一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

On Saturday July 1st , 2017, we hosted an event for children who were staying in a children's home in Otomo Town, Rikuzentakata City, Iwate. Like last year, Mr. Yuichi Murakami, a fisherman of Otomo Town, helped us make preparation for the event, from planning, arrangements of both the venue and the boat, food procurement and so on.

Although we had a lot of trouble because of the rain last year, the weather this year was great and all the preparation works went smoothly at the barbecue site. There was no missing charcoal plate this time. All the appliances for barbecue safely arrived.

The first event was held last year to offer an opportunity for children who lived in a local children's home to experience the fun of fishing. Mr. Murakami, who did everything to make it happen last year, was very enthusiastic about this year's event. At ten o'clock in the morning, fifteen children aged from three to eighteen led by six staff members from the children's home arrived at Otomo Harbour and the event started.

Everyone squealed with delight to see ocean-fresh octopuses, scallops and sea squirts landed from Mr. Murakami's fishing boat, Tenyo Maru. The biggest attraction of all was a huge octopus weighing 25kg. Not only the children but also the adults including the children's home's staff all happily exclaimed.

As we had heard that the children had been looking forward to fishing, our fishing-savvy staff members brought along some rigs with them. The tools turned out to be wonderfully useful. This year, the kids were able to catch a lot more fish than last year thanks to those special instruments, and were so completely absorbed that they even almost forgot lunch. (When they caught small fish, the fishermen told the children to release them back to the sea for sustainability.）

While the children had great fun catching fish, some local fishermen and the foundation staff were working to fix lunch.

We had three barbecue tables ready this time so that we could grill meat, vegetables and seafood separately on each table. Mr. Murakami skilfully made scallop sashimi, looking particularly an authentic man of sea.

The barbecue site was soon filled with mouth-watering flavour and the lunch started at last. Little children sat on the ground and ate minding their manners.

After the meal, a young woman volunteered to sing popular songs from anime shows to entertain children. Although they were sitting quietly and simply listening to songs at first, as they felt relaxed, everyone stood up and got perky. We are very grateful for the singer's wonderful hospitality.

At the end of the perfect day, what awaited the children was the bay cruise on Mr. Murakami's boat which they had been so looking forward to. As the capacity of the boat was limited, the children split into two groups and enjoyed the 20-minute cruise. Some kids held on to the must at the bow and pretended to be fishermen hunting for fish.

Although our contributions are small in scale, Rentai Tohoku and Seinan is going to continue various activities with help from our local supporters in order to encourage those who suffered from the earthquake in Tohoku to become self-reliant.

We hosted the symposium near Senmaya International Club, the hub of our volunteer activities, at 17:00 on Saturday March 11, 2017 with almost 50 audiences.

On behalf of the surviving families, Mr. Yuichi Yonezawa, director of Yonezawa Shokai Co., Ltd., Mr. Ikuo Takeyama, partner of a Dutch style hydroponic farm, and Mr. Sakutaro Sugano, an orphan who lost his mother in the previous year after living at a temporary house for 5 years spoke about their thoughts 6 years after the earthquake.

Each of them talked about how they faced and overcame their emotional scars caused by the disaster and how they found the light of hope for the future.

Toward the end of the symposium, various people made speeches including Mr. Miura, who offered a building for us to use as our operating base immediately after the earthquake and Mr. Sugawara, director of a children's institution addressing the issue of child abuse, and provided valuable opportunities for us to reconsider how we should support sufferers of the earthquake from now on. Mr. Sata, board chairman of the Foundation presented certificates of commendation and commemorative gifts to the three main speakers who went through tremendous hardships. The board chairman spoke about the past support activities by the Foundation and his thoughts on what we tried to achieve through our activities. The dignified manner with which young Mr. Sugano, the second-year high school student (17 years old), made his speech made us realize the hidden strength of Tohoku. Wishing that the youth would grow up big and strong, the chairman gave him his favourite US navy jacket (decorated with an embroidered Popeye) which he used to wear when he was young.

