Freshened Peace Park ready for prayer

8/3/00

On the morning of August 3rd, with the last "A-bomb day" of the 20th century just around the corner, roughly 1,600 Hiroshima residents and others took part in a Clean-up Day covering Peace Memorial Park, Naka Ward, Hiroshima City and a section of the Motoyasu River embankment near the A-bomb Dome. They were preparing for the Peace Memorial Ceremony on the 6th.

At 7:20 AM, city residents, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, and city officials gathered next to the International Conference Hall Hiroshima. After facing the A-bomb Memorial Cenotaph and observing a moment of silence, they began cleaning up. Amidst intermittent rain, participants armed with bamboo brooms and trash bags silently picked up cigarette butts, empty cans, and fallen leaves.

They scrubbed the stone embankment along the Motoyasu River that will serve as the stage for the lantern-floating on the evening of the 6th. Firemen used their firetruck hoses to wash away the dirt the scrubbers loosened by the residents.

Hiroshima City and the Committee to Promote Public Cleanliness?? sponsored the clean-up, which started in 1972 and is now in its 29th year. The same day, workers began setting up folding chairs for the Peace Memorial Ceremony. Working into the 4th, roughly 12,400 chairs will be brought in. By the end of the day on the 5th, preparations will be complete.

[Caption] Children cleaning near the Peace Memorial Museum (7:40 AM, August 3rd, Peace Memorial Park, Naka Ward, Hiroshima City)

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