Join us for a Peace Day Commemoration. Listen to beautiful koto music, fold origami cranes, dance an Obon dance and hear about the story of Sadako, Ages 8 and up.
Join us for a Peace Day Commemoration in the Berkeley Public Library Mystery Room.
Listen to beautiful koto music by Brian Mitsuhiro Wong, learn how to fold an origami crane, dance an Obon Dance, and hear about the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who lived through the bombing of Hiroshima, but died years later from the effects of the atomic bomb. She was made famous for folding 1,000 origami cranes in the hopes that her wish to survive would be granted.
The Berkeley Public Library Playreaders will perform her story, and we will learn a simple Bon Odori dance lead by the Berkeley-Sakai Sister City Association.
Ages 8 and up and families are welcome (younger children will need help from their adult).
Please note: Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto can no longer join us for the event, but we're honored to be joined by Shirley's son Brian Mitsuhiro Wong.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library
photo Sadako Statue/Crane Bell by Matt Watts is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Brian Mitsuhiro Wong, an American of Japanese and Chinese heritage, carries on the musical family koto tradition that he inherited from his mother and grandmother. Brian’s grandmother learned the koto as a little girl in the WWII American concentration camps at Topaz, Utah and Tule Lake, California. Brian’s mother, Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, started teaching him the koto when he was four years old. He has been performing in festivals, events and concerts around the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, and helps his mother with performances and workshops. Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto and Brian produced a CD album together, “Oyako Don Koto” (“Parent and Child Koto Music”). He has enjoyed recent collaborations with Nakamura Gankyo (first artist from outside of Japan to be accepted into the Kabuki world in its 400+ year history), which had Brian performing in nagauta style music on shamisen, vocal and koto. Brian is a finalist in the prestigious Kenjun Koto Competition in Kurume, Japan in 2019. He provided koto, shamisen and shakuhachi music for the video game “Call of Duty II: Modern Warfare”, for the Michelin-starred restaurant Omakase Restaurant Sushi Battle with Chef Jackson Yu, and the San Jose anime convention Crunchy Roll.
The Berkeley-Sakai Association is a volunteer sister city non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization that promotes friendship and goodwill between Berkeley, California and Sakai, Japan. The Berkeley-Sakai Association was formed on November 3, 1967 ,the same year that Berkeley and Sakai became each others first sister city. Our programs involve individuals. families, and organizations dedicated to the exchange of culture and friendship between Sakai and Berkeley.
AGE GROUP: | Teens | Preteens | Elementary | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Movies, Music & Performance | Cultural & Heritage | Creative | Authors, Books & Writing |