During the first half of the symposium, the professional cello-piano duo, Mr. Sergei Srowaczewski and Ms. Tatiana Koresova, who also played at the former Okawa primary school in the morning, played beautiful music once again.

Click the picture below to see the movie.

The event was covered by Iwate Nippo and Iwate Nichinichi newspapers as follows.

The Iwate Nippo issue of March 12th, 2017

The Iwate Nichinichi issue of March 12th, 2017

At ten o'clock in the morning on March 11, 2017 (Sat), the sixth anniversary of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, we held a memorial service in front of the statue of Angel donated by the Foundation at the former site of Okawa Primary School in Ishinomaki City. Yasuhiko Sata, board chairman of the Foundation invited a professional cello-piano duo, Mr. Sergei Srowaczewski and Ms. Tatiana Koresova from Russia especially for the service. The duo played beautiful and exquisite music for the sufferers of the disaster and the souls of the dead.

Although many other events to commemorate the earthquake victims coincided with our event, Mr. Ikuo Takeyama, who was extremely supportive when the Foundation donated the Statue of Angel, kindly offered help for the success of our event. When the deadly quake hit Tohoku, Mr. Takeyama was in Shizuoka on a business trip, but sadly he lost his mother, wife and daughter, who lived in the Okawa district.

His late daughter had just celebrated her birthday on the day before the earthquake and was expecting to join Japan Air Self-Defence Force in the coming April. Upon the suggestion of our board chairman, the musicians played her favorite song, "Streamer (Hikouki-gumo)" by Yumin.

Mr. Takeyama bravely overcame the loss and the devastation after the earthquake and set up a Dutch style hydroponic farm in partnership in 2016, trying to move forward. We offer our sincerest prayer for the repose of the victims and wish him every success in his new life.

Click the picture below to see the movie.

On Sunday December 18, we cooked and served "Tomodachi Curry ®" and had a great time with the residents of Sandanbashiri Kouhoku Temporary Housing Estate, Ishinomaki, Miyagi. It was the third event at the estate since the first curry event in April 2014.

Although when we left our office in Senmaya, the surrounding area was covered with thin snow, we arrived and found the Ishinomaki area sunny and nicely warm: a good start of the day. Some residents kindly helped us preparing ingredients for curry and we enjoyed lively conversation and worked together in a homely atmosphere.

The order to add and stir-fry the ingredients in the pot is always the key to delicious curry. Therefore those who prepare ingredients and the pot keeper have to work in smooth coordination. As always, thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Sugawara from Hiraizumi, everything went without a single hitch.

Tomodachi Curry ® was ready as planned before noon. As our aim was to encourage people to communicate with each other while enjoying food, the curry was only served to people who could come and have meal together in the meeting room. Like the previous gathering, we had many residents in the meeting room and had a great time.

After lunch, one of the residents sang some songs playing the guitar and everyone enjoyed the time spent together. To watch the movie of the event, click the picture below.

It was thanks to Mr. Takeyama that the series of events started in the first place. We became acquainted with him when we donated the statue of Angel at former Okawa Primary School. Now that five years have passed since the earthquake, Mr. Sata and the foundation staff are all happy to see that Mr. Takeyama is gradually overcoming the calamity and shows his smiles every now and then.

It appears that as part of the permanent housing program for the earthquake victims, a new housing estate for residents of Santanbashiri temporary houses are to be completed in 2017. Rentai Tohoku and Seinan are going to continue our emotional support until everyone moves in the new estate. We wish a good health and happiness to the residents of Santanbashiri temporary housing estate, and we hope they will be able to resume the usual life swiftly.

On Saturday July 9th, 2016, we hosted an event for children at Otomo Town, Rikuzentakata City, Iwate. Mr. Yuichi Murakami, a resident of Otomo Town, helped us make arrangements for the event, from planning, finding both the venue and the boat, and food preparation. Mr. Murakami has been a great supporter to our activities since the establishment of our Foundation.

