in japan there is no belief that a crane could move for thousand years. if you fold 1000 paper cranes

they will protect you from illness. after the bomb fell on hiroshima, august six 1945, the people folded paper cranes. today in hiroshima, men women and children are still folding paper cranes. especially children. but they are still suffering from radiation effects of the bomb. what's it like to be a child in hiroshima, so many years after the war. these children look like children anywhere. but the pond they're paying

playing in is called the peace plante. the peace plan and. estimates from the bomb goes high is 200,000 or more. it was 8:15, on a hot summer morning, much like this one. when that first bomb flushed through the sky, and destroyed the city inflaming heat. now children play in the fountain, in front of the peace museum. which pays testimony, of what the dawn of what the bomb did. . when they walk home from the school through the park, they see what was once the exhibition hall. now it is the only shell left standing from the atomic blast.

but all children, make their way to the children's monument in the park. it was erected after the death of a young person who died at the age of 12. of leukemia. now children, bring paper cranes as offering to the monument. this young woman was a friend of the person who died. they would've been the same age had he lived. but he has become a legend, he is the and frank of hiroshima. remember for the tragic death of radiation. he was one of hundreds of young people to suffer such a fate. but became a symbol of them all. in her outstretched arms, she holds a golden crane.

who was sadako. she was just two years old when the bomb fell not far from her home. she was a good swimmer, fastest in her class. but suddenly she developed the signs of leukemia. she was happy when her classmates came to visit her in the hospital, and she folded paper cranes. she wanted to make 1000. and she reached only 964 when she died. no more summer hiking, no more swimming. and then as if the death of

sadako symbolized all their death. the children of hiroshima, wanted to do something, they made this monument, to remind the world of what upon can do to the young. every morning the crane looks down on the city it sees this little nursery school, the first to be rebuilt after the war. it seems like such a normal scene, the teacher reports on the days off to the hospital for a blood transfusion. round and round the terrible memory of that day of the bomb must still go in her head. but she tells the children nothing. the crane knows that this

popular teacher, has a problem. like sadako, when she was in the sixth grade her gums began to bleed. but the symptoms went away. in junior high school she became weak, and was diagnosed with anemia. for the past five years, she's been in and out of hospitals she doesn't talk about the past her father was in the post office when the bomb fell, and died a year later. she doesn't talk about the future either. she knows that other japanese, do not like to talk about the survivors, they consider them

tainted. other peoples children is maybe all that uk will have in her life. the crane often watches down over this little girl three years her mother became ill and then she died of leukemia. a word she could not understand. this is her pitcher, taken just before she died at the age of 27. and this is the bull buddhist alter for her. her mother was only 13 when the bomb fell, she was not heard at the time. she did not suspect that the radiation effects in her body, with some day separate her from her beloved child. they don't know if this will be

inherited. this is tim eco, her brother was 16 when he died of leukemia leukemia, her family became poor paying for his expenses. now her father makes glass cases for dolls. he wish he and his family could live in the protected world of dolls. but he cannot forget his lawson. this girl was born three years after the war. her dream was to have the organ, transplant. she says she often thinks about her brother when she plays. her brother had eaten canned goods from an army supply depot, and after that he was never

well. he got the symptoms of leukemia, the doctor said it might have been from exposed cannot food. her mother who also ate the food is weak. weakness is one of the symptoms that most survivor seem to have. but her body is also swollen, and she complains of internal pain. she likes to make cranes, with her mother. if only his suffering had not been in vain. paper cranes, i shall write piece on them. and you shall fly, all over the world. she has joined a group of

children from here she ma dedicated to peace. until recently, and in this shack behind the atomic stone, it belongs to a day laborer, and his wife. both survivors. the folded crane club,, some men are meant to be the conscious of their time. wearing his white hat, the gentleman is one of them. he claims everyone must pray for peace in the world. and each week, he and the children print a newspaper, for the survivors in the hospitals. they also write letters, to the

heads of state, and she the united nations. asking for universal disarmament. this lady earn some money sewing, she met in a bible class, and try to find some meaning that had fallen their city. it left her permanently crippled, after the blast was hit near her home. although they love children, they have none of their own. they didn't have them because of the two deformed babies born to her sister. i cannot take the risk of producing monstrosities. he was outside of the city when

the bombs fell, but he was exposed to the radiation. the children know that he is weak, but they cannot persuade him to rest. he keeps thinking, perhaps this pamphlet will be the one, to convince the world that there must never be another nuclear war. they have nothing for themselves scrap books school pictures, portraits of other children who have died. they have made a children spiritual home, outside of the rubble from their city.

