OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — With the 2020 Summer Olympics underway in Tokyo, the Oak Ridge Friendship Bell highlights the city's complicated relationship with Japan.
Oak Ridge was known as The Secret City — credited for the Manhattan Project. The city laid the groundwork for the atomic bombs that hit Japanese cities at the end of World War II.
Shigeko Uppuluri and her husband commissioned the bell for the city's 50th anniversary. She said it is meant to highlight peace and friendship between Japan and Oak Ridge.
"We liked to have something nice, something good," Uppuluri said. "What happened before passed, and now we are all friends. Everything is fine."
With Uppuluri's leadership, Oak Ridge ended up with a sister city in Japan. The city paired itself with Naka because both cities conduct nuclear research.
Now, both cities have a middle-school exchange program. Officials said they hope the program helps pass the friendship on to the next generation.
The American students spend time in Japan and live in Japanese homes. Similarly, Japanese students come to Oak Ridge, where families take them to sites all around the city.
"One of the big sites is the bell," said Jerralyn Luckmann, who heads up the sister cities program. "They take pictures of the students with the bell and talk about the history of the bell and talk about the history between Japan and America."
With the sister cities program and the friendship bell, both Luckmann and Uppuluri have seen Japan and Oak Ridge put their past aside, and come together for world peace.
"It’s Shigeko’s legacy," said Luckmann.