UPDATE ON SWTJ TOHOKU SPRING FLOWER PROJECT

MAY 2013 GOOD NEWS FROM TOHOKU:

Spring flowers of the SWTJ November 2011 spring flower bulb planting project have been blooming for the second time around!!

In October and November 2011, SWTJ conducted a flower bulb planting project with temporary housing residents in several locations in the disaster area. The purpose of the project was to bring together residents of temporary housing who at that time still didn't know each other well, and to engage residents in an activity that would bring them continuous joy through cooperation for a long time. 

In October 2011, a large number of sponsors had sent us flower bulbs, planting materials, or financial aid to conduct the project!

Our contacts in Tohoku have been keeping us update on how the flowers are doing, and we would like to share the photos they sent us, so that our blog readers can share the joy these flowers still bring!

Late April 2012: Tulips in Rikuzentakata soon to bloom!

The tulips near the Isaribi Temporary Housing Unit in full bloom in May 2012!

In summer 2012, evacuees carefully dug up and dried tulip bulbs until the autumn, and used the new SWTJ planters to plant sunflowers during the summer!

Summer 2012

In autumn 2012, the planters were prepared for the next spring, and the bulbs replanted.

Early April 2013

Mrs. Murakami from the Isaribi Temporary Housing Unit, where many evacuees from the Karakuwa Peninsula (Kesennuma) stay, helped plant and take care of the bulbs.

                               In  late April 2013, the tulips again started to bloom!!

And in mid-May they were in full bloom again!

Isaribi Temporary Housing at left

SWTJ would like to again thank the sponsors who so generously donated bulbs, materials and financial aid for the project. We would also like to thank the residents in the temporary housing in Rikuzentakata and Kesennuma for taking such good care of the bulbs. Special thanks also to Mr.Yoshida of the Isaribi Park Godai restaurant for sending us most of the photos!

SWTJ 17th Activity Week

 TWO YEARS AFTER THE DISASTER

SWTJ Requiem Music Caravan
March 8-14, 2013

In memory of the victims

 of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011

At Kitakami-En Home for the Elderly in Miyagi Prefecture, a resident keeps up with the rhythm of the SWTJ performance

(Photo K.Kawatani)

(We thank Mr. Kawatani for allowing us to publish some of his photos in this blog!)

The 17th SWTJ Activity Week team has just come back from a week packed with events and encounters in Tohoku!

The Fanfare Roma'n-Garde and Niju Maru in action! (Photo K.Kawatani)

Two years after the earthquake and tsunami, the emotional wounds of having lost so much have not healed. However, a certain silence has set in: a tiredness of asking for help.

At a loss of ideas how to help, many volunteers have stopped going to Tohoku.

At the time of this 2nd Anniversary, SWTJ makes a new commitment to keep its promise of long-term support. 

Evacuee children love meeting our musicians (Photo K.Kawatani)

Although reconstruction is painfully slow, we are convinced that eventually, the resourceful spirit of Tohoku's warmhearted people and the rich potential of the region's cultural heritage and nature will win over the hardships of the present. 

Today, as motivation among victims threatens to weaken, we continue to strengthen our cooperation with local Tohoku leaders and to co-organize cultural projects that help old and young survivors to make their dreams known, to connect with people in Japan and abroad, and to find the strength to move forward.

Niju Maru performs with SWTJ for residents at Isaribi temporary housing site in  Isaribi Park, Kesennuma

The SWTJ 17th Activity Week included events at temporary container housing sites where evacuees reside, a performance at a home for the elderly in Tome City, a requiem parade in destroyed former city landscapes, and, on March 11, a requiem concert high-up on Mount Anba in memory of the victims. Moreover, SWTJ information events were conducted in Ishinomaki (Miyagi), Kanazawa (Ichikawa), and Ueda (Nagano). 

Kesennuma seen from Mount Anba (March 11, 2013)

Shishimai performance on Mout Anba by Niju Maru

Requiem Memorial Event on Mount Anba, above Kesennuma

Events conducted at temporary housing

In the picture below, SWTJ musicians play at the Fukushi no Sato Shuhen C temporary housing site in Shishiori, Kesennuma, where evacuees from the Karakuwa Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture reside. Minestrone soup was served to all during the concert. 

Big thanks to Mr. Yoshida of Isaribi Park for introducing us!

