AIZUWAKAMATSU--The opening ceremony for the 35th Fukushima Festival of Arts and Sciences was held on Aug. 4 with high hopes for the future despite the crisis at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
AIZUWAKAMATSU--The opening ceremony for the 35th Fukushima Festival of Arts and Sciences was held on Aug. 4 with high hopes for the future despite the crisis at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
"Fukushima will not give up," 18-year-old Akio Endo told the 1,500 people who filled the auditorium in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. "(But) when we think of the people who were affected by the disaster or who are evacuating, we cannot help but have mixed feelings."
Endo, a third-year student at Asaka High School, is chairman of the student committee consisting of 49 representatives from area high schools. He said the committee received messages of support and encouragement from across the nation.
"We want to invigorate Japan by sending a message that high school students' cultural activities are going forward," he said. "Fukushima is vigorous despite the disaster. Welcome to Fukushima, where you feel like smiling."
His speech was greeted with cheers and applause.
At Corrasse Fukushima, one of the 13 venues holding the festival, performances by students from special-needs schools were held. Nine students from Taira Special School in Iwaki recited poems by Iwaki-related poets.
"Hi, there, Cloud! Where are you going? Are you going all the way to Iwaki-Taira?" the students read. The students read Bocho Yamamura's famous poem "Kumo" (Clouds) in unison. Yamamura lived in Iwaki in the Taisho Era (1912-1926).
Yukiko Aoki, their teacher, said, "Some students have difficulty in pronouncing words. But they helped each other."
A first-year student, who had been an evacuee for several months said, "I hope to exchange ideas with fellow high school students from other prefectures."
(This article was written by Yasuhito Watanabe and Emi Tadama.)