Photo/Illutration Yuki Sasaki and former U.S. President Barack Obama, with a paper crane folded by Hiroshima atomic bomb victim Sadako Sasaki, in Hawaii on Feb. 26 (Provided by Sadako Legacy)

A nephew of the Japanese girl who became synonymous with the suffering caused by the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima handed an origami paper crane she is believed to have made to Barack Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit the city.

Yuji Sasaki, 54, met with Obama for about 20 minutes in Hawaii on Feb. 26.

Sadako Sasaki was 2 years old when the city was leveled in the bombing. Her home was about 1.6 kilometers from Ground Zero. She died of leukemia 10 years later.

In hospital, Sadako folded countless cranes with medicine wrapping paper and other materials, believing that her wish for recovery would come true by making 1,000 of them.

According to Sasaki, Obama expressed his gratitude and offered to help the Sasaki family in Hiroshima if they ever needed anything.

“I am glad that the crane my aunt made has formed a major bridge between Japan and the United States,” Sasaki said.

Sadako’s death inspired the Children’s Peace Monument that now stands in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

The gifted crane was discovered in the home of Sasaki’s father, Masahiro, in Fukuoka Prefecture in December.

Measuring about three centimeters by six cm, the faded beige crane is stained and torn here and there.

Masahiro, 83, Sadako’s elder brother, called the crane a precious item as he had believed all her pieces had been donated.

Sasaki is a musician who has focused on peace and being alive in his works. He sings “Inori,” a song about Sadako’s thoughts.

Sadako Legacy, a nonprofit group that Sasaki set up with his father, has donated paper cranes to various people, museums and organizations in Japan and abroad.

In January 2023, Sasaki wrote to Obama’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, saying he wanted to donate one of Sadako’s cranes to her famous brother someday.

Obama later contacted Sasaki.

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