The volunteer work continues in Tohoku. NICCO has been soliciting student volunteers for more clean-up work in October. Their focus will be cleaning and clearing debris from homes and farms on the island of Oshima, which is part of Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture. The island … Read more
JEN has been working in Kitakamimachi (Miyagi Prefecture) to help restore the local economy and get businesses back on their feet. This was a region that did not receive aid until long after the disaster. JEN arrived there in July. One businessman had lost his … Read more
Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) reports that it has delivered supplies to 8,506 households in temporary housing in 9 towns in Iwate Prefecture. From the end of August, PWJ began surveying the needs of people in these housing units for the winter in order to effectively … Read more
In Kitsunezakihama, on the eastern side of the tsunami-ravaged Oshika Peninsula, NPO JEN brought 30 volunteers from one company to assist in the preparations for oyster cultivation—a staple industry of the region. Shells are strung together to provide a bed to which new oysters will … Read more
With help from JEN and from a German NGO that JEN has partnered with for nearly two decades, in mid-November a temporary shopping mall, “Oshika no Rengai,” officially opened in Ayukawahama (on the Oshika Peninsula) after just one and a half months of construction. The … Read more
Although 10 months have passed since the earthquake and tsunami struck the Tohoku region, a great deal of clean-up work still remains. In December, JEN volunteers joined with volunteers from Mitsui Bussan and entered the Yagawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki for the first time to start … Read more
A group of Harvard Business School students visited the JEN Ishinomaki office as a part of their Business Research Program. After a presentation on JEN’s activities, JEN held an open hearing with the beneficiaries of the emergency clothing assistance project, which was carried out jointly … Read more
The Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA) is planning an event in early March, just one week prior to the one-year anniversary of the earthquake, to promote exchange between two of the sites in which AMDA has been working, Otsuchi (in Kamiheigun) and Kesennuma … Read more
NICCO offered an outline of its efforts to provide “kokoro no kea“—care for the heart—focused on children in the Tohoku region who are suffering from or are susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of their experiences. With the help of child psychologists … Read more
Summer in Japan is a time for festivals, where people often wear a traditional light-weight cotton kimono known as a yukata. Unfortunately, those who lost their homes in last year’s disaster have had too many other items to replace, so few have been able to … Read more