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People crowd at Sendai railway station in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Friday, Dec. 7, 2012 after trains were halted following a strong earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan. It is the same region …
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Strong quake hits off Japan near Fukushima
Filed under earthquake, japan crisis, News, nuclear, Tsunami
Give2Asia hosts NGOs working in the Tohoku region
I was honored to be invited to a special luncheon today hosted by Give2Asia http://www.give2asia.org in San Francisco. 4 NGOs from the Tohoku area were invited to share their experiences in the rebuild and relief effort in the areas affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant failure.
It was heartwarming to hear their stories and their challenges. Yet their commitment showed the strength and resiliency of the Japanese people.
Still one of the messages rang clear: many felt uncertainty in regards to their future and that part of their (NGOs) mission is to give hope to the people who had lost loved ones, their homes, jobs, and any sense of normalcy. There are still over 300,000 people living in temporary housing. The population in some of the towns have decreased to 70% as people, especially the young, moved out to find jobs in Tokyo and other areas. The once vibrant fishing industry in Ishinomaki is now non-existant. Acres and acres of farmland are ruined as agriculture in certain areas has been abandoned.
Many outsiders fear traveling to the region due to the radiation contamination from the Fukushima power plants. The long term economic impact is yet to be realized.
It is my hope that on my trip to the Tohoku area, I can bring a sense of support and hope to the people. As one of the executives from the Give2Asia said, “working in the nonprofit sector to help the rebuild and relief effort, you have to be an optimist”. Bringing a sense of hope to the people, that by working together, there will be a better tomorrow.
Today was such an emotional, moving experience. Thank you Gillian Ira Yeoh and Give2Asia. I look forward to meeting some of the NGOs in Japan next week.
Filed under earthquake, Foundations, Fundraiser, humanitarian relief, Tsunami, Uncategorized
One Year and Six Months. A trip to Tohoku
It’s been one year and six months since the tragic earthquake and tsunami that devastated regions of the Tohoku area, and six months since our “One Year After benefit concert took place in Fremont, California. We had the opportunity to connect with many dedicated people helping the displaced children through the Living Dreams organization. And now, next month I will have an opportunity to travel to the area to actually meet some of them in person.
It’s one thing to rally our community together to raise monies for the victims of a disaster. It is another thing completely to come face to face with their reality, as they struggle day to day to bring normalcy back into their lives. The people of Japan are resilient and hardworking and have made tremendous strides in rebuilding their lives and their cities. But the toll has been taken, as thousands of acres of farmland have been contaminated, lives lost, homes swept away, and families displaced. It will take years before the area once again thrives.
I am not sure what to expect as I make plans for my short trip to the area. I hope to bring a message of good will and support from the many in our community who worked hard to stage our fundraiser. And I hope to meet the people who through sheer perseverance have rebuilt their lives and their homes, keeping the light of hope shining for all to see.
We have a lot to learn from these people.
I will be updating my experiences along the way.
Steve Yamaguma
Filed under children, earthquake, Japan
Moving On From Tragedy
Rafu Shimpo
http://rafu.com/news/2011/10/sendai-moving-on-from-tragedy/
Sat, Oct 1 2011
Sendai’s residents carry on after March 11 disaster with mixed emotions and a determination to celebrate life.
By Audrey Shiomi
Rafu Contributor
Spectators gather for a street performance during the 21st annual Jozenji Street Jazz Festival held Sept. 10-11. The event drew 790,000 visitors to Sendai. (AUDREY SHIOMI)
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SENDAI — The musicians were in place and the crowds were revved on the eve of the Jozenji Street Jazz Festival. Given the outpouring of support to carry out this year’s event despite March 11’s disaster, the 21st annual event was expected to draw at least the same crowd as last year — 740,000 spectators — if not more.
A successful festival would be a small triumph for Japan’s struggling economy and a boon to local storeowners whose businesses stretch along Jozenji Street in the heart of Sendai. However, for event co-founder Mitsuhiro Sakakibara, 54, emotions wavered between elation and guilt.
A woman cooks Hiroshima-yaki at a food booth. (AUDREY SHIOMI)
“Sometimes I cannot accept the good feelings I have in me,” said Sakakibara the evening before the two-day event held Sept. 10-11. “It’s hard to explain my feelings even in Japanese.”
Sakakibara began the festival back in 1991 along with other musician friends. Years earlier, as a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, he was impressed to see musicians taking over public spaces — in subways and on street corners — and envisioned importing the same artistic vibe to his northern Japan hometown. Within a 20-year span, the event has become a cultural staple in Sendai, growing from 25 jazz bands to over 4,900 performers of all genres.
Sakakibara praised the festival’s 60-member organizing committee — all volunteers — for their hard work, but mourned the death of one member, a firefighter who went missing during a tsunami rescue mission. His body was recovered one month later.
“It still hurts to think about it,” he said. “I can’t just feel happy. I’m sure many people feel like me.”
Indeed, many Sendai residents feel mixed emotions, especially pangs of remorse, or zaiakukan, for emerging relatively unscathed after March 11.
“In Japan, they say that if you do something bad it’ll come back around,” said Sendai resident Nanae Ota, whose family was safe after the earthquake. “But I know the tsunami took the lives of people who didn’t deserve to die.”
The entire prefecture was rocked by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, but only those living along the coast — in towns such as Kesennuma and Ishinomaki — faced the ensuing tsunami. City residents suffered considerably, but they soon realized it was best not to talk about it considering others were far less fortunate.
Huge cracks run along the walls of Noriko Okazaki’s condominium in Sendai’s Izumi Ward. She and her husband bought the property two years ago just before learning he was to be transferred across the country to Hiroshima. Okazaki became used to living alone in the condominium, but it became emotionally difficult to stay after March 11. Sadly, if she were to complain about her situation to others, it would only make her feel worse.