 

Event for Karakuwa Peninsula evacuees at Fukushi no Sato Shuhen C Okyu Temporary Housing Site in Shishiori, Kesennuma

We would like to thank Mr. Kiyokazu Kawatani, a photographer who moved his residence to Tome in the disaster area after having worked as a disaster relief volunteer, for introducing us to the Tokura Chugakko temporary housing site in Minamisanriku, and  to the home for the elderly Kitakami-En in Tome, both in Miyagi Prefecture, where we were enthusiastically welcomed. Thanks to these contacts, we have been able to again widen our network in the disaster area. Don't miss reading the special information on the amazing people of the Tokura housing site below!

The Niju Maru performers (left) with evacuee Mr. Sato from NPO Mirai Minamisanriku (right) at Tokura Chugakko Temporary Housing in Minamisanriku (Photo K.Kawatani) 

The Tokura Chugakko temporary housing site in Minamisanriku was the first site where residents took the initiative to make good use of the community site through establishing the NPO Mirai Minamisanriku. The NPO, led by Mr. Sato, has established a blog, helps sell seaweed products by local makers who have made a new beginning, and has published a book on disaster victims' experiences that sells well. Moreover, they offer a place to stay over for volunteers for a fee, which also produces some income for the Tokura residents. 

Cheers to the initiative and motivation of the Tokura residents! Check for yourself how you can contribute in your own way to this unique undertaking!

http://mirai-minamisanriku.jimdo.com/

(link is in Japanese only)

Niju Maru performs at Tokura Chugakko Temporary Housing  (Photo K.Kawatani) 

Finally a BIG THANK YOU to the wonderful members of the Fanfare Roma’n-Garde, an ensemble of Japanese musicians led by Seto Nobuyuki, and the amazing team Niju Maru, a couple specialized in traditional performing arts of the Edo Period (Edo tai-kagura), for having agreed to take part in the  SWTJ Earthquake and Tsunami Anniversary Week as volunteers who donate their time and skills. 

Evacuee residents at Tokura Chugakko Temporary Housing (Minamisanriku) share a genuine moment of joy while watching the performance (Photo K.Kawatani)

You have brought much joy and many smiles to the faces of the victims!!! 

On the way to the disaster area and on the way back, the 17th Activity Week team stopped over in Kanazawa, Ishinomaki, and Ueda. In these cities, the team organized live music events combined with SWTJ exhibitions, which allowed us to meet many people eager to hear about our work in Tohoku and willing to support us in our ongoing projects. 

SWTJ Exhibition and sale of SWTJ goods in Kanazawa

Back in Kyoto on March 15, SWTJ Representative Yasuo Yoshikawa reported on SWTJ's 17th Activity Week in the disaster area.

SWTJ would like to thank the many generous sponsors who made the 2nd Anniversary Activity Week possible, the professional musicians and performers who donated their skills, and the wonderful people in Tohoku who helped us organize on-site, especially Mr. Yoshida from Isaribi Park in Kesennuma who helped prepare our Shishiori and Isaribi events in Kesennuma, and Mr. Kawatani and Mr. Sato who coordinated our events in Tome and Minamisanriku.

We will be back in the disaster area in early May. 

Watch out for our next blog!

Swiss Company Supports SWTJ With Unique Project: Original Washi (Japanese Paper) Tape [support Tohoku]

SWTJ is delighted to announce that the Swiss Company Thomas Merlo & Partner has just launched a new product named [support Tohoku] uniquely produced to support SWTJ's disaster relief activities in Tohoku.

The set  [support Tohoku] contains two colorful washi  tapes beautifully designed by up-and-coming designer Hiroko Takahashi from Tokyo. Delicate decorative patterns adorn the two Japan-made adhesive rice-paper tapes, respectively named [chochin] and [isshoni], an allusion to [lanterns] lit in Tohoku in memory of the many victims of the March 11, 2011 disaster, and to the need of continued [solidarity] with the people in northeastern Japan, the region struck by one of Japan’s largest earthquakes ever.

Thomas Merlo & Partner AG distributes the product [support Tohoku] in Europe. For every set of tapes sold in Europe, one Euro is donated to SWTJ. The product was officially launched in Frankfurt, Germany, at Ambiente (Feb 15-19, 2013), one of the world's most important events for the consumer-goods sector.

