they are officially registered as A-bombed trees. Each A-bombed tree is called a hibakujumoku  and is identified by a name plate.

Green Legacy Hiroshima

Green Legacy Hiroshima is an initiative launched by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and ANT-Hiroshima, to spread worldwide the seeds - and the peace message - of trees that survived the atomic bombing.

Recently, Nassrine Azimi, senior adviser at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in Hiroshima (UNITAR), together with Tomoko Watanabe of ANT-Hiroshima, and a group of friends, launched an initiative called Green Legacy Hiroshima through the auspices of UNITAR to help spread the seeds of Hiroshima's A-bomb-surviving trees around the world.

The founding idea of Green Legacy Hiroshima is to distribute seeds and saplings from Hiroshima’s A-bombed trees to interested groups and schools around the world. We hope that seeds will be planted in urban, botanical gardens, schools, public and private institutions and places of political or symbolic importance for the message of peace.

Please check the UNITAR Green Legacy Hiroshima webpage if you would like to participate in a project to plant seeds of peace. You can also find more information about the survivor trees: http://www.unitar.org/hiroshima/greenlegacy


ANT-Hiroshima