Justin’s Japan: One month after the Tohoku Earthquake, New York offers more Japan benefit events
Article/Journalism, Events, Justin's Japan 
Comments Off on Justin’s Japan: One month after the Tohoku Earthquake, New York offers more Japan benefit events
Catch the Rock 4 Japan benefit concert at Brooklyn Bowl on April 12. (Cathyland & Packrat Planet)
By JQ magazine’s Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his page here to subscribe for free alerts on newly published stories.
The massive aftershocks reported in Japan earlier today symbolized the island nation’s continued appreciation of support from around the world one month after the Tohoku Earthquake. Here are some of this week’s benefit and lecture events in New York.
Monday, April 11, 2:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Crisis Relief Exhibition
Featuring artist talk “Dialogue with Mariko Mori and Ingo Günther” moderated by Reiko Tomii and live performances
Gallery 61, New York Institute of Technology, 16 West 61st Street. 11th floor
Donations welcome
Just one month ago, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and aftermath rocked the nation of Japan. The death toll is still climbing, with over 10,000 people who lost their lives, and almost 20,000 people reported missing. Over 300,000 people lost their homes and are now living without adequate food and water. Millions of people are living with anxiety and fear of being exposed to the dangers of raising radioactive levels. And their struggles are far from over.
We Are One features artwork donated by Japanese artists living in New York to support the people in Japan. Their mission is to raise money to help with the relief efforts of the Japan earthquake and nuclear crisis, spread awareness of what has happened, and what we can do among the international community. On display are donations from approximately 100 professional Japanese artists living in New York in painting, drawing, mixed media, prints, and photography. All donated artwork will be sold at a reasonable price of $100-$200. All proceeds will go to Japan Society’s “Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.”
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
iNFiNiTY cooperation cross-cultural mass choir performance
Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Center, Lower Auditorium
34 West 134th Street(Between Lenox and Fifth Avenues)
Donations welcome
“Don’t Give Up” is a song written by the American gospel composer Danny Eason. It was recorded by Eason in Japan in 2010 with Japanese blind artist Kohshi with the Japanese choir Gospel Now Japan. For this special charity rehearsal event managed by NY Hallelujah Company LLC, you can join the choir for Japan and sing with the group, raising your voice for Japan and encouraging its people. All voices and all musicians are welcome, prior to an upcoming performance in May with Eason.
According to the Japanese Red Cross, over $223,000,000 in donations were received in just one week from Japan’s friends overseas and from corporations. Over 20,000 people have been rescued by the Japanese Ministry of Defense and they are trying to save even more lives. Over 10,000 lives have been lost, but the number of victims will continue to rise with an additional 18,000 people unaccounted for, and 240,000 people have been forced to leave their homes to stay in temporary shelters. To participate, contact project leader Ms. Kyoko Uchiki at NYHCLLC[at]gmail.com or (212) 996-4302. For additional information, visit www.myspace.com/dont-give-up.
Tuesday, April 12, 8:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m.
Featuring The Orion Experience
Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Ave.(between N 11th & N 12th Streets)
$10 suggested donation, 18+ only.
The critics are raving about The Orion Experience’s upcoming EP NYC Girl. USA Today says it “recalls ’70s-era Electric Light Orchestra,” while Time Out New York exclaims “The Orion Experience…impresses with its buoyant, hooky tunes, making awesome use of a coed tag-team vocal approach on a new EP.” The band also recently released their song “Nippon Ga Dai Suki (Japan We Love You)” for the first time in the U.S., with all proceeds from purchases via CDBaby and iTunes going to The Jewish Federations of North America’s Japan Relief Fund.
For a complete listing, click here.
JETAA Hanami Update 04.11.11
Cultural Outreach, JETAA Chapters, Notable JET Alums Comments Off on JETAA Hanami Update 04.11.11
A couple updates from hanami celebrations around the JET alumni community:
- JETAA DC participated in Washington, D.C.’s Cherry Blossom Festival. Click here for NHK written and video coverage, which includes an interview at the end with JETAADC Board Member Sarah Lyons (Kagoshima 2007-2009).
