GLH Core Activities
December 2023:
The 2023 Hiroshima Hibakujumoku Working Group met at the UNITAR office on December 19. Attendees included representatives of Hiroshima City, Mayors for Peace, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima Botanical Garden, as well as GLH core team and committee members. The meeting was again a chance to brainstorm and share notes on collective efforts to spread the seeds across the world, as well as the preservation and management of mother trees themselves.
December 2023:
The second seed-picking of 2023 in December convened a larger gathering of the A-Bomb trees community at Hiroshima Castle for picking seeds from the majestic Kurogane Holly tree.
November 2023:
The first seed picking of the year was held in November at Atagoike (the Grove, by the Hiroshima Peace Avenue). It brought together our core members, who quickly rallied upon receipt of news from master-gardener Chikara Horiguchi that the Japanese Persimmon and Hackberry trees were ready for seed-picking!
June 2023:
On June 29, 2023, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) organized a roundtable and book launch to commemorate the Afghan Fellowship Legacy Projects (click this link to learn more). The event was attended by several notable individuals associated with the GLH network: co-founders Nassrine Azimi and Tomoko Watanabe, and current and former GLH members Haruka Yasuda, Yuko Baba, Taiga Nishimura, Benjamin Echikson, Saeeda Razick and Jenny Xin Luan. Ari Novy, the President and CEO of the San Diego Botanic Garden and an international scientific adviser for GLH, delivered his remarks via Zoom during the event.
Click this link to view a slideshow of the event.
December 2022:
On December 10th - international Human Rights Day - GLH team and partners gathered under the Kurogane holly tree at Hiroshima Castle, for one of our important seed-picking events. We then headed to pick seeds of the Hackberry and Permission trees at historic Atago Pond. It was wonderful to gather in person again for the first time after COVID-19 -- a peaceful moment for all as always, and we felt the resilience of the trees.
The following week our core team — our coordinator Nassrine Azimi, Master Gardener Chikara Horiguchi, Haruka Yasuda, and Benjamin Echikson from GLH team — went for seed picking at the Camphor tree by the Motomachi Apartments. Thanks to the magical power of the A-bombed trees, the rain and snow stopped before the seed-picking day, and we were able to collect a lot of seeds single-mindedly!
