Sendai

Greetings from Tokyo!

It has been 4 weeks since the beginning of our seminar. We apologize for not updating the blog sooner, but we will share some of our earlier adventures at a later date.


This past week, we traveled to the coastal areas in Tohoku devastated by the tsunami. On Monday and Tuesday, we traveled to Ishinomaki (labelled on the map below) and Onagawa (marked "A" on the map) and worked with an NPO called AAR Japan (Association for Aid and Relief).

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Monday, 7/2/2012

Leaving Tokyo on Monday morning, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Sendai, where we met with the AAR staff. One of AAR's projects within the Tohoku area is bringing buying flowers from local flower shops and giving the plants to bring hope to the people whose lives were overturned by the earthquake and tsunami.

Medaka no Rakuen (Minnow Day Care Center) is a senior center in Ishinomaki City. Although everyone at the center was able to escape to safety during the 3/11 tsunami, the wave completely destroyed the building. In July 2011,  the senior center was relocated to a renovated 100-yen shop further inland.

Working with AAR, we helped deliver potted flowers, each with a message of hope and support written by the donors, as well our a cappella renditions of two songs: "Don't stop believin'" and "Lean on me" (and "Old Nassau" as an encore). 

What language cannot communicate or describe -- especially in the paltry few Japanese words that most of us know -- music could.

Singing at Medaka no Rakuen. (Photo by Vincent)

Joining in a flower dance performed by the seniors (Photo by Jessica)

Group photo at the entrance of Medaka no Rakuen with the potted flowers in the foreground.

Tuesday, 7/4/2012

On our way to Onagawa, we again drove through Ishinomaki. Below are glimpses of both the destruction and reconstruction in Ishinomaki and Onagawa.

Paper factory in Ishinomaki City: The factory is Ishinomaki is a major paper manufacturer. In fact, there
was a noticeable paper shortage in Japan before the paper factory could be restored to working order
after it was damaged after the tsunami. 

Flowers, Smiles, Hope: pictures by elementary school children on a roadside wall.
Please click on the photo for a closer look at the pictures.

Another roadside mural in Ishinomaki

Flowers planted on the median of the road. There used to be tall pine trees in these areas
but they were torn away by the tsunami.

The building on top of the hill is Onagawa hospital. The water rose high enough
to sweep out the first floor of the hospital building.

A memorial to 12 workers of the Onagawa Branch of 77 Bank at the site of the building

A building flipped on its side by the tsunami. Most of the debris has been cleared from this area of land,
but this destroyed building may possibly be maintained as a memorial.

Our project for the day was to help plant flowers, purchased from an Onagawa flower shop, at a temporary housing facility in Onagawa. The residents of the temporary housing facility, in order not to stay inside the container units all day and lose hope, cleared away the rubble on a nearby plot of land and started a garden, which they named "Fureai" Plantation. ("Fureai" roughly refers to the emotional connections and exchanges between different individuals in a community. )

Prior to the plantation project, the residents also back-scratchers -- called "mago no te” (孫の手) in Japanese, literally "grandchild's hand" -- from broken "shinai" (sticks used in Kendo), and each of us was given one as "o-miyage," a souvenir.

Flower shop in Onagawa where the flowers were purchased

Placing a message of hope in each flower pot

Flowers (Photo by Vu)

Fureai Plantation

Fureai Plantation

Lastly, we visited the Eager Family shop in Onagawa, located in a newly built shopping area named "Kibou no tane" (Bell of Hope). The shop sells a variety of handmade crafts, from quilts to bags to toy monkeys, but specializes in slippers made from t-shirts, since many t-shirts were donated after the earthquake and tsunami. The shop employs around 30 women from the temporary housing facilities and allows them to earn some income before they can find other employment. Although making the slippers is extremely time-consuming and only two pairs can be made in a day, the shop has created about 1000 pairs already.

"Kibou no tane" (Bell of Hope) Shopping Center

The bell in Kibou no tane shopping center. There were four bells
in this area originally but this was the only bell to have been found
after the tsunami.

(More to be added later.)