Event organizer Ihara of ena Ltd. kindly allowed us to use one of their tents for free. Thank you!
The 'Marche' usually takes place here once a month. Crafts, homemade cookies, organic vegetables and similar treats are sold. The aligned tents in the lovely garden stand in nice contrast to the white building of the French-Japanese Institute and create a relaxing atmosphere.
At the SWTJ stall, we explained what our organization does, and sold SWTJ fundraising goods such as stickers and towels. The crowd at the 'Marche' was quite international. We reported the latest news from the SWTJ team that had been on the ground right up to the day of the event for its third mission in Tohoku.
Both visitors to the 'Marche' and sellers at the stands showed a keen interest in SWTJ's activities. Some offered to write about the organization in their blogs. The number of people interested in showing solidarity with Tohoku is growing.
Yesterday, I called my parents in Fukushima Prefecture. Although they live at some distance from the damaged nuclear reactor, they say people in their area are highly stressed by the unreliable news coverage on the nuclear accident, and by the still continuing aftershocks. What is worst, however, is the fact that people outside the disaster area have already started to lose interest and are beginning to ignore the fate of the people in the affected areas. But the scale of the damage caused by the 3/11 triple disaster is incredibly huge. It will take not years, but decades for the damaged areas to recover. At SWTJ, we not only support the victims directly, but we act as messengers between the people in Tohoku and outside, and are determined to continue to hold events in Kansai and beyond to raise awareness of the dire need for long-term solidarity with the survivors.
Text and photos: Sakuma Shigemitsu
(translated and edited for the English version by B.Y.)
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