Children's Memories on Historic Quake in Japan Remembered

Tokyo, Aug. 14 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese association commemorating the victims of a massive earthquake that struck the Tokyo area a century ago has created a DVD featuring essays and drawings by elementary school students who experienced the disaster. The association selected 14 essays for the DVD from a collection written by some 2,000 then students in central Tokyo. Authored by students from six schools in then Honjo Ward, now Sumida Ward, the 14 were read for the DVD by students of the same grade who currently live there. The 40-minute DVD also introduces drawings by children from an elementary school in Honjo. One crayon drawing depicts the burning flames and families escaping into the river. In an essay entitled "Big Earthquake and Big Fire," a third grader describes fleeing evacuees, writing, "Adults are running away saying, 'Hot, hot.'" A second grader says in an essay that her father "suffered burns, the skin from his face, neck, hands, elbows and knees peeled off, and he can't speak." The association in Sumida launched the DVD project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the quake after the collection of essays, stored by a memorial museum, became too old to pick up and read. The DVD will not go on sale but will be available at any time at the museum, which is scheduled to reopen on Sept. 1 after refurbishment. Kenichi Takada of the association, who is in charge of commemorative events, said, "We want people to feel the vivid experiences of the disaster that children had at the time, through the voices of today's children." The Sept. 1, 1923, quake left more than 100,000 people in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures dead or missing. END