Today, as they have once a year since 1971, the members of The Rotary Club of Hiroshima-South are enjoying a big bunch of bright anthuriums from the Big Island on the anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Today, as they have once a year since 1971, the members of The Rotary Club of Hiroshima-South are enjoying a big bunch of bright anthuriums from the Big Island on the anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Each year, as a token of goodwill and friendship, the members of The Rotary Club of Hilo have sent a colorful bouquet to the members of their sister club, in remembrance of the victims of the bombing at the end of World War II.
The flowers are placed in front of the Centaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Each year, in response, the Hilo Rotary president receives a thank-you letter from the president of the Hiroshima-South group.
The sister-club relationship between the two organizations can be traced back to 1969, when a friendship was formed between long-time Hilo Rotarian Russ Oda and Hiroshima Rotarian Dr. Sunao Wada. Wada was in Hawaii to study the effects of the atom bomb on Japanese citizens who had moved to Hawaii. That friendship was the initial link that eventually led to the formal “Rotary Sister Club” relationship that exists today.