Hiroshima Day Speech (Mana and Tawa Colleges) On this day, August the 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima. 70,000 people died instantly. Over the next 5 years, 100,000 people died of radiation sickness. 11 year old Sadako was one of those people. She had decided to follow the ancient Japanese tradition of folding 1000 paper cranes to have a wish granted. Her wish was just to live. She died after making only 633 cranes. Her school friends folded the remaining 367 and began the tradition of folding the paper cranes and wishing for World Peace, because Sadako had written on her cranes, “I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all around the world.” With the help of the students studying Japanese from Tawa College, we have put together a musical tribute to all those affected by the atomic bomb. This piece of music is dedicated to Sadako and her dream of world peace.