Tsunami Survivor Hopes to Work as Volunteer for Others in Otsuchi, Iwate Pref. (1)

Tsunami Survivor Hopes to Work as Volunteer for Others in Otsuchi, Iwate Pref. (1)

March 6, 2012

Mieko Furudate of Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, lives alone at a temporary housing unit in the town. She meets friends of her at a different temporary housing unit once a week, but she finds herself sometimes depressed for the rest of the week, except when she is making handicrafts. That is why she has decided to work as a volunteer at a rest house for tsunami-affected people in the town. The facility, built within a complex of temporary shops set up at the compounds of a damaged elementary school, is run by a volunteer group based in Tohno, an inland city of Iwate Prefecture.

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Wide areas from northeastern Japan to eastern Japan were jolted by an earthquake with a magnitude of a staggering 9.0 at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, and 30 to 40 minutes later, the first blows of tsunami waves started hitting towns and villages on 500 kilometers of coastlines facing the Pacific and claimed a total of about 19,000 lives. The survivors of the catastrophe, notably the killer tsunami waves, enter the second year of ordeal this month. They have spent hard days and sleepless nights at evacuation facilities and small temporary housing units since the disaster. But many of them are trying hard to get back on their feet while endeavoring to keep their spirits from being dampened by the sad memories a year ago Some tsunami survivors and volunteers working to support them will be taken up in serial articles which may be found from today.

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The meeting place for affected people in Otsuchi is named “Rest House Kirari Station” and its manager, Hidetoshi Yoshida, a volunteer activist from Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan, likes to be called the “station master” and calls his staff “conductors.” “Ms. Furudate is welcome anytime. She already can be a member of our staff,” he said. (The photo at the top shows, from left to right, Ms. Sachiko Sato, Ms. Furudate and Mr. Yoshida standing in front of Kirari Station Rest House.)
Furudate lost her husband in the tsunami waves, which hit Otsuchi Town about 40 minutes after the earthquake rocked the region. She was working at a fishery processing factory near the port when the big tremor was felt. She expected strong tsunami waves would come and immediately decided to escape to a higher place with her colleagues.
On her way to the evacuation site, which was actually a Buddhist temple, she met her husband near their house. Because he appeared to be returning to their house to pick up something, she told him, “Escape right now! Just follow us!” That was the last moment she saw her husband. His body was found a few days later.
Furudate and her friends make what they call “Eco Tawashi” detergent-free scrubbing brushes. The material for the eco-friendly brushes, wool-like acrylic yarn, is supplied by Keiko Okabe, who has been helping to support the life of the survivors in Otsuchi since last summer. Okabe, a mother of a two-year-old boy who lives in an inland city of Iwate Prefecture, visits Otsuchi once a week and picks up their products. Then a network of supporters she belongs to sells the goods at events in support for tsunami survivors or through their website on the Internet.
Okabe sometimes personally takes part in such events to sell them. The revenue is used for activities for rehabilitation in the affected regions. (The second photo from the top shows, from left to right, Ms. Furudate, Ms. Okabe, Ms. Sato and Ms. Kishiko Hakamada. The third photo shows some of their products.)

March 2011 disaster unfolds quest by activists for better style of support for survivors (2)

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The evacuees to Fukuoka include many fatherless families of mothers and small children only. This reflects the difficulties of finding jobs for fathers in the unfamiliar places to which they have to evacuate. “Because we had to take care of these evacuees, we had to explore a support style with which we can meet their needs even more carefully,” Iida said.
So far, about 150 families have used services provided by his group, and a third of them have actually evacuated to Fukuoka.
Imamura’s group is pinning hopes on the possibility of small, community-based businesses as a model for a sustainable style of life in the future. These businesses will be feasible only if 500,000 to one million yen of profit can be reaped a year, among them small-scale poultry farming and timber and charcoal production from forest thinning, he said.
If these test projects turn out to be feasible, “we’d like to propose them to people in the affected areas and help secure jobs for their future life,” Imamura said. The bottom line is how to support the affected people in rehabilitating their life and to this end, how to secure stable employment for them, he said.
Support for the evacuees from the affected regions is seen to be carried out mainly by local government entities. But Iida’s cloud-style organization is aimed at combining public-sector organizations, private businesses in various sectors, volunteer groups and individual volunteers to each other in an effective manner. “Whoever does whatever can be done for the affected people. This is our policy,” he said.
His group organizes a “café” for young mothers who have evacuated to Fukuoka basically once a month, providing an opportunity for them to talk to each other about their matters of concern.
One of the member groups within the citizens’ network is involved in an activity for cleaning 200,000 pieces of damaged pictures collected from among the rubble by volunteers in a tsunami-hit area in Miyagi Prefecture.
The restored pictures will be displayed at community centers and other public facilities and then returned to owners.
The picture cleaning project is joined by many individual volunteers and supported by networks of volunteer groups, and these groups are linked to each other once again in different projects and through different networks.
The number of volunteers actually working in the affected areas, individual or not, is said to have decreased to 10 pct of about 170,000 just after the disaster. But networks of volunteer groups, if carefully managed, are expected to increase in the years ahead, at a time when Japanese are struggling for ways to cooperate in overcoming Japan's ordeal after the unprecedented disaster.