Although our initial plan was to have a barbecue at the harbor, due to incessant rain which continued from early morning, we were forced to change our venue and set up a makeshift rain hood under the eaves of a building. There was another mishap and we discovered that some of the barbecue tools including charcoal plates were left behind when we packed. Luckily, someone found a few pieces of galvanized sheets to use as substitutes of the missing charcoal plates.

Some women got together to prepare food indoors and the Foundation's members who were outdoor-savvy built a fire outside. The preparation went smoothly and we waited for the arrival of the invited children.

The event was originally planned to provide children living at an institution with an opportunity to experience fishery. Although there were some obstacles to materialize our plan, Mr. Kinno, who were sympathetic to our idea, took the trouble to convey our thoughts to the institution and convinced the management. At ten o'clock, 19 children and 6 staff members from the institution arrived at Otomo Harbour and the event started.

Kids were all excited seeing ocean-fresh scallops landed from Mr. Murakami's fishing boat, Tenryu Maru. The volunteer members watching them were also full of expectation-- perhaps we could eat some barbecued scallops?

Ignoring the adults who were contemplating only about food, the children divided into two groups. One group went for fishing and the other got on the boat. The Foundation member who loved fishing as a hobby put baits on hooks for children. He was probably more enjoying himself than anyone else.

As the capacity of the boat was limited for safety reasons, it was dozen or so children who enjoyed the 40-minute cruise. During the cruise, Mr. Murakami, the captain, skilfully disassembled sea squirts, washed them with seawater and let the children taste some marine delicacy. On land, Mr. Murakami was a gentle, fatherly figure who smiled all the time but once getting on the boat, he transformed into a cool man of the sea with a stern look. The children who got on the boat enjoyed the cruise greatly and exchanged high-fives with Mr. Sata, the board chairman of the Foundation, as they left the boat.

The excited children, dragging exhausted Taher, walked the short distance from the harbor to the barbecue site where they discovered scallops, oysters and meat all ready for barbecue. (The great amount of scallops they saw at the harbor all arrived for barbecue.)

The staff member who cooked pan-fried noodles was also an outdoor enthusiast and he looked far happier than his usual self clad in a business suit. Mr. Sugawara, the former mayor of Hiraizumi Town happily barbecued scallops and oysters for everyone. He always joined us with his wife and the couple is now a popular fixture of our events.

It was two teachers from Hanaizumi Junior High School who grilled meat. They have been helping us at several Tomodachi Curry® events since they met Taher when he had a lecture at the school. Taher and the teachers are now good friends and three of them drove together to and from the venue.

The barbecue site was filled with hot, delicious smell and the children could no longer stay still. They squealed for joy when they saw hair crabs brought in.

Kids loved barbecued meat and seafood, and almost forgot about the existence of Taher because he was not cooking his usual curry this time. However, as if he was determined to win back people's attention to himself, he started to grill his wife's specialty spicy chicken. It was the chicken Mrs. Taher marinated overnight in her authentic spicy sauce. Half of the chicken was less spicy so that children could enjoy also. The rest was seasoned with more spices and peppers to suite adults' taste buds. Our volunteer staff members quickly devoured the delicious meat.

When the meal was over, Mr. Murakami, who had been anxiously watching over the barbecue site to see if everyone was happy, looked relaxed. Mr. and Mrs. Sugawara grilled oysters up till the end.

When it came to a summer barbecue, we could not miss our traditional watermelon splitting game. Everyone tried to hit the watermelon in turn from the youngest to the oldest but it was not as easy as expected. The high school student who tried at the end managed to split the fruit at last. For many of us, it was the first game of watermelon splitting in a very long while. We enjoyed it thoroughly no matter the age.

Following the game of watermelon splitting, the children who were enthralled by fishing in the morning asked if they could also get on the boat. As the rain stopped, the second round cruise was pleasant under the cloudy sky. Some of the kids were lucky enough to get on the boat twice. All of them were ever so excited and yelped with delight. They pumped their fists together at the end of the cruise with wonderful smile.

Although our means are limited, Rentai Tohoku Seinan is going to continue various activities with growing number of local supporters to help those suffered by the earthquake in Tohoku become self-reliant once again.