- JETAA Music City President Terry Vo, returned to her home state of Arkansas as a Cherry Blossom Princess for their cherry blossom festival and won Miss Congeniality! More to come on that.
Japan Volunteers
Earthquake Tsunami, Volunteer Comments Off on Japan Volunteers
Via the Japan Earthquake Disaster Relief Idea Exchange Facebook page, which I believe was originally set up by JET alum Emily Duncan:
Here’s a link to a blog/website called Japan Volunteers (japanvolunteers.wordpress.com) that seems to have good info and perspectives on volunteering in various ways in connection with everything going on in Japan. Here’s an excerpt:
Your services are needed
I have put out a call to several disaster relief NGOs I know to see what their needs are. Many groups are asking for volunteers in limited numbers.
I know many of you want to volunteer but money (see donation pages) and daily use items (see the materials page) are still needed. Please do not just get in a car and drive north.
I have recently heard that in some places in Tohoku there are too many people showing up clogging roads and using up limited resourced. We all can do something to help but we do not all need to go up there to make a difference.
I have many emails every day from people who want to do something – people from all over the world who want to come to Japan. I am sorry but you will not find that answer here on this site. Right now is not the time to just hop on a plane and come to help with the relief efforts. When the rebuilding starts 1000s of volunteers will be needed. that should take anywhere from 3 to 10 years.
JETwit goes to London!
Cultural Outreach, Events, JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETwit goes to London!
I’ll be visiting London this week (with daughter Helen in tow) Wednesday through the following Tuesday, staying with a good friend I originally met studying at Waseda. And while in London I plan to:
- Attend a talk by Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, at The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in London on Thursday, April 14, 4pm on “Pop culture from a Multipolar Japan.”
- Meet up with JETAA International Chair and former JETAA NY Vice-President Shree Kurlekar who now lives in London as well as JapaneseLondon.com‘s Vanessa Villalobos (who is also a JETAA UK officer).
- Jointhe Japanese Conversation Group’s Hanami Picnicon Saturday, April 16 (which I believe will include a number of JET alums).
If you’d like to meet in person just come to one of the events, or feel free to get in touch at jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
I finally had a chance to sort through the pictures from my recent trip to Japan, which brought back many happy memories. I think I found them hard to deal with until now as they represent the demarcation between pre and post quake (I left the day before it hit). But I bit the bullet and looked at them for the first time since my travels, and I felt ok. I tried to think of my friends rebuilding their lives post-disaster and somehow getting by thanks to their hope for the future. As trite as it sounds, at this point they are taking things one day at a time as that is all they can do in the midst of the immense uncertainty that remains.
On a lighter note, one of the things that I love to do when I go back to Japan is check out the new flavors of items in konbini and other stores. One brand I am always sure to find is Read More
FoxHound87: Nagasaki, Day 2
Uncategorized Comments Off on FoxHound87: Nagasaki, Day 2
Joshua Small is a First Year JET currently living in Ikaruga-cho, Nara-ken and has been chronicling his experience on his blog Snorlax87.
My second day in Nagasaki was spent touring what Nagasaki is REALLY famous for, the second Atomic bomb.
Our day started by taking the tram to the Peace Park. This was a very somber experience. The park stands as a memorial to the victims of the atomic bomb and as a reminder for the necessity of world peace. It was said that nothing would grow in the damaged areas for 75 years because of lasting radiation. The peace park also stands as a testament to the will of the Japanese people to rebuild and “blossom” once again. Cherry blossoms have flourished in the park.
On the left side of the park, there is a statue to mark the hypocenter of the blast. It is a large black stone with stone rings rippling out. Again, this is a tragic place to visit. Even if you believe the bomb was justified, it’s still very sad.
Towards the center of the park, there is a statue dedicated to the children who died. Most of the bomb’s casualties were women, children, and the elderly.
At the exit of the park lies a piece of Urakami Cathedral. Burns scar the brick wall, and you can even see where the heat blast bubbled the surface of the concrete. According to some of the plaques that lie scattered throughout the park, the a-bomb exploded 500 meters above this Catholic Church. How ANY of this church survived the blast is a miracle. Ironic, no?