 (photos below courtesy Thomas Merlo & Partner)

[support Tohoku] at Ambiente 

The tapes can also be bought directly from SWTJ, either at one of our events, or by contacting us at

contact@swtjp.org

(in Japanese or English).

We are waiting for your order!

All profits from sales of the product by SWTJ will be used for SWTJ's disaster relief activities.

*SWTJ online shop is under construction. Coming soon!

SWTJ would like to express our sincere thanks to project initiator and producer Thomas Merlo & Partner AG, and to designer Hiroko Takahashi for supporting SWTJ with such a unique and amazing undertaking!

Project： Thomas Merlo &Partner AG　

www.thomasmerlopartner.ch

Design：Hirocoledge & Co.

株式会社ヒロコレッジ 高橋理子 
www.takahashihiroko.com

In addition, we thank the shops that have kindly agreed to help selling the tapes in Japan. More stores will be added over time!

Keibunsha Ichijoji Store

BOOKS, GIFTS AND GALLERY10, Ichijoji Haraitono-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto www.keibunsha-books.com

alphabet123

Eden Kitayama Bldg 1F, 101 Sakurai-cho, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto (5 min. from exit 4 of Kyoto Subway Kitayama Station) www.alphabet123.com

*For every set of tapes bought at these stores, at least 100Yen will be donated to SWTJ. 

Tohoku still faces many challenges:

SWTJ is committed to long-term support

Two years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, the novelty of the tsunami waves and nuclear meltdown has worn off in the news. Most of Japan’s regions have long returned to everyday life. 

But northeastern Japan has not. Evacuees still live in cramped temporary housing scattered all over the region. Family members have to live apart from each other due to a lack of work or fears that radioactivity especially affects the very young. Worries of nuclear pollution weigh heavy over farmers and fishers. The young leave the region and the elderly are left alone. Children who stay back have few playgrounds since most of the remaining parks and sports grounds have been used for temporary housing due to a lack of flat land to rebuild. The rate of obese children has climbed to a national high in the affected regions. Stress levels are alarming. The disaster is not over.

With every set of [support Tohoku] you buy, you help us help Tohoku. Enjoy these original Japanese rice-paper  adhesive tapes in your creative life or give them as a gift!

Thank you for your support!

SWTJ (Solidarity with Tohoku, Japan) is a Kyoto-based volunteer disaster relief organization that provides long-term post-disaster support in northeastern Japan in close cooperation with its branches in Kesennuma and Rikuzentakata. SWTJ helps people in the regions affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami to network and to make themselves heard, and promotes community rebuilding through cultural and youth projects.

SWTJ (Solidarity with Tohoku, Japan)

http://swtjp.org/en/index.html

Address: SWTJ Office c/o Seikado Studio/Gallery, 462 Myomanjimae-cho, Teramachi-dori 
Nijo-sagaru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

Tel: 090 6977 8180 (Japanese only)

E-mail: contact@swtjp.org (Japanese or English)

LOVE&HOPE FOR TOHOKU Feb 11 Fundraising Festival

SWTJ presents:  LOVE&HOPE FOR TOHOKU

All-Day Music, Art and Food Festival in Kyoto on Feb 11 (Monday, Public Holiday) 2013 11am-9pm

WE WILL NOT FORGET!

An amazing number of performers, actors, dancers, musicians, workshop leaders, shop keepers and food specialists will entertain and spoil you! 

Join us! The entrance fee is just 1,000Yen and includes a drink.
Bring your kids--entrance is free for elementary school kids and younger!
Discover unique artists from the Japanese contemporary music and performance scene!

Live Music, One-Hand-Piano, Flamenco, Theater, Performances, Workshops, Food Stands, Drink Bar, Flea Market...It's going to be a day to remember!

Bring family and friends! This fundraiser is held to send a SWTJ Team to Tohoku for the Second Anniversary of the Earthquake and Tsunami.. By coming to the event and having fun you will help sending the SWTJ "Music Caravan" to Tohoku in March!

SWTJ would like to express its sincere thanks to the many artists, performers, musicians, workshop leaders, cooks and other sponsors and volunteers who will donate their time and skills to the February 11 festival in Kyoto!

