Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� May, 2002

Members of the 2002 FIFA World Cup "Wings of a Dream" Project Pay Courtesy Call on the Prime Minister Monday, May 13, 2002 With half a month until the opening of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, students from Sakamoto Elementary School, Tokyo, participating in the "Wings of a Dream" Project paid a visit on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The "Wings of a Dream" Project will be performed as a finale to the final of the 2002 FIFA World Cup with approximately two million paper cranes that will float down into the International Stadium Yokohama. The purpose of this project is to send to the world a resounding message of hope for the future. At present, pupils at elementary and junior high schools around the country and others are folding paper cranes. Prime Minister Koizumi stated to the children "the World Cup football tournament is an event of equal enthusiasm to the Olympics, and the whole world will be watching. I hope that all the people of the nation cheer for not only Japanese players but also those participating from foreign countries, and come together to make this a success." Afterward, Prime Minister Koizumi folded a paper crane together with the children and handed the finished paper cranes to Fukumi Kuroda, a member of the board of directors of the Japan Organizing Committee for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan (JAWOC).