“There’s always someone next to you with a sadder story than yours, so you feel bad about saying anything at all,” she said.
Traditionally when a loved one passes, family members are expected to quietly grieve for the rest of the year. Most do not embark on overseas vacations, nor do they exchange New Year’s postcards (the U.S. equivalent of Christmas cards). This April marked a drastic decline in hanami (picnics under cherry blossom trees) outings throughout the country. Sakakibara and his committee considered cancelling this year’s festival.
Traditions aside, March 11 seemed to compel many Sendai residents to reinvest in themselves and celebrate life. In the past few months, therapist Akane Shiomi (no relation to the author) noticed more of her co-workers going to concerts, dancing, and indulging in other forms of entertainment more than in years past.
Ota, a self-employed chef, began teaching private cooking classes more frequently.
“I felt so helpless after hearing how many perished, but it’s driven me to do the things I do best and do it more often,” she said. “It’s when I do nothing when I feel the most guilty about being here today.”
In July, six major Tohoku festival committees — Nebuta Matsuri, Hanagasa Matsuri, and Tanabata Matsuri among others — joined forces to hold a first-ever collaborative summer festival event. The Rokkon Festival drew an unprecedented number of visitors to the city for a weekend-long parade. Such a celebration might otherwise be frowned upon after a national disaster, but for the people of the Tohoku region this was an opportunity to enjoy life without remorse.
Sakakibara, too, hoped to spread a bit of joy to those who needed it most. Following the earthquake, he visited some of the many evacuation centers in Miyagi. Along with food, water and his electric keyboard, he brought over a violinist, a rakugo comedian and other performers. He worried what they’d think of his light-hearted entertainment — but the crowd loved it. That’s when Sakakibara started to believe in the power of music.
“Music heals people. It offers something to the people,” he said. “That encouraged us to go through with the festival.”
He hoped this year’s jazz festival could in some small way help those affected by March 11. Guilty feelings aside, it seemed like the right opportunity to move on.
For more of Audrey Shiomi’s Tohoku series, visit HERE.
Filed under humanitarian relief, Japan, japan crisis
10 Months Ago
Filed under earthquake, Japan, japan crisis, News, pictures, Tsunami
Japan earthquake aftermath: 8 months later, progress made, but road ahead reamins rough
New York Daily News
Much of the debris is gone, but construction efforts have lagged
BY BY BRADEN GOYETTE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, November 18 2011, 3:07 PM
Greg Baker/AP
Diggers work on a pile of debris from the March 11 tsunami at Ishinomaki, in northeast Japan, Friday, Nov. 18, 2011.
Aerial photographs taken along the Japanese coast provide a new glimpse of the destruction caused by the 9.0 level earthquake and powerful tsunami that hit the island nation eight months ago.
The photos, taken from a helicopter 1000 feet in the air by The Associated Press, show rows of barren lots where only the foundations of houses can be seen.
Much of the debris has been cleared away since March, but reconstruction efforts have lagged.
This is the case even though the Japanese government has approved two stimulus packages dedicated to rebuilding the coast since March, worth 6 trillion yen in total (about $78 billion), Businessweek reported.
Takuji Okubo, chief Japan economist for Societe Generale, criticized the government’s slow implementation of the plans. “Former prime minister
Naoto Kan lingered on his position and wasted precious time just pondering what to do with the money,” Okubo told the BBC.
The lower house of parliament also recently passed a third $156 billion budget for rebuilding the devastated areas – the second largest supplementary budget ever passed by the Japanese government, according to the BBC.
The measure still needs to be approved by the upper house.
Aerial photographs taken along the Japanese coast provide a new glimpse of the destruction caused by the 9.0 level earthquake and powerful tsunami that hit the island nation eight months ago.
The photos, taken from a helicopter 1000 feet in the air by The Associated Press, show rows of barren lots where only the foundations of houses can be seen.
Much of the debris has been cleared away since March, but reconstruction efforts have lagged.
This is the case even though the Japanese government has approved two stimulus packages dedicated to rebuilding the coast since March, worth 6 trillion yen in total (about $78 billion), Businessweek reported.
Takuji Okubo, chief Japan economist for Societe Generale, criticized the government’s slow implementation of the plans. “Former prime minister
Naoto Kan lingered on his position and wasted precious time just pondering what to do with the money,” Okubo told the BBC.
The lower house of parliament also recently passed a third $156 billion budget for rebuilding the devastated areas – the second largest supplementary budget ever passed by the Japanese government, according to the BBC.
The measure still needs to be approved by the upper house.
Greg Baker/AP
The foundations of houses destroyed by the March 11 tsunami are seen beside undamaged houses, near Sendai, northeast Japan, Friday, Nov. 18, 2011.
Filed under earthquake, economic, Japan, japan crisis, News, pictures, stories
The Dalai Lama Meets with Tsunami Survivors in Ishinomaki, Japan
His Holiness the Dalai Lama visits Ishinomaki, the area most devastated by last March’s tsunami that hit Japan, and speaks to survivors of the tragic event.
Filed under earthquake, humanitarian relief, Japan, japan crisis, News, Tsunami
German Beer Festival, Sendai shi, September 2011
Photos by Michael Tonge
Taken at Sendai shi, Miyagi Ken, Japan 2011
“The annual Sendai German Beer festival…just what we need after the 6 month tsunami and earthquake anniversary…people had a great time and really got into the music…the beer also certainly helped!!”
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150377524745837.403745.708380836&type=1
Filed under earthquake, Japan, News, pictures, stories
