Cook Elementary students are getting a taste of Japanese Culture.
More than 75 fourth- and fifth-grade students in the grade boost enrichment program performed “Sadako and the Thousand Cranes” Thursday evening in the school auditorium.
The play is about Sadako Sasaki, a 2-year-old Japanese girl who lived in Hiroshima and was exposed to radiation when the United States bombed the city on Aug. 6, 1945. Sadako developed leukemia as a result of the radiation exposure. She died when she was 12 years old, in Oct. 1955.
Cook Elementary Principal Tim Wilcox said the story looks at Sadako’s desire for peace after the bombings.
“The Japanese legend of the thousand cranes is if you create 1,000 origami cranes, then you’re granted a wish,” Wilcox said. “Her wish was for peace. So that’s the legend and essence of the play.
“The coincidence is that on (May 27), President Obama will be speaking in Hiroshima in the peace park near a statue that we have a representation of on our stage,” Wilcox added. “It all fits together.”
Students have been working on the play since February.
International coverage
Tadasuke Kitajima, a correspondent for Japanese newspaper Tokyo Shimbun’s New York branch, visited Cook Elementary Thursday to watch the play. He said he found out about the play from Chieko Iwata, the Japan Outreach Coordinator for Mississippi State University’s School of Human Sciences.
Kitajima said he’s connecting the play to Obama’s visit to Hiroshima later in the month. He said the President’s visit is an important moment for the two countries.
“It’s exciting,” Kitajima said. “The visit to Hiroshima of the U.S. President to Japan is pretty big news in Japan, and for America as well. I hope the feeling of the people from Hiroshima is shared by the people in the United States.”
Culture through the arts
Mississippi University for Women Department of Education assessment coordinator Brenda Dickey attended an early rehearsal Thursday afternoon.
Dickey lived in Japan for 35 years, and said she sees the production and the exposure to Japanese culture as a valuable experience for students.
“Having the backdrop they have here (has) such authenticity that it brings the culture to our community and helps our children see how Japanese children live in Japan,” she said. “Educationally, they’re talking about having real experiences and bringing those experiences to children so they have an open global world view.”
Wilcox said the play is part of the culminating capstone activity for each grade. The theme varies from year to year — last year, students put on The Lion King, and they performed a Broadway-style production the year before that. Wilcox said the school focused on Japanese culture this year to
“One of our goals this year was to focus on Japanese cultural integration because we wanted our students to have an awareness of Japanese Culture,” Wilcox said. “The best way to learn Japanese culture is through the arts. We wanted them to have that opportunity.”
The play features Japanese drums, and the Tokyo Ministry Archive in Japan lent the school 80 authentic costumes.
“We want to bring in the essence and the authentic components to make it relevant for them,” Wilcox said. “That’s the key — when we have those authentic drums and when we have the lanterns and the costumes and all of the key elements of this story, then it brings relevance to them. It brings meaning and context to them, and that’s what we really want to have for them.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.