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post.
http://snorlax87.blogspot.com/
There’s a very thoughtful article titled “This is what public diplomacy looks like“ by JET alum Emily Metzgar, Assistant Professor at Indiana University’s School of Journalism, on the Center for Public Diplomacy blog (which is part of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications). (This is the same Emily Metzgar conducting the Survey of American Alumni of the JET Program.)
Here’s an excerpt that captures the gist of the piece, namely that JET is providing Japan with a significant “return on JET-vestment“:
“But in the aftermath of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, the value of having a large, worldwide network of college-educated foreigners who understand, respect and appreciate Japanese society and culture continues to emerge. A look at a JET alumni networking website, JETwit.com, provides ample evidence of the many ways in which current and former JETs are responding in whatever ways they can to the disaster hitting a country that all of them, at one time or another, have called home.”
CLICK HERE to read the full article.
AJET Cares: Care packages for JETs in affected areas
Earthquake Tsunami, Fundraising, Local Government, Volunteer Comments Off on AJET Cares: Care packages for JETs in affected areas
Via AJET.net:
AJET is trying to coordinate sending care packages to JETs in areas affected by the earthquake. If you, a group of friends, or your prefectural AJET chapter would like to send a care package to a JET who needs it, please see this form for more information and to sign-up: http://tinyurl.com/3v9o25o.
Questions? Contact us at care@ajet.net. Show another JET that you care~
Here’s the full post from the AJET website:
Dear JET Participants,
As you know, many JETs live in areas that were heavily affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Though relief agencies have been making headway, some regions are still without regular access to power, heat, or supplies. NAJET has provided information on volunteering and donating through some of these organizations, but now we’d like to focus on helping out within our own community, JET to JET.
If you have been looking for a way to get involved, whether as a local AJET chapter, as a group, or as an individual, here is an opportunity to help on a very personal level. We will be putting together a database of request for assistance and offer to help from across the nation. JETs in affected areas will be paired with JETs from areas that are able to provide support. Our hope is that this will strengthen the bonds within our community, while providing personal, timely aid.
We will try to arrange recipients and senders based on the specific requests and information provided by both sides. JETs who are able to send supplies should click on the link at the bottom of the page and fill out the “Application to Send Assistance” form. JETs who live in areas affected by disaster should fill out and submit the “Application to Receive Assistance” form at the corresponding link below. JETs living in affected areas may also include requests for items in need at a specific evacuation shelter.
Once NAJET pairs up applicants and contact is established on both sides, we hope that the support relationship will grow from there, and that JETs will be able to communicate between one another. However, if you need any advice or support, please don’t hesitate to contact us. The list of respondents will be continuously updated, and the more people can help out, the better. We strongly encourage senders to work together with their prefecture’s AJET chapter!
Guidelines for what to include, box size limits, etc. are included on the application forms.
We will be matching up JETs as we get more information, so it may take some time before you have a contact. We ask for your patience, and in the meantime, encourage you to get involved in your local communities by raising money or gathering donations. For a list of ways that you can help out, please browse our website.
Click here to SEND a care package
Click here to REQUEST a care package
For questions, comments, feedback, please contact: care@ajet.net
I was extremely honored (and also surprised) to receive this Certificate of Appreciation from the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR). There are many, many JETs and JET alumni helping out in so many ways both in Japan and from other parts of the world–with volunteering, fundraising, translating, reporting, organizing, communicating, etc. JETwit is simply a reflection of the JET and JET alumni communities, and so appreciation extends to all of you as well. And for those who don’t know, the folks at CLAIR have been working around the clock through all of this to help JETs and families of JETs in myriad ways for which my words do not suffice.
Issho ni isshokenmei ganbarimasu.
JET alum Canon Purdy’s “Save Miyagi Fund”
Earthquake Tsunami, Fundraising, JETs in the News, Local Government, Notable JET Alums, Writers Comments Off on JET alum Canon Purdy’s “Save Miyagi Fund”
By Jen Wang (Miyagi-ken, Tome-shi, 2008-09), writer for J-music website Purple Sky. She also maintains her own J-pop culture blog, Gaijin Teacher Otaku.
