Christchurch has a permanent population of about 3000 Japanese.It was Stage 4, she said, as bad as it gets. The language academy lost 12 students in the collapse of the CTV building. The grieving Japanese parents asked whether an identical sculpture could be made for them back home.īolam-Smith and other members of the Christchurch Kurashiki Sister City Committee set to work again, commissioning a “twin” installed at central Japan’s Toyoma College of Foreign Languages. "And the peak at the top of the sculpture represents, in Maori culture, the spirits depart from the highest point, the ice cap Mt Cook and the prayers – the spirits depart through the purity of water in Japan." That represented the parents that gathered together, getting strength from each other. "Their roots are intertwined and quite often their branches are intertwined to give them stability in the wind. "The Kahikatea tree grows in the swampy ground and they normally grow in clumps," Bolam-Smith said. It was the first time bereaved Japanese family members had gathered together in Christchurch.
The memorial was first displayed at Christ’s College Chapel in 2012, on the first quake anniversary. And to have that happen, it was hard to believe when my wife said he’s been shot.”Ībe’s act of remembrance nearly a decade ago continues at the cathedral every February 22, with the placing of a basket of pohutukawa at the base of the Kahikatea sculpture.īolam-Smith worked with embassy officials and the Japanese community, including bereaved, to commission the sculpture after the 2011 quake. "He was very friendly and very gracious and over the years, into his second term as prime minister.Ībe san has been part of my Japanese life for a long, long time. He said Abe’s assassination was a shock, especially because Japan is so peaceful. He met his wife Junko on that visit and has loved the country ever since.
He has been to Japan more than 70 times, firstly on an overseas trip investigating technology for the Christchurch Star. And his wife did as well.”īolam-Smith, a business owner who says he brought the first sushi to Christchurch, has been fostering cross-cultural ties between Japan and the city for 30 years with the committee. “I offered Prime Minister Abe and his wife a twig each and gave them him the opportunity to pray for his people, which he did, very graciously. Operating under “lockdown” security precautions, a small group including Bolam-Smith honoured all Christchurch’s quake victims by placing of a pohutukawa twig on the Kahikatea sculpture and offering prayers for the dead. At the cathedral he and his wife met Bolam-Smith and the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral at the time, Lynda Patterson. The 28 Japanese students killed in the collapse of the CTV building were the largest number of foreign citizens lost in the disaster.Ībe flew from Auckland for the commemoration, riding in a convoy of 22 cars, including bodyguards. Representing the sister city group, Christchurch Kurashiki Sister City Committee, Bolam-Smith met Abe in 2014 when he visited the Kahikatea Earthquake Memorial Sculpture in the Transitional Cathedral. Photo: SuppliedA memorial to 28 Japanese who died in the February 22, 2011, Christchurch earthquake will now forever remind David Bolam-Smith of the assassination of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. David Bolam-Smith with former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.