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.

SWTJ CHARITY LIVE EVENT FEB 3 (SUN)!

SWTJ presents
Japan's famous Irish Music Fiddling star 
Takahiro kunugi

at swtj's first 2013 charity live event: feb 3 (sun) 2013

experience takahiro kunugi's captivating irish fiddling performance while getting a rare chance to see a Fascinating traditional taisho period theater in the heart of kyoto from the inside

date: FEB 3 (SUNDAY) 2013

START: 7PM (DOORS OPEN 6PM)

PLACE: GOJOKAN, KYOTO (former Gojo Kaburenjo Theater)
Shimogyo-ku, nishi takasegawa-suji, gojo sagaru

access: 

- 7 minutes on foot from Keihan Gojo station

- 9 minutes on foot from JR kyoto station (north exit)

tickets:

in advance: 2,000Yen　

at the door: 2,500Yen

to reserve tickets in advance call 090 6977 8180 (Japanese only) 

or send an email in english to

contact@swtjp.org

SWTJ exhibition and charity goods will be available on site.

All profits from this event will be used for 2013 activities of swtj (solidarity with tohoku, japan).

swtj thanks artist takehiro kunugi for generously donating his fiddling performance to support our activities!

  

TAKEHIRO KUNUGI'S TABULA RASA!

SWTJ at OPEN DAY in Kyoto, November 3, 2012

NOVEMBER 3 (Sat) 2012: 11:00-16:00

Come and meet SWTJ at Kyoto’s famous international autumn festival!

 

OPEN DAY at Kyoto International Community House 

‘WE WON’T FORGET!’

1 1/2 years after the disaster in northeastern Japan, Solidarity with Tohoku, Japan (SWTJ) will be present at

OPEN DAY at Kyoto International Community House near Subway Keage Station in Kyoto, an autumn festival much anticipated by the local and international community every year!

PLACE: Kyoto International Community House, 2-1 Torii-cho, Awataguchi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto Tel. 075 752-3010 (5 min. on foot from Keage Tozai Subway Station).

OPEN DAY INFORMATION in English: 
http://www.kcif.or.jp/en/

SWTJ will participate for the second time in the category of Disaster Victim Support. We can be found in the Kids’ Space on the third floor in rooms 3 and 4. Now that people are starting to forget about Tohoku, support is needed more than ever! There will be photos of our continuing support activities in the Tohoku disaster areas, including those of the SWTJ Kids’ Summer Camp in Kesennuma! Come by for a chat, we’ll be very happy to see you! SWTJ goods will be on sale, and our very popular cotton candy (watagashi) machine (used by hundreds of Tohoku kids who have enjoyed making cotton candy during our activities) will accompany us to the site! Try your own!

At the festival, don’t miss the wonderful World Music, a live and talk show by an Okinawan musician, The World Culture Workshop, the Flea Market- and most of all the yummy food at the international food stalls! People line up way before noon, so coming early is recommended!

Below some pictures of the SWTJ 2012 SUMMER SCHOOL for Tohoku kids in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture- come and see more pictures in our display on November 3!

'We won't forget!'

SWTJ remains committed to long-term support of victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.

SWTJ Summer Camp

August 19-24, 2012: SWTJ 15th Activity Week  

SWTJ SUMMER CAMP 2012

FOR TOHOKU KIDS

The parachute-game! So much fun.

Summer 2012. The second summer after the great earthquake and tsunami. People still stay in temporary housing, many still without jobs. Children have become used to live in cramped quarters.  Many have lost relatives and friends, and some even a parent, a sibling, or both. And many had to move to unfamiliar places and find new friends in new  schools.

SWTJ's summer is dedicated to these children! The children of the disaster area, who have experienced so much during the last one and a half years!

SWTJ camp participants pose in the hot morning sun!

Thirteen children stayed overnight in tents, over thirty kids joined us for the daytime and evening programs, and many members of the nearby evacuee community helped during the program or joined our evening events. 

