On October 18, 2018, a sunny and crisp fall day in Oberlin, LIASE put on its first Green Legacy event of the year, “Green Legacy Fall Talk: Stories of Peace.” Green Legacy is a non-profit organization in Japan whose mission it is to spread the message of peace through sharing the seeds of the survivor trees of Hiroshima’s A-bomb worldwide. As Professor Ann Sherif said in her introduction, “By nurturing these trees and expressing and listening to their stories, we are ambassadors of their message of peace and green legacy.”
Around 50 students, faculty, and community members gathered to listen to the LIASE Student Assistants read the Kamishibai (紙芝居) story. Kamishibai, literally translated “paper drama,” is a kind of traditional storytelling from Japan. The story,「小さなアリと大きな木」translated “A Small Ant and the Big Trees,” was sent to Oberlin from Green Legacy in Japan, and was written by Watanabe Tomoko, a founder of Green Legacy, and illustrated by Takayama Taiji. Professor Ann Sherif translated the Kamishibai into an English script, which the student assistants read and acted out in front of Oberlin’s own Ginkgo tree from Green Legacy.
After the short story was read, people gathered to sign a card and fold paper cranes to send to Green Legacy for when Oberlin Shansi Executive and Deputy Directors Gavin Tritt and Ted Samuel visit their office in Hiroshima the following week.
A special thank you to the Luce Foundation LIASE Grant, East Asian Studies, Environmental Science, Biology, and Geology departments, Oberlin Shansi, and the President’s and Grants Office for their support in making this event happen.