In remembrance
To those killed in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To those who survived and carried their losses for the rest of their lives. To the families who remember them, and to the people who have shared their stories so the world can hear what happened.
May we remember the lives that were being lived that morning, the homes and neighborhoods people knew, and the people they expected to see again. May the United States carry that memory honestly, and may our friendship with Japan deepen through the care we take with it.
A bronze sakura for Japan
The proposed gift is a 50-foot sculpture of a Japanese cherry tree at peak bloom. A single bronze trunk opens into a wide canopy of closely layered ivory and blush metal blossoms. The dark limbs are visible beneath the flowers, and a low stone base leaves room to walk around the tree.
Where the Washington memorial would ask Americans to remember, the bronze sakura would express gratitude to the people of Japan. The riverfront in the rendering is an imagined setting. The proposal is offered in the hope that a gift of this kind could be shaped with Japanese artists and the people who would live with it.