AKAI KUTSU
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Akai Kutsu was written in 1922 by Ujō Noguchi (1883-1945) and composed by Nagayo Motoori (1885-1945). This popular song is based on a true story of a girl named Kimi Iwasaki. Kimi was born into a poor farmer family in 1902. Her parents - who lived in Shizuoka -  were forced to give her - aged 3 - to an American missionary couple before moving to Hokkaido where they could find work. They often wondered what their daughter was doing now. Kimi's mother died a few years later, still believing her daughter would live a happy life with her adopting parents.

It's said that they never learned about the truth. The American couple who stayed with Kimi in Shizuoka for some time - discovered that Kimi had contracted tuberculosis and couldn't travel to the US with them. She was given to an Church orphanage in Azabujuban, Minato Ward in Tokyo, where she died in 1911 - at the age of 9.

In 1989 - a statue of her was erected in Azabujuban when a group of residents appealed to officals of the Minato Ward for its construction after learning that the orphanage had been located in this ward. On the day the statue was erected a resident found a coin placed at its base. In the following days there were more coins discovered and the resident decided to place a box there. Within a few day - the box was filling with money. This money was collected for charity organisations. There are another Kimi statues in Japan now, in her own hometown in Shizuoka, in the Hokkaido village where her parents lived and one at the port of Yokohama.