Photos: Japan Mayor Thanks PUSD Students for Tsunami Support

Morning Creek Elementary School students welcomed Mayor Fumiko Hayashi, of Yokohama, Japan, to campus on Tuesday with a flag ceremony as she stopped by to thank them for sending 1,000 cranes to Japanese students last year in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

“When someone hurts part of our world, it hurts all of our world,” Poway Unified School District Superintendent John Collins said at the ceremony, where K-5 students waved a mix of Japanese and American flags.

Hayashi, who was accompanied by other Japanese officials, thanked the students for their support, through a translator, after wishing them a good morning in English. The students wished her a good morning in Japanese.

The students in Japan were “impressed and encouraged” by their gift, Hayashi said through the translator.

School district officials said Hayashi specifically asked to stop by Morning Creek during this visit to San Diego, which celebrates the 55th anniversary of the sister city partnership between Yokohama and San Diego. The elementary school students had raised money for Japan with a book sale, signed a banner with encouraging messages and created 1,000 paper origami cranes as a sign of support.

Check out the photo gallery for images from Hayashi’s visit to the elementary school campus, including a presentation of the American flag to the mayor by Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 16 from MCAS Miramar. Morning Creek student body president Brandon Henao, 11, and vice president Kylie Heinzman, 10, also held up a Japanese flag during the ceremony.