The display of paper cranes that were made by U.S. President Barack Obama at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum will be extended for about five months, while one of the cranes will be loaned to Nagasaki, another atomic bombed city, the Hiroshima municipal office said Wednesday.
Initially, the display of the cranes Obama presented when he made his historic visit to the city in May was slated to end this month, but Hiroshima will continue to exhibit them until the end of January, as a recent increase in visitors to the facility indicated high public interest.
Nagasaki will display the crane it gets on loan at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum from Sept. 3 to the end of November to share the significance of Obama's Hiroshima visit.
A copy of the message that Obama signed in the museum's guest book will be also displayed at the Nagasaki museum.
The president wrote: "We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons."
"Although he is the leader of one of the nuclear superpowers, Obama decided to visit Hiroshima and we hope that visitors can feel his thoughts" through the crane, said a Nagasaki municipal official.
A Hiroshima municipal official said the city hopes the crane display "will contribute to forming greater public opinion on realizing a world without nuclear weapons."
In addition, another crane will be displayed at an atomic bomb exhibition to be held from Oct. 1 in Chicago, Obama's hometown, which will be organized by Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Obama on May 27 became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima and gave a speech at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.