On June 17, the exhibition and sale of origami, Japanese art of making figures of paper, opened in the Museum of History in Yerevan, with the proceeds from the sale to be transferred to the Japanese embassy in Moscow as a relief effort for a Japanese childcare center.

Over 500 works by National Aesthetic Center students were displayed.

In his opening remarks, the head of Asia-Pacific and Africa Department at the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ashot Voskanyan said that after the 1988 Spitak earthquake, Japan lent a helping hand to Armenia, what must never be forgotten.

“The purpose of the event is to help Japan recover from the crisis regardless of the amount garnered here,” Karine Piliposyan, one of the organizers, told journalists.

The March 11, earthquake and tsunami left 24,000 people dead or missing, and left tens of thousands of others living in evacuation centers - including residents near Fukushima Dai-ichi nuke plant whose homes were intact but still had to leave to avoid risks of radiation exposure.