A million cranes in support of Japan

Bonnie Eisenman ’14 folds a paper crane in Frist Campus Center as part of the Million Crane Project, a nationwide effort launched by Princeton and Stanford students to show support for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The idea comes from the Japanese legend of senbazuru, which promises a wish to anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes. The project team hopes to collect 1 million paper cranes by May 11 to be used in the creation of a piece of memorial art.  

Shiro Kuriwaki ’14, a member of the Japanese Student Association, said that earthquake victims “do need money and enough food, but they also need a time to smile or relax or feel that someone cares for them.”

A total of 14 Princeton students, faculty, and staff were in Japan at the time of the earthquake; the University reported that all were safe. Doug Lorenz ’76, president of the Princeton Club of Japan, said in an April 5 e-mail that while the club did not have a full accounting of all alumni in the country, “to our knowledge everyone — including those who were in the northeast – have been accounted for and are fine.”