In 2011, Leif.designpark, as a Japanese design studio and a member of Rebirth Project, supported the off-season graduation ceremony for students of Iitate village in Fukushima who couldn’t hold a graduation at their original schools due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Leif.designpark created a time capsule by combining old clocks in collaboration with Leo Taniwa, a modern stained glass artist, that would safekeep letters of the Iitate children finishing kindergarten and elementary school until they would turn 20 years-old, coming of age in Japan.

Eight years has passed since then, on January 13 this year the children who was at that time a elementary school graduate reached the age to participate in the coming of age ceremony. At the ceremony that Leif.designpark also supported, the sight watching the new adults being bashful to take the letters from the past filled us with ineffable emotions.

Six years from now, it will be the turn for who attended the graduation as a kindergartener at that time. Until then, the time capsule will be kept carefully by the people of Iitate village. We are looking forward to again support the next ceremony that will be led by this year’s Iitate new adults, and share the story with you.