Photo by Hirofumi Fukui; Text by Hisashi Konoike

The city of Hiroshima has been exploring ways to preserve and utilize the paper cranes that come in from around the world to the Children's Peace Monument (Naka-ku). On the 1st, the exhibition at the former Hiroshima Branch of the Bank of Japan opened an additional exhibition. Last year, approximately three million cranes were sent in from around Japan and around the world. The exhibition of cranes began in 2002, and now over 10 million cranes are displayed on the third floor. However, to draw school field trips and help transmit peace to future generations, additional exhibition space has been provided on the second floor.