
Link for the interview
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JpWY0-MhYaF1Snvnqp-IGRAkqYxyGpqo/view?usp=share_link
Paper Crane- This is one of the most traditional artifacts people in Japan have made with making wider range of wishes regardless of their age, situation, socioeconomic status, or cultural background. Throughout the interview with my grandmother, it turns out that she also has many memories of origami, especially paper cranes. She showed me a thousand paper cranes and explained to me that it was the one that her friends gave her when she had an illness. The key detail is that she also had an experience of making it for her friends for some reason. At that moment, her older sister taught her how to make origami paper cranes and other types of artifacts.
She also told me about the history of what meaning a paper crane has and why. A crane has a long neck and legs, which is connected to longevity and good fortune, so people make a copy crane with origami to make a wish for heals from illness, good luck in concerts or competitions, and world peace. Thus, it can be said that how to make origami artifacts including paper cranes has been passed down to the next generation by means of making them together. In addition, making a thousand paper cranes takes maker so much time, which requires some strong urge to drive them on. That’s why she said every paper crane has its own story.
Talking about paper cranes with my grandmother recalled my memory of visiting Hiroshima as a school trip. It was common for junior high school students in my hometown to visit Hiroshima and learn about history and the meaning of peace. When visiting there, our class made a thousand paper cranes to offer to the monument of peace (the images are shown on the cajita)
The interview itself was carried out in Japanese, so it may be difficult for listeners or viewers to understand the whole meaning, but to make the understanding easier, I asked my grandmother to actually make some origami artifacts. By watching the scene, many will realize how smoothly she makes them despite the fact that she created it for the first time in a really long time.