Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
This guest post is by Jeff Shieh, the CIR in Uchinada.
Acacia Romantic Festival Flyer (pdf)
Uchinada Town is holding its annual Acacia Romantic Festival on Sunday, May 15, 2011. Every year, there is a flea market and local performances. This year, in light of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, they have made this into a charity event, where a portion of the proceeds from the flea market will go to relief funds.
AJET has never participated in this festival before, but this year, we would like to run a small booth. For that, we need volunteers to help out!
Here are the details:
Read more of this post
100% of the proceeds from 2:46 – Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake will be donated to the Japan Red Cross. The Kindle e-book is available for purchase at the US and UK Amazons. If you do not have a Kindle, you can download a FREE Kindle app for your Mac, PC, or smart phone with your purchase.
The 2:46 Quakebook project started with a tweet and is on the verge of something great, a way that we can help all those hit by the the March 11th, 2011 earthquake and its aftermath.
Led by OurManInAbiko, a call went out across Twitter for contributors to create a book to raise funds for Red Cross Japan. The idea was to share the stories and experiences of people actually on the ground during the earthquake, whilst raising funds for the Red Cross.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by this event; from those directly in the earthquake zone, the path of the tsunami, in the evacuation area around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, to those in many other areas of Japan, whose lives have been disrupted by rolling power blackouts, poor road conditions, food and water supply difficulties, and more.
The contributions in 2:46 Quakebook have come from a wide variety of sources, and include photographs, personal accounts, drawings; each telling their own tale.
All revenues from sales of the book goes directly to Red Cross, Japan. We urge you to buy the book, buy a copy as a gift, promote it, share it, tweet about it, review it, blog about it, link to it, etc.
The tale of the evolution of QuakeBook can be found under the hashtag #quakebook on Twitter.
The earthquake that just hit Sendai was measured at 7.4 (tenki.jp).
Update: all tsunami warnings have been canceled.
There are tsunami warnings issued for COASTAL regions of Miyagi, east Aomori, Iwate, Fukushima, Ibaraki. Stay up to date on the latest tsunami warnings at the Japan Meteorological Agency.
We felt the earthquake in Ishikawa at a 3 in Noto-cho, 2 in the rest of the Noto, and 1-2 in the southern regions.
For the latest news in English, check NHK World online.
This information comes to us from Marc McCrum, CIR.
With the weather improving slowly but surely and cherry blossom season just around the corner, I hope you’re all doing well despite recent events.
While already a number of projects and activities have been organized to help the people of the disaster stricken Tohoku and Kanto regions, I would like to let you all know of another charity event you might be interested in attending.
On Sunday April 17, from 18:00~21:00, Nomi-city International Friendship Association (NIFA) will be hosting a charity concert to raise funds for ongoing Tohoku/Kanto disaster relief.
Alongside local Nomi musicians, fellow JETs Creighton Hofeditz and Colin Gale have been kind enough to volunteer their time and talents and will be one of the four groups performing at the event. Please come and support them as well!
Tohoku/Kanto Disaster Relief Charity Concert in Nomi
When: Sunday April 17, 2011 (18:00~21:00)
Where: Mirai Bako Coffeehouse, Nomi-city Tokuyama-town
(石川県能美市徳山町子5−2)
Tickets: 1500 yen (1100 to charity, 400 for a drink at the venue)
Contact: Marc McCrum mccrum[AT]gmail[DOT]com if you would like to attend or for any questions.
This post is by Megan Lam, Charity Representative.
The date has been changed to Friday, 15 April!
Hope you are all enjoying spring break or already had some time off! It is finally SPRING and we’ll get to see the sakura come out soon. NEXT weekend is the Daishoji hanami and AJET would like to kick off the weekend with a chill open mic event Friday night at Apre.
We were waiting on Apre’s response and finally got the okay this weekend. We will be holding a charity fundraiser to support the AJET Relief Fund and Red Cross of Japan. We will be splitting the donations between the two charities.
Performers: Anyone is welcome to perform! This time it will be more low-key, so we won’t have a set schedule, but we would appreciate if you could e-mail us to let us know if you are interested. Please invite your friends to come perform as well!
Donations: An anonymous donor will be MATCHING however much is collected during the event up to 100,000 yen!!! Every bit counts and every yen will go towards charity for the Japan disaster relief.
Hope you can all make it this Friday.
AJET Open Mic Charity Fundraiser
Donations collected for AJET Relief Fund and Red Cross Japan
Date: April 15, 2011
Time: 9PM-11PM
Location: APRE in Katamachi
Performances: OPEN to everyone. We will have some music playing as well in between performances.
This information comes to us from Rohan, CIR PA.
If you are interested in registering yourself as a ‘disaster relief volunteer’ through Ishikawa Prefecture, you can do so by sending your information to npo[AT]pref[DOT]ishikawa[DOT]lg[DOT]jp OR fax it to 076-225-1363.
Your information must include the following details:
Your name, address, telephone number and the duration in which you can help with the aid & relief efforts. Please make a mention of your Japanese language level, too.
Please remember that the situation in the affected areas is still far from normal and it will be some time before the local administration or NPOs start accepting volunteers from outside. You may not get a chance to volunteer in spite of your registration, as volunteers will be selected based on the requirements of the affected areas.
You can find the updated information on: http://www.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/kenmin/saigai/vol.html
Reposted from NAJET:
For Ishikawa please visit: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/29984502
Been wondering what all the facebook statuses were about? Ready to find out what 5toSurvive is really about?
5toSurvive is an International walking/running event organised by Tom Cole, and English teacher in Ishikawa. Please see his message below to see how you can get involved, or even organise your own event!