Purpose:

The SWTJ summer camp is not just any camp. It has been designed to empower the local children, to teach them skills, and to inspire them with enthusiasm and a dream for the future. These are the children who will lead the future of the destroyed areas of northeastern Japan. We want them to know that we care, and that despite all the destruction there is so much for them to explore, to discover, and to create in and around their new homes.

Program:

The first part of the program was dedicated to empower the kids to create a big community event for the whole neighborhood! 

The children learnt how to put up tents, how to organize stands, how to invite neighbors and kids from a neighboring school, and how to entertain them. 

Children enjoy making cotton candy for the community event during the summer camp.

Children learn to make 'misanga' armbands.

The neighborhood in Tsukidate consists of both the old rice farming community, and the new evacuee community from the coast. The children were thus part of an event that brought both communities together. Evacuee residents from  the neighboring temporary container housing were invited to join camp events, and some of them turned out to be great leaders themselves!

The first task was to set up the tents. The children were taught how to do it right away. It sure was a hot day!

Learning how to set up a tent.

Setting up the main tent for the camp

Activity location: 

Right next to Tsukidate Community Space, on the yard of Former Tsukidate Elementary School in Yasse, Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.

The activity tent is set up!

Overnight tent location: 

On the yard of the New Tsukidate Elementary School.

Early morning at the SWTJ overnight camp. It's going to be a hot day!

SWTJ would like to thank both schools for kindly letting us use their yards for the Tsukidate summer camp, and the managers of the local 'Yasse Mori no Gakko' Nature Education School for their invaluable help and cooperation!

Breakfast in the activity tent

After breakfast, the children helped cleaning up.

Buckwheat-noodle making workshop: 

We all learnt how hard it is to make neatly shaped noodles! But not so evenly-shaped noodles were still delicious! Thank you to the 'Yasse Mori no Gakko' Nature Education School for providing this workshop!

Playing at the nearby river was one of the most popular activities during he camp!

Nagashi-Somen for lunch! These noodles are poured into an inclined bamboo stem cut in half together with water, and kids line up along the bamboo and try to catch some of the flow. Lots of fun!

Visiting the people in temporary housing:

While most SWTJ members were busy leading the kids' camp, some others brought events to the surrounding temporary housing, together with our musicians.

Along with the summer camp, SWTJ also organized visits by SWTJ members to temporary housing to listen to recent problems and needs. 

SWTJ thanks Kyoto designer M. for donating T-Shirts decorated with his own designs to the people in temporary housing! The T-Shirts were very popular and were gratefully received- they were gone in no time!



The temporary housing visits were followed by a concert by SWTJ musicians for evacuee residents 

Back to the camp!

In the second part of the camp program, the children were able to choose the workshop of their choice: Drawing, playing at the nearby river, learning to sing English songs, and many other activities.

Drawing workshop

The most daring were allowed to draw on SWTJ's community bus!

The children made their own lunch: Rice cooked in bamboo. Delicious! The charcoal, made from fine local oak, was donated to the camp by the 'Yasse Mori no Gakko' Nature Education School- it is made in the school's own charcoal kiln, one of the features of the school's green tourism program. 

The highlight of the camp: The campfire!

In the afternoon, everybody practiced for the evening community concert around the campfire! SWTJ musicians, including three percussionists, practiced with the children who gathered around the big 'cajon' to beat the drum together with the lead musicians.  Many neighbors and evacuee residents from the temporary housing joined in. There was a great sense of togetherness.

The 'cajon' hand-made by SWTJ representative Y. Many little hands tapped the drum to the rhythm of the musicians, and it sounded really nice!

Small fireworks finalized the evening...

Time to say goodbye...

We all had such a good time!

The kids write good-bye messages such as 'I hope there will be many more camps to come!' ...

SWTJ would like to thank the many donors who made this year's summer camp possible with their generous donations! 

We also received many donations in kind, including boxes of delicious onions, tissue paper, and games, among them a very original and colorful parachute-game that has become very popular during the camp with both children and adults!

THANK YOU!