Dear relatives, all involved and interested parties,
We would like to inform you about the current state of affairs regarding the Nagasaki monument and the website http://Fukuoka14b.org
Nagasaki Memorial:
We are very pleased to announce that on Monday April 12th. The construction of the monument for all prisoners of war at camp Fukuoka 14b in Nagasaki has started.
What started 6 years ago as an idea and wish has now become reality and the first spade has been placed in the ground.
We are proud and sincerely grateful to all who have put their heart and soul to make this monument possible.
In our newsletter of January last. we have indicated that the monument will be ready on 4 May 2021. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing Corona crisis, we cannot celebrate this in a big way, but a small-scale completion ceremony will be held. We wanted to try to set up a live stream connection of this, so that it could be followed online. However, due to the large time difference between Japan and the Netherlands, this is unfortunately not possible. Our alternative is that a video and photos are taken and sent to us immediately after the completion ceremony. These images will then be available on the website http://Fukuoka14b.org.
Zoom Meeting on May 4
We are also in the process of organizing a Zoom meeting on 4 May, around 10:30 am with all the relatives known to us. The program will then be sent to you including the login details for this Zoom session. It promises to be a special session with a PowerPoint presentation about the project, a moment of remembrance at 11:02 am, the time of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and a toast moment to the completion of the monument.
If you are interested and would like to get to know other relatives, the Kizuna committee and the board of the Nagasaki monument foundation, we would like to hear from you.
Official unveiling ceremony 2022.
We do not yet know when the official ceremonial unveiling of the monument in connection with COVID-19 can take place. We are in close consultation with the Dutch Embassy in Tokyo about this. Our cautious new schedule is September 2022. For those who would like to attend, now have ample time to prepare for planning this trip and ceremony. If more information becomes available about flight and hotel booking options, we will let you know as soon as possible.
Website:
On the website http://Fukuoka14b.org, under the button monument / news, you can find the photos and videos of the start of the construction of the monument, which will take place on April 12th. occurred. The NHK television news broadcast about this event can also be found on the site. Great to see how the Japanese committee worked on this with all volunteers. A fantastic joint venture between Japan and the Netherlands.
We are now working on further adapting the website. The above information about the completion ceremony of the monument will also be communicated via the website. Keep an eye on the website for the latest news.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for the website, please let us know.
On behalf of the board of the Monument Nagasaki foundation, we stay with kind regards,
Rob Schouten and Ruud van Kraaij