Hiroshima-Nagasaki Relived
Organization profile published 1981

Publisher:  Hiroshima-Nagasaki Relived, Don Mills, Canada
Year Published:  1981
Resource Type:  Organization
Cx Number:  CX2151

Abstract: 
Hioshima-Nagasaki Relived was formed on the thirtieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; at that time the governments of those cities donated a number of photographs to a group of concerned people in Toronto. The photographs depict the devastation of these Japanese cities. The Japanese were concerned about making the public aware of the dangers of the nuclear arms race and the realities of nuclear warfare.

As a result an exhibition of the photographs was held in Toronto. The organization continued and became incorporated as a non-profit corporation in the province of Ontario. Since 1975 this group has expanded its activities to include public programs and exhibitions of the photographs, speaking engagements in churches and schools, and participation in various conference. Hiroshima-Nagasaki Relived does not affiliate itself with any political party.

At the time of the group's incorporation, it chose as a logo the folded paper crane. As a two-year-old girl, Sadako Sasaki was exposed to the radiation of the Hiroshima bomb and on October 25, 1955 she died of leukemia. Before her death she began folding paper cranes, remembering the legend that if one makes a thousand paper cranes the gods would grant her wish and make her well again. She folded 644 before the end came. Her classmates completed the task and today school children from all over Japan visit her memorial in Hiroshima Peace Park to leave paper cranes they have made in her honour. The logo calls to mind Sadako, the many thousands of other children who died as a result of atomic bombs and the millions of children who will be victims of any future nuclear war.

This abstract was published in the Connexions Digest in 1981.