As someone who lives in Japan, I have been both shocked at the destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami, and amazed at how people are coming together to help those in need. Watching these events unfold, I’ve had one continuous thought on my mind, ‘How can I help?’. And when I sat down to think about what I could do, I turned to what I know best: running.
As a keen runner from a young age, I have entered many races and seen what charity runs can do. Each year the London marathon raises millions for charities, and now its our turn to make a difference for Japan.
So…here’s your chance. On Sunday, April 10th, at 3:11pm I am challenging myself to run 5toSurvive — 5kms to benefit earthquake/tsunami relief — and I’m asking all of you to join me. This is an event created for everyone, no matter who or where you are, to join forces and help.
If you’re a serious runner then go for it, if you’re not then have fun! Invite some friends, put on a costume, and walk the distance with a bucket for donations along the way. The great thing is you can decide the details of your event, but you’ll be doing it with others from around the world.
The idea is to run or walk 5km and raise money by doing it. Trust me, this really is where you can make a difference. There are 47 prefectures in Japan. If one person can raise 10,000 yen per prefecture, it will be 470,000 yen. Imagine what a group of 5 or 10 of you can do! (And now imagine runs in New York, London, Toronto, LA and you see what we are going to achieve!)
It’s easy to raise money — just join the 5toSurvive team on justgiving.com and your friends and family can easily donate to GlobalGiving’s earthquake relief efforts. Here’s how you get started in a few easy steps:
STEP 1:
Read more of this post
From Dipika Soni, former JET, and Megan Lam, AJET Charity Representative:
Japan Volunteers is gathering information on how to help: gathering donations, volunteering, and a list of resources. See the site here.
A word from your editor:
My father sent me this CNN article about how the Japanese people appear to be completely calm in the face of this tragedy. The current media brouhaha back home took me on a trip down memory lane, back to my Advanced Placement European History class in high school. On the AP test, which many American high school students take to qualify for college credits, there is an essay called the DBQ, or the document-based question, where the student is presented with a number of quotes, statistics, or testimony from a variety of sources and asked to write his/her analysis of the situation based on the sources. This exercise teaches students to critically examine the reliability of sources and the way information is framed.
With this in mind, the US media, as well as the media of many other Western nations, is sensationalizing the situation (whether on purpose or not) by presenting the news in two ways.
1. Conflating affected areas with the whole of Japan.
2. Lumping together information in confusing, awkward ways.
How can you sort out the news?
1. Use reliable news sources. (Edit: A better example of an unreliable source than the Shibuya Eggman Incident is an unfounded Internet rumor that Snopes has thankfully put to rest.) A good, reliable source for your loved ones at home regarding the status of JETs is National AJET, which also has an extensive list of recommended news resources across the globe.
2. Read carefully. Headlines often present the situation as “in Japan,” whereas the article will more specifically say “in Sendai,” “in Miyagi,” “in Fukushima.” For example, Kyung Lah (CNN) writes in “Amid Disaster, Japan’s Societal Mores Remain Strong,” “Food and water are both scarce. Electricity in the tsunami zone is nearly nonexistent. Survivors have lacked information about their missing loved ones.”
Food and water are scarce in Miyagi and other areas affected by the earthquakes and tsunami. Lah isn’t obfuscating information, but you really have to keep reading beyond that first sentence to understand that the article refers to the hardest hit areas, not to the whole of the nation.
Or, from Reuter’s “SNAPSHOT: Japan’s Nuclear Crisis”–the article has solid information about Fukushima‘s nuclear issues and what is being done to fix the reactors, but the headline may sound like all of Japan is having a crisis. Don’t just read the headlines–read the whole article!
3. Track down the source. Regarding the evacuations and the flooding of the Tokyo immigration office with expats seeking re-entry permits (see The Japan Times and Japan Today), many news sources have cited a “US Government suggestion” to evacuate Japan.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time digging last night and was able to trace the suggestion back to a press release of the Nuclear Regulation Commission. Regarding evacuations: the US government is recommending that people within 80 km (50 miles) of the Fukushima reactors evacuate the area. (See NRC: Doc. 11-050.)
The government is also offering support to Americans working at all of the government sites (embassies, etc.) in Japan who wish to evacuate voluntarily. (Embassy of the US in Japan, Tokyo Press Release.) Three things are lumped into this release: the Fukushima evacuations from the areas near the nuclear plants; the government’s offer to evacuate government employees and their families who wish to leave; and the work to evacuate people living in the areas hit by the earthquake and tsunami (Tohoku region), many of whom have lost homes and property or are experiencing shortages of fuel and heat (CNN).
Please be a voice of reason in a time of crisis. You need to take a stand and provide your loved ones with accurate information. Do not panic. Do not spread rumors or sensationalized information. Always cite your sources. Other than donating our money and time to relief efforts, the best thing we can do right now is disseminate information from reliable sources.
Leah Zoller is a second-year CIR in Anamizu and the editor of this blog. To Mr. Nick Douglass of Anderson High School and any teacher who has ever prepped students for the DBQ: Thank you.
Thanks to Megan Lam and Julia C. for the information!
From the Komatsu City Website:
Between March 17-22 from 9:00-17:00, you can donate goods (see list below) at
Donations are LIMITED TO the following items (must be new and unopened):
These items will be delivered by the Red Cross.
From Meiry Komesu, CIR:
If you cannot go to the places above, bring these goods (ONLY BRAND NEW ones) to KIA (Kodera-machi Otsu 80, 1/ 5 min from Komatsu station).
AOS BRASILEIROS: pdf
Inquiries:
市民福祉部 ふれあい福祉課
Komatsu Welfare Division, Welfare Office
Tel. 0761-24-8052
Fax 0761-23-0294
Upcoming Events
