| Chugoku Shimbun Peace News | |
| College student arrested for burning 140,000 paper cranes | '03/8/2 |
- On a trip, unable to find work, revengeAbout 7:55 a.m. on August 1, paper cranes hanging in the cases around the Children's Peace Monument, Peace Memorial Park, Naka-ku, Hiroshima were burned. With the help of surveillance cameras in the park, police from Hiroshima Central Station arrested Junya Yamamoto (22), a fourth year student at Kwansei Gakuin University (Higashi Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture), charging him with arson and destruction of property. Investigators have learned that Yamamoto arrived in Hiroshima by car early that morning on a trip with two friends from college. When they visited Peace Memorial Park, he allegedly used a lighter to ignite the cranes in their cases. His deposition stated, "It had been decided that I would repeat a year of college and I couldn't find a job, so I was just furious." The approximately 140,000 cranes that were burned were stored in two of the nine cases standing 90cm to 120cm apart, partially encircling the Children's Peace Monument. Two neighboring cases were partially burned. When the fire started, a surveillance camera installed by the city photographed three young men, also identified by an eye-witness. The Central Station issued an alert at tourist areas, and an image of a person resembling the suspect was discovered near the ferry dock in Miyajimaguchi, Ono-cho, Hiroshima Prefecture. The city installed the cases in April last year to protect the cranes from rain and wind. The cases stand 2 meters tall, 1 to 1.3 meters wide, and 3 meters deep. The stainless steel frames are enclosed in hardened glass. Paper cranes displayed at the Children's Peace Monument were burned previously in February last year; in March, the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims was vandalized with paint. - Kwansei Gakuin University holds press conference, apologizes and calls act outrageous On August 1, Kwansei Gakuin University, attended by the student who was arrested on suspicion of burning paper cranes in Hiroshima, held a campus press conference in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. Vice President Kohei Asano said, "I am angry and sad. The act can only be described as outrageous, and on behalf of the university, I offer my most profound apology." According to faculty adviser and literature professor Tsuneo Shimazaki, whose seminar the suspect attended, "He was quite cheerful and energetic." In the morning of August 2, President Kazuo Hiramatsu of the university will visit Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima and apologize in person to municipal authorities. (Caption)Firemen taking the burned paper cranes from the cases and laying them in a pile. (10 a.m., August 1)
    
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