JAA Japan Disaster Relief Fund Report from President Gary S. Moriwaki

On November 28th and 29th we visited Tohoku again. We attended a fundraiser with Bobby Valentine one evening to raise funds for Tohoku area kids to enable them to have a travel abroad respite. The next day we accompanied him to Sendai, where we visited with officials of Tohoku Daigaku Hospital. Two on-the-ground Americares staff joined us, as well as physicians and officials from the hospital. We had an excellent exchange of ideas. During the first week of December, the Kuwanas and I met with Diet members, Peace Boat, ETIC, Henry Takata, Keiko Kiyama of Japanese Emergency NGOs (JEN) and Japan Platform. Of particular concern to many, aside from economic issues, was the mental and physical well being of the displaced elderly, young children and unemployed workers who are suffering from the effects of the triple disaster.

We are now thinking about how to coordinate our efforts to plan symposia, other awareness and fundraising events during and around the first anniversary, March 11th, 2012. Our work goes on. We will have a Committee Meeting of the JAA Japan Disaster Relief Fund on Dec. 22nd, 2011.

JAA Japan Disaster Relief

The people of Tohoku are still suffering from the combined tsunami, earthquake and nuclear plant disasters. To date, JAA has raised approximately $1 million in donations from individuals and corporations. Especially touching are the donations from school groups, including the Anime Club at Francis Lewis High School, which sold metal buttons that they had created with motifs from their favorite Anime scenes, in order to raise funds for students in the affected region. The group mentioned that they have learned valuable lifetime lessons through their efforts.

The JAA Committee on Japan Disaster Relief Fund held a meeting on August 15 and has decided to fund the following NGOs working in the Tohoku region:

• (1) $125,000.00 -Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) for women, pregnant women and babies residing in Tohoku region www.joicfp.or.jp
• (2) $125,000.00 -Peace Boat for support and relief of residents of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture.Working with Church World Service, JAA is funding Peace Boat to facilitate relief and rebuilding efforts in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Church World Service will assist in overseeing Peace Boat's tremendous efforts and will provide updates on the progress of this well regarded Japanese NGO. www.peaceboat.org
• (3) $100,000.00 -NPO Jidai no Souzou Kobo for Civilian Relief & Recovery Support Team “Shintakujuku in Tohoku” to fund a series of weekend programs that provides Character and Leadership Education ans aspirational hope for children and their parents in the Tohoku region. www.jidai.or.jp

JAA has previously sent out $265,000 for support of Japan Disaster Relief- Fukushima Rescue Fund $100,000, Miyagiken (NY Miyagikenjinkai), $91,535.90, the Red Cross (NBC Dine Out Japan Relief) $60,000 and Kokkyounaki Ishidan $25,000.

In total, we have sent out $626,535.90 from JAA Japan Disaster Relief Fund.

We continue to perform our due diligence and are investigating NGOs in the Tohoku region that focus on the needs of elderly as well as mental health issues. Several JAA representatives including our president Mr. Gary S. Moriwaki will visit Tohoku in September and will report back to our members.

On July 6th, Dr. Chiyoshi Takano from Koriyama city in Fukushima visited JAA to receive a banner with the message “UNITY & HOPE”, which JAA members inscribed at recent Keirokai. Dr, Takano had worked and volunteered for many critically injured and depressed patients at Izumi Sonritsu Hospital and Kuwano Kyoritu Hospital, both of which sheltered victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami. She emphasized the need for the fund to rebuild damaged hospitals. The Unity & Hope project was made possible by the efforts of Ms. Pamela Sugihara and Ms. Aileen Yamaguchi.

On June 18 on a warm early summer evening, Bobby Valentine, who is a great friend of Japan and JAA, hosted "Stamford on the Sound," a food and wine extravaganza, with all proceeds going to the JAA Japan Disaster Relief fund. During that afternoon, Bobby hosted a softball tournament to raise additional funding. Over 1,100 supporters attended the evening event, including the actor Richard Gere, former Mets and Yankees pitcher David Cone, and Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia. A highly successful silent auction and online auction were also held. Roughly $600,000 was raised. Ambassador Shigeyuki Hiroki, Consul General of Japan in New York addressed the gathering and expressed his gratitude for the generous and heartfelt support of the people of Stamford and the corporate supporters. President Gary S. Moriwaki also gave remarks and spoke about JAA's relief efforts. JAA wishes to extend its gratitude and appreciation for the unbelievable contributions of Mr. Valentine, and to Mr. & Mrs. Eiichiro Kuwana for their tremendous hard work and support.

The Second Annual Japanese Heritage Night at Citifield, home of the New York Mets, was held June 21 to benefit Japan Relief Efforts. During the pre game ceremonies, Soh Daiko and Momo Suzukiﾕs dance troupe performed on the field, The Mets presented their Spirit Award to the people of the disaster stricken area. This was accepted by Ambassador Shigeyuki Hiroki and representatives of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. A special video tribute to Wally Yonamine, who passed away recently, was screened during the game. Wally was the first Japanese American to play in the Japanese professional baseball leagues and is the only Japanese American to be enshrined in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Wally was also the first JA to play professional football in the US, having been with the San Francisco 49ers. Ryan Yamamoto, Wallyﾕs grandson, acknowledged the tribute on behalf of the Yonamine family.

