In early November, we were delighted to welcome to Hiroshima our partners from Oregon, working to promote the impactful Sunny Day Initiative (founded by Hideko Tamura-Snider). Jim Gersbach from the Oregon Department of Forestry, Mike Oxendine from Oregon Community Trees, and filmmaker David Hedberg. The purpose of the visit was for our partners to see some of the mother survivor trees and to meet master gardener Horiguchi-san and GLH and Hiroshima botanic garden teams. David could also give first public viewings at the Peace Memorial Museum and Hiroshima University of his upcoming documentary, “The Seeds of Peace”, about Hideko and the initiative of planting hibakujumoku tree seeds in Oregon. Click here to learn more.

Yomiuri Shimbun also wrote an article about the visit (JP).

To date, the Sunny Day Initiative has planted 48 hibakujumokus in 32 cities and towns across Oregon. This impressive feat is thanks to the tireless efforts of Hideko Tamura-Snider with the help of Oregon Community Trees board member Mike Oxendine, Oregon Department of Forestry board member Jim Gersbach, and many other colleagues and community members across the state.

To access the Oregon Department of Forestry website with more information and a map of the trees please Click link.

Many public ceremonies for the newly planted Hiroshima peace trees were postponed due to COVID restrictions on public gatherings. Now that those have been lifted, the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) will be holding an in-person celebration honoring the more than four dozen peace trees that have been planted across the state. The ceremony will be held at their headquarters campus in Salem, Oregon on Wednesday, Sept. 21 – the UN-declared International Day of Peace. This will be when they dedicate their ginkgo peace tree, which is flourishing on their campus.

Their state forester Calvin Mukumoto, who is Japanese-American, is inviting all the recipient institutions to attend, along with Hideko Tamura from One Sunny Day Initiative. As a child she survived the atom bombing of Hiroshima and later was instrumental in spurring the peace tree planting movement in Oregon. Board members of the non-profit Oregon Community Trees and ODF staff who helped germinate the seeds, raise the seedling trees and distribute them around the state will also be on hand to be recognized.