YEREVAN. - Students of Armenian-Japanese Scientific, Educational and Cultural Center “Hikari” by tradition made lanterns to commemorate the anniversary of the bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This year 20 lanterns will be sent to Hiroshima, and 30 to Nagasaki, Hikari Centre Director Karine Piliposyan told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

The lanterns will be taken to the Land of the Rising Sun by the Armenian Ambassador to Japan Hrant Poghosyan. Decorated by children, they depict Mount Ararat and Fuji, blooming pomegranate and sakura, flags of Armenia and Japan, etc. In the year marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, all the lanterns are decorated with forget-me-nots.  

Hikari Centre was the first to initiate the sending of lanterns to Hirshima. This initiative was backed by children from all over the world, the sending of the lanterns already turning into a tradition.

The U bomb code-named "Little Boy" was targeted at the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the US bomber B-29 Enola Gay, resulting in the deaths of 70-100 thousand people in one second.

The United States dropped the second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9.