March 2011 disaster unfolds quest by activists for better style of support for survivors (1)

Feb. 20, 2012

March 2011 disaster unfolds quest by activists for better style of support for survivors

The catastrophe of March 11, 2011, notably the earthquake-triggered tsunami waves and the ensuing nuclear plant accident, represented not only the beginning of ordeal for survivors but also the start of struggle by civic activists to better their style of support for disaster-hit people across Japan.
The devastating earthquake and the killer tsunami waves as well as the radioactive leakage accident are believed to have caused a population shift of almost a million from northeastern and eastern Japan to the rest of Japan.
At least 3,000 to 4,000 people have evacuated from the affected regions and neighboring areas to Fukuoka Prefecture, the most populous region in Kyushu, southwestern Japan, according to Shinichi Iida, a Fukuoka City-based NPO activist. About 70 percent of the evacuees have come from the greater Tokyo area. This reflects fears of radioactive contamination following the explosion of three of the six reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s No.1 Fukushima nuclear power station, whose cooling water system was damaged by the tsunami waves.
“We must be aware that the whole of Japan has become a disaster area,” said Iida, 35, a native of Tokyo. He represents the Fukuoka Citizens’ Network established as a nonprofit organization after the disaster to support the evacuees and other affected people. The network loosely links NPO groups and other interested organizations for support to disaster-hit people who need help. Efforts to support the affected people should be carried out in a comprehensive manner in a long-term perspective, Iida said in a recent interview.
Support activities by Iida’s group are divided into outward, direct jobs in disaster areas and inward jobs, such as counseling, mental care and nursery service for evacuee families. The number of member entities involved in these jobs has increased to about 70 from eight at the start, said Iida, who himself works as a business consultant and a food education adviser.
Kazuhiko Imamura, an NPO activity leader in Fukuoka, also believes that support for the disaster areas must be continued in the long run.
He inaugurated local supporters’ conference and helped organize workshops and various other events from just after the disaster. But he now focuses on a longer-term approach for finding an effective means of supporting the livelihood of the affected people. “We have to question ourselves if our life has been truly sustainable” following the latest disaster, he said. What is questioned now is the way of life in unaffected areas, not in affected areas, Imamura said.
Imamura, 53, a veterinary surgeon, questioned, “Whether can we, those who consume massive amounts of electricity, truly support people suffering from radioactive contamination in the areas around the Fukushima nuclear plant?“
The natural disaster claimed approximately 19,000 lives and, combined with the nuclear plant accident, dislocated hundreds of thousands of people mainly in the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan.
Iida and his staff are busy sorting out life-related goods donated by supporters every time before supplying them to the evacuees in Fukuoka. Iida’s NPO group stores used refrigerators and other contributed big products in a warehouse, but small items, mainly those for kids, are piled up at a corner in his office.
The donated items are provided on a first-come-first-served basis free of charge to evacuees. So far, thousands of pieces of goods have been provided to 50 families. “The donated items we see here in today are limited, but we have lots of items in this office before putting them up on our web album” for supply to the evacuees, he said.

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Temples, shrines trying harder to spread happiness in post-quake Japan

Jan. 30, 2012

Temples, shrines trying harder to spread happiness in post-quake Japan

Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are trying to make themselves more attractive to people and better serve their life in the first post-quake year this year in Japan.
At Kushida Shrine in Fukuoka, the biggest city in Kyushu, southwestern Japan, priests were busy last week decorating buildings in the premises toward the “mamemaki” bean-scattering party．
Major religious events in February include rituals linked to the “setsubun” season-dividing day, notably the mamemaki party in which celebrities and those chosen from among ordinary people throw soybeans in bags to worshipers while shouting “Good luck in, devils out.” The setsubun day, usually around the third day of February, heralds the beginning of spring in Japan.
As one of the setsubun decorations, the papier‐mâché　mask of the “otafuku” funny, moon-faced woman was established in front of the main gate to Kushida Shrine. Worshipers had to stoop to pass through the mouth of the woman’s mask, but many of them looked delighted, because it is believed that the otafuku, as a symbol of well-being, promises people good health and happiness for the year.
The devastating earthquake and the killer tsunami waves on March 11, 2011, claimed about 18,000 lives and dislocated hundreds of thousands of people mainly in the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan. But the disaster has also changed Japanese people’s view of life, reminding them of the importance of ties that bind families, friends and community people. The setsubun day comes at a time when many temples and shrines across the country are performing their rites more actively than ever to help cheer up people’s hearts.
Fears which spread among many people after the frightening disaster have largely come to subside, but as Japanese feel that something has changed in their life after the calamity, the series of relatively overlooked seasonal religious rites is expected to be an important opportunity for people to rethink about their life.

