On the anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, we are meeting Japanese and Turkish children in memory of Sadako Sasaki, with the wish for a peaceful world where children can play freely and without fear, and where their right to life is not restricted.

After the great disasters caused by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in the Second World War, Sadako Sasaki fell ill and became bedridden at the age of 12. According to a Japanese belief, she believed that if she made 1000 paper cranes, her wish would come true, and she would get well and play with her toys again as before.

On this meaningful day, the children will use the art of origami to make the cranes that Sadako tried to complete to 1000 in her hospital bed so that her wishes would come true, and they will send them into the sky from the Baltalimanı Japanese Garden with words of peace written on their wings!

As the Istanbul Toy Museum, which has remembered Sadako Sasaki every year since it was founded with different workshops, we hold this event together with the İBB Department of Parks, Gardens and Green Spaces and with the support of the Japanese Consulate, in the hope that the wishes for peace that take flight from the Baltalimanı Japanese Garden will spread to the whole world...

About Sadako Sasaki:

Sadako Sasaki was one of the people affected by the great disasters caused by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in the Second World War. Sadako Sasaki, who fell ill and became bedridden at the age of 12, believed, according to a Japanese belief, that if she made 1000 paper cranes, her wish would come true, and she would get well and play with her toys again as before. When Sasaki closed her eyes for the last time, 644 paper cranes she had made stood beside her bed!..

Her school friends completed the cranes that Sadako could not finish. In 1958, the Children’s Peace Monument was built in Hiroshima, and every year paper cranes made in memory of Sadako Sasaki are sent to the monument from different parts of the world to be displayed.