JET alum and tsunami survivor Canon Purdy (Miyagi-ken, Shizugawa-cho, 2008-10) has created the Save Miyagi fund with her family to help the students in Minamisanriku. Currently she is working with the mayor and the BOE to determine where the funds are needed most.
In addition to seeking donations, she is asking both current and former JETs to send her links to fundraisers and other charity events to be promoted on the Save Miyagi site. She is also looking for photos of places before they were destroyed by the tsunami to send to the victims as a way to raise morale and give them something to hold onto.
You can email your links and photos to canon.purdy [at] gmail.com .
Japan Times article on evolving needs of Tohoku residents
Earthquake Tsunami, Fundraising Comments Off on Japan Times article on evolving needs of Tohoku residents
Relief workers must adjust quickly
Individuals, groups face challenge identifying constantly changing needs of survivors
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110406f1.html
Something to keep in mind as everyone tries to think about the best places to donate. Basically, it’s a moving target to some extent.
7.4 earthquake off the coast of Miyagi
Earthquake Tsunami Comments Off on 7.4 earthquake off the coast of Miyagi
7.4 earthquake off the coast of Miyagi just now. Tsunami warning for wave of 1 meter.
From KMOV.com in St Louis (via Associated Press):
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s northeastern coast has been rattled by a strong aftershock. The Japan meteorological agency has issued a tsunami warning for a wave of up to one meter. The warning was issued for a coastal area already ravaged by last month’s tsunami.
Officials say the quake was a 7.4-magnitude and hit 25 miles (40 kilometers) under the water and off the coast of Miyagi prefecture. The quake that preceded last month’s tsunami was a 9.0-magnitude.
Buildings as far away as Tokyo shook for about a minute.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
*************
Here’s an April 7 Japan Times article about Marti McElreath (CIR Miyagi-ken, Shichigahama-shi).
JET post best, not ‘pityfest’
American helps, refuses to leave beloved, battered beach locale
Thursday, April 7, 2011
SHICHIGAHAMA, Miyagi Pref. — There is a picture folder in Marti McElreath’s Facebook account that chronicles her time in Shichigahama, a town located on a small peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture less than an hour’s drive from Sendai and where she has been working since last summer under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.
Her comment on the folder reads: “I have the best JET placement in Japan,” a view McElreath hasn’t changed despite the massive earthquake and tsunami that brutally transformed the once peaceful beach community she has come to love.
“I mean, it’s heartbreaking and hard to see what happened, but people are laughing and kids are playing and life is going on. Even after all that’s happened, I still believe it, I believe that I have the best JET placement in Japan,” she said.
While radiation fears from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have led many foreigners in the region to flee, McElreath, who said the town lies on the cusp of the 80-km evacuation zone recommended by the U.S. government, has remained firm in her conviction to stay and do what she can to help the community.
“I’ve only been here for seven or eight months, but I really do love Shichigahama. The people here have been really amazing to me, and they’ve done so much to help me — I couldn’t imagine just leaving,” said McElreath, 23, from Westborough, Mass.
The earthquake and tsunami that hit the small town of 20,000 claimed 56 lives, and 18 people remain missing. Nearly 1,000 people were still living in the town’s six evacuation centers as of Tuesday, and many houses in the coastal area were swept away or damaged.
The facility McElreath works for, Kokusaimura, or International Village, is being used as a temporary shelter, providing food and a place to sleep for around 300 people, and McElreath spends her days helping out evacuees as the only foreigner among the staff.
According to the International Affairs Division of the Miyagi Prefectural Government, out of the 70 JETs in Miyagi — excluding those in Sendai — 36 have either returned to their homeland or evacuated from the prefecture following the earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster.
A municipal representative from Sendai said out of the 70 JET assistant-language teachers working in the city, 50 remained, and the rest planned to return before schools reopen Monday.
When the magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, McElreath was at her office at Kokusaimura, going about her usual business.
As a coordinator for international relations, McElreath, fluent in Japanese after studying as an exchange student in Kobe during high school and then at Tohoku University during her senior year in college, was responsible for organizing various community events the facility hosted, as well as giving English-language and culture classes to local residents.
Without warning, the earthquake cut off the lifelines at the facility, and while sirens blared out tsunami warnings, people began evacuating to Kokusaimura, which sits on a hill.