Place:
KYOTO FANJ Event Hall 京都FANJ（ファンジェイ）
Map: http://kyoto-fanj.com/map/map.html
Access: 7 minutes on foot from Exit 3 of Kyoto Kokusai Kaikan Station of the Kyoto Subway  
Time: Feb 11, 2013 (public holiday) from 11am-9pm
Entrance Fee: 1,000Yen (includes one free drink).
*Elementary school children or younger: entrance free.

Stage: 
(last-minute program changes may occur)
11:30-11:40  Jewel
11:40-12:00 Greeting SWTJ Director
12:00-12:30 Abe Keiko Flamenco Studio
12:30-13:00 Karikirin (Live Music)
13:10-13:40 Chinai Takeo plays (one-hand pianist)
13:50-14:20 Kumasaka Yoshito and Spanko (Live Music)
14:30-15:00 Dani Gongu (Performance)
15:15-16:00 Shohei Toyoda (Guitar)
16:10-16:40 Gekidan Ore to Matsumoto (Theater)
16:50-17:20 Minori to Romanbe (Belly Dance)
17:30-18:00 Uryuyama Overtone Ensemble (Live Music)
18:00-18:15 Greeting SWTJ
18:20-19:00 Sachertorte (Live Music)
19:10-19:50 Goto Yuzo (Live Music)
20:00-20:40 Denki Gypsy Special (Live Music)

Workshops:
For a small fee you can take part in a workshop!
Make your own stuffed animal or other creature! (by Yamasaki Asahiko)
Masking tape--so much fun! (by Kato Wako)
Analog Game! (by Tansan and Company)
Kasaneni! (by Sakate Akiko)
Baby signs and American sign language (by Dany Gongu)

Market:
SWTJ Flea Market: Amazing prices!
Miyakochan and Friends: Accessories and Scarves

Foodstalls:
Buy your favorite food here!

• Bajarbol: Paella
• Xuan: Vietnamese Seafood Fried Harumaki, Vietnamese Coffee, Lotus Royal Milk Tea
• SWTJ: Vietnamese Pho Noodles, Sake Lees Soup,Takoyaki Dumplings, 
• Wakame seaweed-shabushabu corner (delicious fresh wakame from one of our contacts in the SWTJ network in Tohoku: the just reborn Hatakeyama Seaweed Farm in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture)
• Cotton Candy: Not only for the kids!!

BIG THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED!!!

All profits from this event will be used to send SWTJ's Activity Team to the disaster area during the 2nd Anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

January 2013: SWTJ 16th Tohoku Activity Week

Jan 2013: 16th Kyoto Caravan

Time: Jan 18-Jan 21

Purpose: Visits at temporary housing, interviews at local industries that have restarted business (results to be published in SWTJ's newsletter 'Obi'), meetings with locals regarding SWTJ 2013 activities.

SWTJ participating members: Shuto, Inoue, Hakozaki, Ichino, Kawano 

January 19:

Road trip from Kyoto to Kesennuma (Miyagi Prefecture) by night bus.

After our arrival in Kesennuma, we formed two teams. The first team (Hakozaki and Ichino) was going to drive to Minamisanriku (Utatsu), to meet our contacts there, and to gather information on the restart of the local wakame industry.

The second team (Shuto and Inoue) was picked up at the station by SWTJ Kesennuma Branch Manager Yoshida Katsuhiko (thank you!) and was going to meet our contacts in the temporary housing next to the Mori no Gakko Nature School in the hills of Kesennuma. 

1.SWTJ contacts in Minamisanriku

When SWTJ last visited evacuees in Utatsu in April 2012, the people in the Yoshinozawa Temporary Housing Complex had set up the sewing workshop 'Saneccha' for local housewives to create some income and to recreate a sense of community and purpose among the evacuees.
Thanks to the donation of individual donors in Kansai, SWTJ was able to provide the workshop with two industrial sewing machines at a time when they were most needed. 

During the 9 months since our last visit, the community has made immense efforts to rebuild the local wakame seaweed industry which was totally destroyed by the March 2011 tsunami. Since last autumn, many of the workers in the Saneccha sewing workshop have gone back to work at the coast to help reconstruct the local wakame seaweed farming sites. 

SWTJ interviewed the Hatakeyama family to hear their story of how they and their community suffered the loss of everything during the tsunami, how they live as evacuees at the temporary housing, how they set up the sewing workshop to create some income, and how their community is now working hard to rebuild the local wakame farming industry. 

