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6<br />
Tuesday <strong>August</strong> 9 <strong>2016</strong><br />
News<br />
PEGASUS POST<br />
Cherry blossoms mark quake deaths<br />
• By Annabelle Dick<br />
TWENTY EIGHT young<br />
Japanese language students<br />
lost their lives when the CTV<br />
building collapsed during the<br />
February 22, 2011, quake.<br />
Now eight cherry blossom<br />
trees will be planted in the<br />
Botanic Gardens at a ceremony<br />
tomorrow (<strong>August</strong> 10) at<br />
2.30pm to honour their memory.<br />
The trees, donated by the<br />
city of Ishinomaki, Japan, will<br />
be planted at the World Peace<br />
Bell garden to honour victims<br />
of New Zealand and Japan’s<br />
earthquakes.<br />
Just weeks after the February<br />
quake, Japan was struck by<br />
a devastating magnitude 9<br />
earthquake and tsunami which<br />
killed about 16,000 people. The<br />
city of Ishinomaki lost more<br />
than 3000 people.<br />
New Zealand World Peace<br />
Bell member David Bolam-<br />
Smith said the commemoration<br />
project came about when he<br />
met Japanese families and<br />
representatives at the five-year<br />
anniversary in February.<br />
Zen Buddhist priest Taigen<br />
Goto was there on behalf of<br />
one of the families when Mr<br />
Bolam-Smith invited him to<br />
ring the peace bell to pray for<br />
the Japanese students lost in the<br />
CTV building.<br />
Mr Bolam-Smith said he was<br />
telling Mr Goto about his plans<br />
to plant cherry trees from the<br />
bell to the river when he offered<br />
some help.<br />
“He pulled out his wallet<br />
and gave me $500 dollars on<br />
the spot and said, ‘please plant<br />
cherry trees here to remember<br />
the people who died in the<br />
Christchurch earthquake<br />
and the tsunami and<br />
quakes in Japan’,” Mr Bolam-<br />
Smith said.<br />
After planting trees in<br />
Christchurch, Mr Bolam-Smith<br />
will travel to Mr Goto’s home<br />
city of Ishinomaki to return<br />
the favour by planting cherry<br />
blossoms.<br />
“We’re building a cherry<br />
blossom bridge between the two<br />
countries,” he said.<br />
Ishinomaki is home to a<br />
training facility being built for<br />
the Rugby World Cup in 2019.<br />
Mr Bolam-Smith will visit the<br />
city in September to plant the<br />
trees outside the stadium in the<br />
presence of Japan Rugby Football<br />
Union representatives and the<br />
city mayor.<br />
He will travel to Japan on<br />
September 1.<br />
He is also urging residents to<br />
attend the public tree-planting<br />
ceremony at the Botanic Gardens’<br />
World Peace Bell.<br />
A BLOSSOMING CONNECTION: David Bolam-Smith will plant cherry blossom trees in both<br />
Christchurch and Ishinomaki, Japan, to honour the lives of earthquake victims who perished in<br />
the CTV building.<br />
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