McElreath said no one at the facility at that point was aware of the scale of the tsunami that was about to crash into the peninsula. By the time emergency electric generators were able to re-connect television sets, evacuees were confronted with horrific images of the disaster.
“I think it was around that point that we realized that we were going to be here for a while,” she recalled.
Then at around 6 or 7 p.m. a huge explosion shook the facility and its residents as the JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp.’s Sendai oil refinery, located a few kilometers from Shichigahama, went up in flames.
“The entire sky went red, and everyone gathered around the windows and looked outside and it was, like, an inferno,” McElreath said, adding the smoke from the refinery lasted two or three days.
While McElreath was able to notify a prefectural adviser of the JET program of her safety immediately after the earthquake, cell phone reception quickly died.
It was not until the third day after the earthquake that she rode her bicycle 6 or 7 km toward Sendai and her cell phone finally re-connected, allowing her to contact family and friends to let them know she was safe.
McElreath said that as the Fukushima nuclear disaster unfolded, many foreigners she knew in the region, including non-JETs and those from other nations, were contacted by their respective embassies and advised to evacuate.
“There are noticeably less foreigners, there is almost no one left that you can tell by just walking around,” McElreath said, adding she did not feel threatened by the radioactivity leaking in Fukushima.
“I decided that I would rather stay here as long as possible and keep on monitoring the situation,” she said, adding that while her parents are concerned for her safety, they understand her desire to remain and help the community.
While electricity returned about a week after the earthquake, and propane could be used, water remained undrinkable and was only restored Tuesday in some areas of town. McElreath said that while Kokusaimura was well stocked with food and drinking water, evacuees missed taking baths.
Meanwhile, McElreath said Plymouth, Mass., Shichigahama’s sister city, has been making fundraising efforts, already gathering $80,000 to be used in the town’s rebuilding. Teams from as far afield as Turkey have arrived on search and rescue missions, and various volunteers, including many celebrities, make the rounds to Kokusaimura to drop off goods and cheer up the evacuees.
McElreath has recontracted with JET until July 2012, and she is determined to stay and work — if the situation allows her to — for the entire duration.
“I’d like to let everyone know that the people here are positive and we don’t want this to become a pityfest.
“We are doing our best.”
Surviving in Japan: How to Find (Good) Toothpaste in Japan
Advice, Blogs, Japan Local, Writers Comments Off on Surviving in Japan: How to Find (Good) Toothpaste in Japan
Posted by Ashley Thompson (Shizuoka-ken, 2008-2010) of Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese and Lifelines columnist for The Japan Times.
Another one of those “living in Japan” myths claims that Japanese toothpaste generally doesn’t work. Or that it doesn’t contain fluoride. And some folks go so far as to insist this is one of the main reasons why Japanese people have bad teeth. (I hope you realize this is a generalization, and not one that I came up with nor believe!) Of course I bought into this myth, although a few people mentioned something about Aquafresh toothpaste, and brought four tubes with me from the States. Nothing wrong with bringing toothpaste with you, but you certainly don’t need to waste luggage space on it. So let’s delve into toothpaste.
The toothpaste I’m going to examine here is Aquafresh, although some other brands offer similar ingredients. I browsed a local daily goods store and discovered that about two-thirds of the products listed fluoride as an active ingredient. Granted, most toothpaste probably did lack fluoride years ago as well as other ingredients of “modern” toothpaste, but it seems that many brands have caught up now. So first, some words to know: — CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post.
WIT Life #160: 電気予報
Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life, Writers Comments Off on WIT Life #160: 電気予報
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
The title of this post is not a misprint; I purposely typed 電気予報 (denki yohou or electricity report), not 天気予報 (tenki yohou, or weather report). According to this morning’s news, in order to deal with the expected uptick in electricity usage during the summer months, there is a proposal being floated around of providing electricity news via TV and radio periodically throughout the day. The purpose is twofold: to try and decrease mandatory blackouts and increase awareness of energy conservation. These reports would include forecasts of supply and demand in specific areas, as well as directions regarding usage. This is an interesting concept, and certainly not foreign for a country whose news regularly provides Read More