Fresh and tender wakame seaweed from the reborn Hatakeyama wakame farm in Utatsu will be available at our fundraising event on February 11, 2013 in Kyoto! 

Come by and try!--don't miss this opportunity to support the wonderful Utatsu evacuee community that has come so far since the disaster two years ago! 

A detailed report on our Utatsu visit will be published in the SWTJ February newsletter 'Obi.'

SWTJ interviews seaweed farmer Hatakeyama on the local wakame farm

  

2.Yasse, SWTJ Kesennuma Branch

SWTJ members Shuto and Inoue went to meet SWTJ contacts at the temporary housing site of the Former Tsukidate Elementary School. After visiting the SWTJ Tsukidate Community Space, they met evacuees Mr. S. and Mr. M., two former fishermen with whom we are in close contact as they regularly keep us update on the current situation of the local evacuees.

Space in front of the Tsukidate temporary housing. In the background: SWTJ's Tsukidate Community Space

  

Meeting former fishermen Mr. S. and Mr. M. in Tsukidate, Kesennuma.

We further met the members of KRA (Kesennuma Reconstruction Association) who have been doing their best to recuperate and repair tsunami-damaged photos of  the evacuee community. There is still a huge stock of such photos in the Tsukidate Former Elementary School, waiting for their owners to get them.  

Exhibiiton of photos, books, and other 'lost and found' tsunami-damaged objects.
At Former Tsukidate Elementary School.

  

The staff of KRA told us that people have various reactions towards the photo collection. There are those who are eager to find memories of their loved ones and who come again and again to see if someone brought in a photo of those they lost, while others say that they do not have the strength yet to face objects that so realistically remind them of what happened. The people at KRA, however, continue to clean photos one by one, and to save them at the school for the day when someone may decide to carry home the memory of a loved one.

At night, our two groups came together and we drove to Isaribi Park high above the Karakuwa Peninsula coast to meet the Y. family who has been helping us throughout the last two years to get in contact and work with the  local evacuee community. 

Next May during the public holiday 'Golden Week,' a public event including a flea market will be held in front of the Isaribi Park temporary housing. SWTJ plans to include the event in its May Activity Week as it is a great opportunity to meet many of the local evacuee community including the children who will be off school during Golden Week. 
We used the evening to discuss our plans with Mr. and Mrs. Y. who will support us in our decisions on how to organize our 2013 activities for the evacuees.

At Isaribi, the flower beds and planters we created with the evacuees of the Isaribi temporary housing complex in autumn 2011 are still in use, and the bulbs donated at that time by many donors in Kansai and beyond have been taken well care of and will soon flower again! (Photos courtesy Mr. Y.)

Tulips planted by SWTJ with Isaribi evacuees in full bloom in May 2012

Planters at Isaribi with tulip bulbs ready to bloom in spring 2013!

View from Isaribi Park on the  Karakuwa Peninsula

3: SWTJ Rikuzentakata Branch (Jan. 20)

After taking part in the 'Community Soba Day' that is held once a month at the Mori no Gakko Nature School at Former Tsukidate Elementary School, we drove north to talk to Yuichi and Noriko M., the vice-managers of the SWTJ Rikuzentakata branch.
Like most people in their neighborhood, Yuichi and Noriko M. lost all they had including their home and fishing boat in the tsunami and had to live in evacuation centers and temporary housing. They have been working extremely hard since, have kept helping others, and are finally back in small-scale fishing business with their own boat!
They know only too well that many others in their community will never have their own home or boat again- so they have been helping us since two years ago to establish contacts with those in the Rikuzentakata evacuee community who need mental and material support most.

We thank the M. family for their hospitality, for letting us board their boat, and most of all for being such wonderful contacts in Rikuzentakata whom we can always ask for advice regarding our long-term support activities!

Yuichi and Noriko M. (center) with SWTJ staff

  

Although our stay was short this time, we were able to meet many of our contacts in Tohoku and discuss the plans and strategy for the coming year with our local staff or contacts in three major regions of the disaster area.

Look out for our blog on our Activity Week in March when SWTJ will be in the disaster area for the 2nd anniversary of the March 11 Earthquake and Disaster.