Mr. Jiro Kawatsuma will discuss the Green Legacy project in Hiroshima that began after the atomic bombing in 1945. On August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing over 100,000 people by the end of 1945 and eventually over 300,000. Although many plants and trees were burned, some emerged with new growth the following year, giving people hope that they too could survive like the resilient trees. This inspired the Green Legacy project to replant seedlings of the surviving trees as a symbol of peace and call for an end to nuclear weapons. Rotary Clubs now help spread this message of peace globally through the Green Legacy project.

1. 2017 ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
Track B Saturday 09:15 – 10:15
Breakout Session #3:
A Hopeful Future
with Green Legacy in the Nuclear Age
1
Mr. Jiro Kawatsuma
Rotary Club of Tokyo Yoneyama Yuai
RID 2750
1

2. 2
August 6th, in 1945

3. 3
I am now in Hiroshima. The date is August 6th
,
1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped.
Hot winds and radiation permeate the large area.
People are burned all over their bodies. Shirts’
sleeves tear off from the shoulders and are stuck
at the wrists, where the burned skins dangle, but
they try to walk back home with voices, crying out,
“Give me water…”

4. 4
People walk around for the first three days, not
knowing the impact of the deadly radiation.
Rescuers from other prefectures arrive in
Hiroshima and succumbed to the radiation.
By the end of 1945, the death toll reaches
100,000.
The death toll climbed to about 300,000 by the
end of July, 2016

5. 5
Plants are stronger than the animals. Out of the
big trees burned by the atomic bomb, emerged
white buds the following year. And they are
thriving to this day.
People in Hiroshima thought they could live just
like those trees. It was the start of the Green
Legacy.
Nobody knows who named it the Green Legacy
that we would live, too.

6. 6
Gingko tree is a strong tree. It saw the horror of
the atomic bomb. It lamented the deaths of
people, and started to call for peace in the world.
People heard the story of these plants, and began
to send the message of peace to the world. So
started the Green Legacy, a project to re-plant the
seedlings of the trees which survived the bomb to
serve as a symbol of peace.

7. 7
The Rotary Clubs are
spreading this project to
promote world
peace……