and always, the atomic dome is their backdrop. they're reminder, of what a city looks like, after a nuclear attack. all the survivors of the nuclear attack, the atomic bomb hospital is still filled with survivors. need checkups or treatments. the children of the folded crane club, come here regularly to distribute their newspapers. but are the children of hiroshima really children. the legacy of death, that the bomb has dropped on them. no. and atomic bomb -- wipes out a city. to these children, a hospital is a familiar place.

mr. me a motel,, but the time he was not harmed, but seven years ago he began to fail internal pain. he receives blood now twice a week. he is been here for three years, and the doctors do not tell him when, he can go home. in the meantime, he makes boats which he gives to visitors. he tells the children, just a pure in their motives. as they work for peace. 35 year old, has been in the hospital for two years this 35-year-old. her leg was injured in the bombing, and now she has kidney

trouble. and frequent belts frequent bouts of jaundice. her husband died of cancer. her children are living in an orphanage until she can care for them. but when will that be? tell other countries what a bomb can do she says, tell them to work for peace. her children keep their deal with them in the orphanage. and they always read their mothers letters. they are children, my dear children she says i hope you are well enjoying yourselves. her daughter is always thinking of the two days a month she can visit her mother. the little one likes to talk of the day they will live together in the house of their own. her older sister does not say

anything then. she understands that her mother will be too weak to work, even if she gets out of the hospital. that they have many your years many more years, at this orphanage. she can look at the inland sea, to bores island. the island was the largest orphanage. one september night, here now with a truck, and abducted 60 orphans. when he got to the pier, he had only 33 boys left, but they were the original ones, to come to the island.

only one of those boys, it's still on the island. sato teaching woodworking on the left. he was ten years old that night, no use 27. his mother a widow, was killed on her way to work, in the building when she was on her work way to work in the building that is now the atomic dome. those were chaotic weeks. he still doesn't know if his sisters are alive. sato has many memories, as he hopes these children do what he did as a child. only sato seen how seems held to the island by ties from the

past. and he says these children, have never known the nightmares of the children who lived through the atomic blast. sato likes to climb the hill to visit a grave, and he took off his hat on his quest, and he asked if his hair looked all right from the back. he was really asking if it was long enough to hide the scars that he is still so ashamed of. half of his body was burned. he tries to believe he has no radiation damage, but it is always there. just as a city that has been

burned can rebuild, so can a man's skin build car tissue, but his mind cannot get rid of that fear. a bomb disease has become as much as an emotional illness, as well as a physical one. how many times has sato look out at the main line, saying he would try to forget and want to forget hiroshima. on the surface, it would be so easy to forget, most of its population of 450, 000, is made up of outsiders. who rushed in to take advantage of the frontier conditions. there was the rumor, that for 75 years, trees and flowers would never grow again in hiroshima. they are growing. but in the shadow of fear, that still hangs over the island,

fear of leukemia, fear of cancer, fear of genetic affects, fear of liver and blood disease. the people of hiroshima, walk the streets of the city carrying these fears. and every day they pass the bank, and on the front step, is still the shadow of a man who look for refuge there. it's been photographed for posterity. a reminder, but after the nuclear blast, only the shadow of this man remains. the shadow in the stone. >> the crane on top of the children's monument, knows all these things. but he wants people in other countries, to know about here she ma and bombs. tell everyone to work for peace

he says. tell them to make certain, there will be no war. tell them about sadako. tell them to fold paper cranes together. to write peace on their wings, and they shall fly all over. tell them that they can fold their own cranes for peace, like the children at the cream club. they queue can wash away the world. tell them it is up to the children of the world, to sweep away the nuclear ashes of the past. to sweep in peace. tell them on the night of august six, the anniversary of the bomb, to think of hiroshima.

on that night, the members of the folded crane club, take the lanterns to the sea, and float them down the river, for the spirits of the children who have died. on the each on each lantern they write a child's name. they send them out for the personal prayer, that they believe show keep their memory alive. and sometimes they are laden song,. give back my father, get back my mother, give grandpa back. give me my son and daughters

back. give me back myself. give mankind back, give each back to each other. so long this life lasts, give peace back to us. a piece that will never end. .