Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'

By Candateshia Pafford, U.S. Army Garrison Japan Public AffairsMarch 6, 2014

Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
1 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Children from the Camp Zama and Sagamihara Family Housing Area Child Development Center and students from Hosen Kindergarten learn about the seven-tier platform used for hina dolls March 3 when the children visited the school to celebrate Friendship ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
2 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Children from the Camp Zama and Sagamihara Family Housing Area Child Development Center and students from Hosen Kindergarten sing songs to each other March 3 during a visit to Hosen Kindergarten to celebrate Friendship Day. (U.S. Army photos by Canda... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
3 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Children from the Camp Zama and Sagamihara Family Housing Area Child Development Center and students from Hosen Kindergarten sing songs to each other March 3 during a visit to Hosen Kindergarten to celebrate Friendship Day. (U.S. Army photos by Cand... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
4 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The principal of Hosen Kindergarten and children and staff from the Camp Zama and SFHA Child Development Centers pose for a photo in front of a hina doll platform decoration March 3 during a visit to Hosen Kindergarten to celebrate Friendship Day. (U... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
5 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The principal of Hosen Kindergarten and children and staff from the Camp Zama and SFHA Child Development Centers pose for a photo in front of a hina doll platform decoration March 3 during a visit to Hosen Kindergarten to celebrate Friendship Day. (U... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
6 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
7 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
8 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Hosen Kindergarten staff present Sagamihara Family Housing Area Miho Onda, youth program instructor, with parting gifts of snacks and paper hina dolls during a visit to the school March 3 to celebrate Friendship Day. (U.S. Army photos by Candateshia... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Children from Camp Zama visit Japanese kindergarteners for 'Friendship Day'
9 / 9 Show Caption + Hide Caption – "Goodbyes" were said all around, as the Hosen Kindergarten students and staff, and the Camp Zama and Sagamihara Family Housing Child Development Center?'s children parted ways after celebrating Friendship Day together on March 3. (U.S. Army photos b... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CAMP ZAMA, Japan (March 6, 2014) -- Children from the Camp Zama and Sagamihara Family Housing Area Child Development Centers visited Hosen Kindergarten, a nearby Japanese school, March 3 to celebrate "Friendship Day" and learn about the traditional Japanese "hina" doll.

The children began by singing songs with the kindergarteners before watching a short film that explained the significance of the hina doll, or "hinamatsuri."

Friendship Day, commonly known as "Girl's Day" or "Doll's Day" in Japan, is celebrated each year on March 3 with festivals and by displaying the hina dolls on decorative platforms in the home.

The film explained that hina dolls are said to take away bad spirits by floating them down a river.

The dolls represent taking those bad spirits out to sea.

The Camp Zama and SFHA children then had lunch with the Hosen students after watching the film.

The kindergarteners then presented their visitors with parting gifts of snacks and their own paper hina dolls.

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