Nine Hundred Ninty-Nine Cranes From Japan, and PIKACHU, Coming to SHACK!

This Friday, June 7, 2013 from 4:00-6:00p.m. the Sandy Hook Arts Center for kids (SHACK) will receive a very special delivery. One thousand paper cranes that were hand-folded by Japanese artists and students are being brought as a gift to Sandy Hook by visitors from Kobe, Japan. After the presentation of the cranes, an Origami artist will lead a free workshop in the unique art of paper folding. All are welcome. It is a tradition in Japan to express feelings by offering origami figures bearing good wishes. Teams of people fold paper into shapes, often cranes (birds like herons), that are suspended on strings or glued to a panel and are decorated with good wishes. The city of Sendai in northern Japan was severely impacted by the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. In the city hall there were many exhibits of cranes coming from all over the world. After 12/14, Mr. Colin Harrison, and IBM employee from Brookfield, CT, asked his colleague Hisakazu Okamura for well-wishers in Japan to prepare some cranes for Sandy Hook Elementary Sschool. Okamura-san arranged with two groups in the city of Kobe, Japan to prepare the cranes. Besides Kobe city and IBM, the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and employees of the city of Setouchi city near Kobe want to send messages. Kobe city was invited because it also suffered a severe disaster in January 1995 when much of the city was destroyed by an earthquake. Ms. Atsuko Shibamoto, director of the Kobe Branch of the Japan Origami Association has lead this project. You can see here (http://www.origami-noa.jp/) what they do. She set up a booth at their regional event held on 19-21st of April to ask guests to make Origami Pikachu and messages. They produced 80 messages and Pikachus, three paper crane ornaments with hundreds of cranes and Shibamoto-san, who is an artist, made several special small crafts for SHES. Ms. Kazuko Kiba, Manager of Kobe city university of foreign studies, asked students to volunteer and Ms. Miyako Kugue and Ms. Satomi Naruse translated have translated the Japanese wishes into English. Okamura-san and his his wife will be visiting Newtown on Friday, June 7, 2013 to deliver the work from this event to the SHACK. The delivery will consist of three ornaments of cranes, 80 messages with Pikachus, and several crafts that Ms.Shibamoto made. Three crafts (paper animals) 1 foot tall each The people of Kobe – on behalf of the people of Japan – wish these handmade rtifacts to express their deep sympathy with the people on Newtown following the tragic events at SHES.