On the right bank of the Neris River, near the National Art Gallery, the Chiune Sugihara Sakura Park was established in October 2001. 200 Japanese sakura trees lining the path were planted in the park to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of this Japanese diplomat. This was a gift from the Japanese Government to Lithuania and the city of Vilnius to honour a man who saved the lives of more than 6,000 Jews from Lithuania, Poland, and Germany.
Sakura (Japanese: 桜), also known as the Japanese cherry blossom tree, is an important part of Japanese culture. Every year, Japan hosts the hanami (Japanese: 花見) festival, during which millions of Japanese people gather in different parts of the country to watch the sakura blossom. Since 2001, this event has become a common sight in Vilnius. Every year, the white and pink blossoms of the sakura burst into bloom in the garden, delighting the citizens and visitors alike.
Interestingly, due to the cooler climate in Lithuania, Japanese cherry blossoms open later than in Japan. Here, they bloom in the second half of April and sometimes continue to bloom into early May.
Monument ‘Stone for Peace’
In 2010, the ‘Stone for Peace’ (architect Dalia Bakšienė) was unveiled in the Sakura Park of Chiune Sugihara on Upės Street. This memorial stone to the victims of Hiroshima features a granite tramway pavement tile that survived the atomic bomb explosion. The tile is engraved with the image of the goddess of mercy, Kannon (Japanese: 観音) and the inscription ‘From Hiroshima’.
On 6 August 1945, the USA dropped an atomic bomb named ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, destroying most of the city. In total, about 140,000 people died in the blast and from the adverse effects of radiation. Three days later, on 9 August, the US dropped an atomic bomb on another Japanese city, Nagasaki. This bombing and its after-effects killed around 74,000 people. Since the development of atomic weapons until today, Japan is the only country in the world against which nuclear weapons have been used.
In the following decades, after the paving stones around the epicentre were found to be no longer radioactive, they were collected and engraved. The Hiroshima Stone for Peace Association, founded in 1991 to encourage humanity to act for peace, began distributing these stones to other countries around the world. Since the Association’s foundation, more than 100 countries, including Lithuania, have erected such memorial stones.
Monument to Chiune Sugihara
In 2001, a monument in honour of the Japanese Consul Chiune Sugihara was unveiled on the right bank of the Neris River, near the White Bridge. The two-metre-high monument, made of pink granite and bronze, was erected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Consul’s birth. The monument was created on the initiative of Waseda University in Tokyo, where Sugihara studied.
In 1939, Chiune Sugihara was appointed Japanese Consul in Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania. At the outbreak of the Second World War, without any official authority from his government, Chiune Sugihara had already issued Japanese transit visas to Jews emigrating from Lithuania. These visas are also known as ‘life visas’ because they allowed people to escape emigration to other parts of the world by going through Japan. It is estimated that some 6,000 Jewish lives were saved as a result of the visas issued by Chiune Sugihara. For this feat, in 1985, the State of Israel conferred on Chiune Sugihara the title of Righteous Among the Nations, an honorary title given to citizens of other countries who saved victims of the Holocaust.
Tasks:
1) Take a picture of the sculpture "The first swallows" and upload to your log.
2) First waypoint Monument ‘Stone for Peace’ find the plate with name "Hirosimos Grindinio akmuo - Taikos simbolis". Second line 1945 m. rugpjūčio 6d. XXXX val. remember time.
3 Second waypoint Monument to Chiune Sugihara. Find a plate with names and surnames you are looking for a name in 2 column 9 row. Format YYY+YYYYYYY remember name and surname
4) Enter to the checker below answers from 2 and 3 questions. Answer format: XXXX+YYY+YYYYYYY (instead of space write +)
5) If everything is correct you can log a geocache :)
You can validate your puzzle solution with
certitude.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.