Report from President Gary S. Moriwaki:

On September 30, 2011, just about six months after the earthquake and tsunami disasters affected the Tohoku region of Japan, we had the opportunity to again visit Ishinomaki, accompanied by volunteers from Peace Boat and Church World Services. After presenting a ceremonial check for $125,000, we were able to visit a couple of the town's business districts, the Peace Boat center of operations, and the still devastated areas along the coast. The business districts were much improved since our last visit at the end of May. The streets were clean, free of sludge and debris, and newly repaved. Many stores had new signage and were open for business. However, many businesses were still boarded up, and even the ones that were open did not have many customers, other than the volunteers who worked in the area. The situation along the coast is still pretty bad. There were huge mountains of debris, some more than 100 feet high. One of those mountains had four levels, each level with its own bulldozer. Factories and homes were in disrepair; and many residents are living in temporary shelters. However, there were some signs of hope.

We visited Takahashi Tokuji Shoten, Inc., a fish processing plant founded in 1905. It is a very large plant with five very sophisticated fish processing machines that work at 196 C, using liquid nitrogen. Peace Boat volunteers began cleaning the 20 cm deep layer of sludge in the plant starting March 17, and have just finished cleaning the machinery, which now needs repair (at a cost of $2.5 million). The plant was literally under water, with sea water reaching up to the top of the four story building. The local residents were at first wary and skeptical of the volunteers, but through their hard work and engaging personalities, the volunteers were able to establish a bond of trust and ended up providing psycho social support as well. The volunteers eventually convinced the owner of the plant, Mr. Hideo Takahashi, to rebuild. At first he just wanted to walk away as the devastation was so great. While we were at the factory, we ran into Mr. Takahashi. He said that one machine was ready to go and that on Oct 1 they were having a re-opening ceremony that would put 20 people back to work. There were 75 workers pre 3/11. One of the workers is his second son, who left his job and girlfriend in Tokyo to rejoin his Dad. We watched as Takahashi, in tears, thanked the Peace Boat volunteers. So this story has it all: devastation and rebuilding, recognition and respect for local customs and concerns, revitalization on and hope, cooperation between private and civil sectors, financing and job creation.

In Tokyo, the situation seems pretty normal. Escalators are running, the streets and stores are fully lighted, and it is pretty much business as usual. While in Tokyo, we visited with a number of NGOs and NPOs. At JOICFP (Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning), we had a ceremonial presenting of a check for $125,000. The major concerns of JOICFP as expressed by the managing director, Sumie Ishii, were: (1) JOICFP was having difficulty tracking down and reaching out to the population of women who are pregnant or have recently given birth who became dispersed since 3/11, (2) mental health issues,(3) radiation concerns and (4) upgrading their website.

At JSK (Jidaino Souzou Koubo), we met with Akizawasan, the founder, who received our ceremonial check. A new initiative was described, which is to send 50-100 kids from Tohoku to the USA for respite.

At ETIC (Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities, www.etic.com), we had interesting discussions with their young leaders. They want to send interns and fellows to the Tohoku region for the purpose of incubating new businesses and to encourage young people to either return to Tohoku or to set up shop there.

Along these lines, we also had the occasion to meet with Henry Takata, who is on the Asian Board of All Hands, a US NPO based in Massachusetts with volunteers working on the ground in Tohoku. Going forward, their focus is also economic revitalization. Proposed projects include rebuilding a fishing port in Ofunato, financing fishing boats, and repairing fish processing plants.

Report from Mr. Eiichi Kuwana on 9/12/2011:

This past weekend not only marked the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks but also the six month period after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I revisited the same locales that I went to in May to see first-hand what progress had been made over the past four months. At least on the surface, some progress is evident, with debris having been taken away to central locations in and around the devastated towns and cities. The Japanese news-paper Nikkei, reports however, that only a little more than 50% of the total debris has been removed, and the pace of the removal will slow down as available land to store and process the debris becomes more scarce in Japan.

To make this more clear, I have attached "before and after" photos of the same areas.

See website of Peace Boat below,
http://peaceboat.jp/relief/news/mid-term-report

The now famous emergency headquarters of Minami- Sanriku is a shrine for the scores of municipal workers who were convening a meeting to deal with the earth- quake damage and were subsequently swept away to their death. The tented area for volunteer organized food offerings in May is now clear of most debris. However, the progress in the area is only skin deep.

I spent some time with elderly fishermen and their families in the Minami Sanriku area. When asked about their most urgent need, all of them were unanimous - jobs. Creating employment in this region is the only long-term viable solution to attain self-sustaining economic growth. This need is gender and age blind; it is a common thread for all who live in the area, many of whom are elderly, as in the attached photos, and have the energy and desire to remain productive members of society.

We will do our best in supporting NPO and NGO organizations that foster entrepreneurship and creation of jobs with the funds that many of you have generously donated.

Thank you for JAA's continued support and interest in helping the victims in Japan.

With gratitude,

Eiichi Kuwana