Season's Greetings from a Classical Japanese Poem Lover

Dec. 23, 2011

Season's Greetings from a classical Japanese poem lover with photos of the four seasons of Japanese children (from the top):

a little girl and her grandma at "Hinamatsuri" doll festival in Kaisei Town, Kanagawa Prefecture

a girl at flower carpet festival in Ginza, Tokyo

children dancing for a flea market attraction in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture

young girls writing hopes on wishing cards at "Tanabata" festival in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture

a boy and a baby watching goats at county fair in Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture

a little girl and a mother at Yokohama Museum of Art Square in Yokohama

girls playing on Meganebashi bridge in Akizuki of Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture

little girls at "Hagoita" fair at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo

Japanese admire colored leaves in many ways in quiet autumn air

Nov. 30, 2011

Japanese admire colored leaves in many ways in quiet autumn air

One of the pleasures for Japanese to have in the chilly but quiet autumn air is colored leaf viewing. Colored autumn leaves usually mean maple and gingko tree leaves for Japanese today, but residents of a small town in the eastern part of Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, have long loved “haze” Japanese wax tree leaves, which turn bright red toward the end of autumn.
The haze trees are called so because the seed vessel is rich in wax. Haze wax trees were once seen here and there in the Yanagizaka district, mainly on the riverside and on the corners of fields. “Mokuro” wax extracted from the seed vessel had been used as an ingredient for Japanese candles until early last century. But demand for mokuro wax candles declined sharply around the middle of the century following changes in people’s way of life. As a result, many haze trees had been cut down.
Colored leaf viewing in autumn compares with cherry blossom viewing in spring. “Sakura” flowering cherry trees have been best loved by Japanese people over the centuries. But many Japanese have also been lured by the beauty of autumn tints of various trees that decorate mountains, hills and elsewhere.

It was the day when the first blow of autumn winds was felt.
The top of trees had then begun to turn red
on the peak of Mt. Otowa where I heard the winds.
(A personal translation)

This is a “waka” poem composed by Ki Tsurayuki, a distinguished poet in the Heian period who played a key role in editing the Kokinwakashu poem anthology early in the 10th century.
A row of about 200 old wax trees,　5 to 6 meters high and about one meter around, is one of the few haze tree groups left in Yanagizaka. The trees line a 1.1-kilometer road which used to be the approach to a Buddhist temple at the northern foot of the Minoh Mountains. The Yanagizaka wax tree avenue was designated as a natural monument by Fukuoka Prefecture in 1964.
Wax tree planting started in Yanagizaka and neighboring areas about 250 years ago in the middle of the Edo era as the clan who had ruled the Kurume region recommended planting haze trees and producing mokuro wax to farmers in an effort to promote the local industry and support their livelihood.
Wax production for supply to Japanese candle makers is already over, but wax produced from the remaining haze trees is used mainly as ingredients for cosmetics such as pomade and lipsticks, colored pencils and paints. The wax tree avenue at Yanagizaka becomes a busy street toward the end of November when local people set up roadside stands to welcome visitors hoping to see colored wax tree leaves.
A local elderly man, who was at the avenue to guide visitors, said, “They (the trees) are losing their vigor in recent years.” A group of local high school students "helped us prune and cut undergrowth a few years ago. The trees are so old anyway. That’s why we have to take care of them carefully,” the man said.
Local people’s efforts to restore strength to the haze trees are expected to continue, but the avenue should remain as a treasure for them for many years.

Old castle town "Little Kyoto" trying hard to keep its own life

Oct. 30, 2011

Old castle town "Little Kyoto" trying hard to keep its own life

Cities and towns in various parts of Japan are trying hard to bolster their life by their respective means as the Japanese economy as a whole has been decelerating over the years. Among them is Akizuki of Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture, which boasts of its natural beauty and historically important sites as a former castle town.
Akizuki, which literally means “the autumn moon,” is one of more than 20 old towns across the country that are nicknamed “Little Kyoto” because their appearance and historical atmosphere resemble those of Kyoto, Japan’s capital from the late eighth century to the middle of the 19th century.
Akizuki attracts about 500,000 tourists a year, enchanting them with flowering cherry trees in spring, fireflies and moon viewing in summer, colored leaves in autumn and snow scenes in winter.
Akizuki Castle, which had been built on the southern slope of Mt. Kosho, was deserted after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. On its ruins is a junior high school. Tourists cannot enter the school premises, but they can see Kuromon Gate and Nagayamon Gate, the two former gates leading to the castle which have been restored with almost the same style as they used to have. They can also see a 500-meter straight road in front of the castle ruins, which was used for horsemanship training and other purposes by samurai.
Akizuki is just one of the numerous former castle towns in Japan. It is also rather a smaller one, but it is one of the oldest towns of this kind. The original Akizuki Castle was built early in the 13th century by a warlord who worked with the Kamakura shogun government. Akizuki is also unique because its basic structure and layout as a town, including building sites for samurai and ordinary people like merchants as well as roads and watercourses, have been preserved almost as they were. Preserved sites in the town also include a few houses for senior samurai families with thatched roofs and the 200-year-old stone bridge, called Meganebashi, which still stands at one of the entrances to the town. Some Buddhist temples were built mainly on the edges of the town so that they could be converted into forts in wartime.
Akizuki had a population of about 5,000 at its prime time. Its population has decreased to about 1,000, and visitors are limited on weekdays and off season. But local people receive tourists warmly all the time while living a calm life which has been kept over the centuries.