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Erika and Helen have served as friendship ambassadors to Japan since 1927,
when they arrived in the town of Takasago in Hyogo Prefecture. At that time
the town's kindergarten and elementary school occupied the same building, and
each school received one of the 12,739 Blue-eyed Dolls from America. Photos
taken in 1927 show how happy the children were to receive the dolls. One
photo shows children going around in a circle, each holding a
doll. Two
children have Erika and Helen in their arms. Another photo shows the two
dolls making friends with a large Japanese Ichimatsu doll, which the
kindergarten still displays. There is also a photo of the welcome
ceremony held for the children of Takasago Kindergarten. The kindergarten kept both American dolls, and
later the elementary school and kindergarten moved to separate locations.
The kindergarten kept the dolls safely for many years, but the passports
with names that came with the dolls were lost. No one remembered the names of
the dolls, so in 1997 Takasago Kindergarten asked Mr. Sidney Gulick, 3d, to
rename the dolls. He is the grandson of Dr. Sidney Gulick, who originated the
plan for the Friendship Doll exchange between America and Japan in 1927. Mr.
Gulick, 3d, issued new passports for the two dolls, and he renamed them Erika
and Helen.
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Painting of Erika and Helen
in School Auditorium
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A person's 70th birthday in Japan is an especially important celebration,
so Takasago Kindergarten decided to have a special Hina Matsuri (Doll
Festival) assembly for Erika and Helen in March 1997 to celebrate the two
dolls' 70th birthday. Many of the dolls' old friends, 18 students from 1927
and 4 previous kindergarten directors, came from all over Japan. Chiyoko
Murakami, a teacher at the kindergarten in 1927 and later the director for
many years, was one of the special guests. Yoshiko Maruyama (76 years old at
the time), who held the doll going into the auditorium as the student
representative at the 1927 welcoming ceremony, said, "I moved to Tokyo
when I was in the third grade, and little by little I have forgotten Takasago
Kindergarten, but only the dolls do I remember well. It's deeply touching to
meet these friends again after 70 years who are still just as pretty as long
ago."
Erika and Helen continue their mission of friendship and goodwill. The
children love them very much and use them as subjects for their artwork. The
two friendship doll ambassadors also sometimes leave Takasago, such as a 1997
exhibit with Miss Hyogo, one of the Japanese Friendship Dolls from 1927, and
six other American Friendship Dolls in Hyogo Prefecture. In 2002, the two
dolls traveled to Los Angeles to be part of the Friendship Doll exhibition at
the Japanese American National Museum.
Takasago Kindergarten now has a whole family of Friendship Dolls from
America. A younger sister named Katie arrived from Kansas in 1997. The
Japanese American National Museum gave Takasago two more dolls, named Mia and
Hailey, in 2002 to express their appreciation for Takasago's lending of their
two dolls from 1927 for the Friendship Doll exhibition in Los Angeles.
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