The Bernard Buffet Museum in Shizuoka Prefecture is located on the Clematis no Oka (Hill of Clematis) and also close to the Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum. The museum has a Children’s Museum and not only families from the surrounding area but also families from the Kanto region make a little trip to visit here. One hundred parents and children took part in a total of ten workshops that were held from January until March 2008 and learned about the Kaki Tree Project through making collagraph (print).

In the morning of the day of the tree planting ceremony, a workshop was held and persimmon leaves drawn by children were collaged on the “Tree of Life,” which was painted by artist (Ms. or Mr.?) Miki Mochizuka, who is based in Shizuoka Prefecture. A thousand leaves will be added to this tree of life in the next ten years.
Being surrounded by the paintings of Buffet, people enjoyed a memorial concert with Ms. Reiko Komatsu on the Marimba, Mr. Hirotake Kitakata on the piano and Mr. Yoshiyuki Miyaji on the drums in the afternoon. They played their original song “Tree,” composed by Ms. Komatsu and Mr. Kitakata, inspired by “the Kaki Tree Project.”
Afterward two trees were planted in the front courtyard and a big time capsule that contained the collagraph of persimmon leaves with children’s messages written on was buried next to the trees. The capsule will be opened at the “Harvest of KAKI” celebration ten years later.
Mr. Ebinuma also came over from Nagasaki and it was a ceremony with children’s cheerful voices echoed throughout the museum that is surrounded by a rich natural environment.

As Cansorzio Travolo Della Pace Franciacorta - Monte Orfano took the lead in organizing, tree plantings at six municipalities in the Province of Brescia were realized and to round up a series of tree plantings that took place in the Province of Brescia, they organized a tree planting in the open space adjacent to Convento dell’ Annunciata. Prior to the tree planting ceremony, there was an exhibition on the theme of “The atomic bombing in Hiroshima” in the cloister of the convent.

Participants first gathered in the town of Coccaglio. A white tent was prepared in the rain and the mayor and the organizer gave speeches, and a story was presented to the accompaniment of a guitar. Five mayors from the municipalities of Rovato and Coccaglio, where tree plantings took place on 6th March, that of Leno and Rezzato, where tree plantings took place on 7th of March, and that of Castegnato, where tree planting took place on 8th of March, participated in the project and then they started to march down the “Franciacorta peace road” from Coccaglio to Monte Orfano. Heading the procession were three girls who were hoisting the national flags of Italy and Japan, and Mr. Ebinuma, holding the seedling, interpreter Mr. Atsushi Ito and high school students musical band playing drums followed. There were also those mayors, children and local residents in the long procession. Since it was a procession of so many people, it was guarded by policemen. Along the way, people rhythmically sang along and called out “Pace! Pace! (Peace).” They arrived at the convent that stands on the small hill of Monte Orfano after about 40 minutes. There, after speeches made by the representative of Cansorzio Travolo Della Pace Franciacorta - Monte Orfano and Consul Hiroshi Higashi from the Japanese Consulate in Milan and a talk by Mr. Ebinuma, finally the tree was planted. The Consul, mayors, Mr. Manisera and children’s representatives covered the tree with soil and that concluded the the ceremony. After the ceremony, a mass was held at the convent so the participants firmly believe that the tree will thrive.

As Cansorzio Travolo Della Pace Franciacorta - Monte Orfano took the lead in organizing, tree plantings at six municipalities in the Province of Brescia were realized. One of the sites was a park in the city of Castegnato, wherein Cansorzio Travolo Della Pace Franciacorta - Monte Orfano is based. The park lies adjacent to Scuola Primaria E. De Amicis and the nursing home for older people. A makeshift stage was set up in the big open space inside the park and the big flags that were used for the tree planting ceremony a day before were put on the wall.

Although it was drizzling on the day of the tree planting ceremony, children from Amicis Primary School came in neat lines to the park, being led by their teachers. Each child held origami crane(s?) with a string tied. Many adults gathered also. After addresses made by Mr.Giuseppe Orizio, mayor of the city of Castegnato and Prof. Elia Ravelli, principal of La Scuola Elementare di Castegnato, Mr. Ebinuma gave a speech. Mr. Shozo Tanaka, who is an atomic bomb survivor and now resides in the city, talked about the experience. After children introduced their poems, while everybody sang along to guitar, the youngest children covered the tree that was planted in a big pot with soil on behalf of other children. There was a surprise present of the song “Happy Birthday” to Mr. Ebinuma from children at the end. Although the tree was planted in the park after its improvement, it died unfortunately. So, on 14th of March 2009, the tree planting ceremony took place again with children invited. This time the tree was directly planted in the park, so it is believed to thrive.