News from Genkidama ... The school trip memorial photos.

I have an update from the Genkidama project which we are donating the money we raise from sales of the Longstone "Sakura" CD.  Mayumi Suzuki, who started the project in her home town of Onagawa has kindly sent me these photographs so I can explain how some of the money is used. Mayumi is a photographer ( you can read her story at the Monchicamera links in the side bar ) who lost her parents in the Tsunami , she decided to carry on the work of her father who was a portrait photographer in Onagawa. One of his jobs was taking the children's photographs at the local elementary school for such occasions as graduation etc. Onagawa was very badly damaged in the Tsunami and many families lost everything and simply could not afford to pay for school photos. One of the things Mayumi is able to do with the money donated to her project is provide the children with photos and yearbooks free of charge . This may seem like a small thing but it makes all the children equal again and provides those who may have lost everything  some new happy memories for the future. If anyone doesn't have the CD and would like to help a very limited number can now be bought online here

Click here to purchase Sakura

£15 from each sale will be donated to Genkidama.

 Recently Mayumi accompanied some of the children of Onagawa on a school trip and took memorial photos for them. 

Here are some of those photos with a simple message from Mayumi.

Please tell your friends " Onagawa kids are fine , they enjoyed their school trip "

 These are the memorial photos as presented for the children.

Group photo from Rindou lake and farm 

http://www.rindo.co.jp/

Visit to Nikko Tosho-go Shrine .

http://www.toshogu.jp/

                        They visited an elementary school at Shioya-town ,Ibaraki, which gave relief supplies to Onagawa. 

Remember what may seem like an ordinary or small thing to us is very important for these children . Many of them will have witnessed the terrible effects of the tsunami . They may have lost family members and friends , many will have lost their homes and will be living in temporary housing or evacuation centres . There is also a good chance their parents have no way to earn money at the moment , it will take a long time for life to return to normal . It's wonderful to hear that the children are having some fun and to see some of their smiling faces.

Onagawa supporters web site.

Mayumi ( Monchicamera ), who organised the Genkidama project that we are donating to, discovered an English web site who are collecting money for Onagawa in association with the towns football team.
Below is a link to their site and an excellent news/photo story they have posted about the town

http://onagawasupporters.com/

Excellent story about recovery in Onagawa 

Book recalls Japan tsunami through children's eyes. "The tsunami was greedy"

A couple of news stories about a book published in Japan where children who survived the tsunami write about what they witnessed . The few quotes in the news item are heartbreaking .....
" The tsunami was greedy "


Book recalls Japan tsunami through children's eyes.

Most touching tsunami stories come from surviving children.

Six months on, some photo stories, one with amazing pictures of Onagawa .

Please click on the links below to view the stories and photos .

Then and now photos including pictures of Onagawa

Amazing slideshow showing the unbelievable scale of the cleanup

Some photos of the Tsunami aftermath taken by children .

Rumours and fear ... Fukushima farmers get some positive coverage at last

It's understandable that the Fukushima nuclear problems have caused worry and fear among people living near to the power plant. Japan more than any other country has good reason to be concerned about the damage that can be caused by radiation. However it seems to me that this fear is fuelled and exaggerated by the media who seem to continually want to mention the atomic bombings along side the Fukushima issues.
I don't speak or read Japanese so I can only comment on the English language coverage. From this it seems people are afraid to use any produce originating from the wider Fukushima area and in one case a father was convinced no one would want to marry his daughter because she was from Fukushima prefecture .
Last week NHK World broadcast one documentary aimed at allaying some of these fears . It was only a small thing but it was pleasing to see .
It was called Overcoming rumours and marketing Fukushima and featured a market stall set up in Tokyo by farmers in Fukushima to sell their produce accompanied by certificates proving the produce was tested and not contaminated. In addition another stall holder had started a blog featuring recipes using this produce to help the farmers cause .
At the time of writing it's still possible to view the program at the NHK web site .
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/japan7/recent.html
I'm guessing this link will only work for a week or so , the heading to look for is Restoring a Reputation.
Interestingly neither the program ( English language version ) or the NHK World web site provided either the address of the stall or the web address of the recipe blog .
I emailed NHK who happily provided the information  which I'll reproduce below by copying part of their reply.

Please see below the information about the shop and the recipes introduced

in the program.

FYI, the information in Japanese was also added.

*Kobushi no Sato: Outlet Shop of Tamakawa Villege, Fukushima Prefecture,

located in Tsukiji Outer Market of Tokyo

Midori no Eki 1-ban sen,

Tsukiji Outer Market,

4-16-2 Tsukiji Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045

TEL & FAX:  03-3547-6061

http://www.tsukiji.or.jp/modules/shoplist/shop_detail.php?shop_id=605

(Japanese only)

Tsukiji Outer Market Official Website

http://www.tsukiji.or.jp/english/

*Cooking Blog

Tsukiji Outer Market "Midori no Eki" Diary

Website: http://ameblo.jp/midori-no-eki/ (Japanese Only)