100 Santas Came!

We have made a donation from the funds raised by selling the Sakura CD to the 100 Santas Christmas project . They will send 100 Santas to the North East coast of Japan and hand out Christmas candy to children and old people living on their own who survived the tsunami.
People outside of Japan can contribute by purchasing extra sweets for the project from an Amazon gift list .
Check the links for more details and the story that inspired the project .

100 Santas English language page

100 Santas Amazon wish list page

News roundup including Onagawa related stories

A few news stories at these links reporting on continued difficulties faced by the areas hit by the tsunami and earthquake.

Land prices in Onagawa since the Tsunami

Another thought provoking set of photos from the Guardian

Temporary housing opened in Onagawa

Tsunami related art by a student in Onagawa used for postcard titled "Ikiru"

Interesting story about trying to promote tourism since the Tsunami

Some thought provoking photographs .

Hi
please check out the link below for some amazing "before and after " photos showing the extent of the cleanup in Kesennuma after six months . A lot has been achieved but it also illustrates how much work remains to rebuild the communities .


News article and photos here.

this article was shared on Facebook by the excellent site

https://www.facebook.com/kesennuma

thank you

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 .