May 22nd: Visit to Local Supporter

Internet is amazing...   We all know how convenient it is and how all those information can be helpful.

Especially in this disaster, I was able to find all information I needed from the US through internet.  NPO groups in the affected areas, the location of volunteer centers, which facilities were working better, what type of supplies needed at the evacuation centers, and the residents in the affected areas, etc.   Simply amazing..  I felt like I can do anything with just an internet access !!  Addition to collecting information,  I can email to anyone in the world and also call cheap or free in Japan, thanks to Skype and other telephone companies.

Anyway, I found several people / groups who are helping local people and the evacuation centers.

Second day, we visited one of them, Kokuzouson temple.  This temple is founded Nara Ara, about early 700s, and been serving in Ishinomaki area for long time.
After the earthquake, this temple has been helping local people bringing relief supplies to people at the evacuation centers and people live their home.   She said that many people (strangers) found her blog and started to receive relief supplies from all over Japan.

Per her request, we took tank-tops, underwear, bedding, towels and aprons with us.  Tank-tops and underwear were for people in the evacuation center who lost house and everything.  Bedding and other things are for people who fortunately are going to move to the temporary apartments - because once they move out the evacuation center, they are going to be on their own - no help is provided from the government anymore.  We hear that there are a lot of people who face financial challenges as they move out the evacuation center since they lost jobs, too.

All boxes on the right side of her is what we took. As you can see, she was very happy.

Thank you so much for your support, everyone !!

First day: May 21st Supply Delivery ②

When we went through Ishinomaki-city, we did not see much of damages by Tsunami and Earthquake.  I heard that Miyagi would be OK if Tsunami did not hit that hard.

As we drove far from the city and close to Ogatsu area, the outside view changed drastically.  There are many small towns formed in front of ocean in this area, but as we reached these towns only we saw on the ground was foundations of houses, buildings, rubble, wreckage of houses, badly damaged cars.

We lost words as we pass these towns.

The huge sightseeing tour bus is still on top of the 2nd story building.  We saw the house roof in the ocean.  Unusual quietness...  We have seen these pictures so many times on TV and news, but it was totally different experience as we stood there and saw 360 degrees of surroundings, smell, and sounds (no sounds).

 

We talked with an area manager from a welfare & volunteer service office, we decided to visit to a small town called Ara.

This Ara area has about 27 houses and only 4 houses were destroyed by Tsunami.  The residents told us that most of houses were not affected this time because they move the housing area on the hill side since the big earthquake in 1933.  However, their fishing warehouses and netting and gears in the ocean are all destroyed.

About 80 people live in this community, and they are helping each other for their daily life.  Most of residents are elders, 60s to 80s, and lost jobs because of Tsunami damages.  They prepare all meals in their community center and deliver to each houses. They told us that the Self-Defence 

Force was the only hope to get water, foods and daily supplies.  They could go out shopping, but due to the bad road condition, it would take them about 90 min to get to the closest town.   They did not want to use up their limited supply of gasoline, so they felt trapped there.

When we told them we had brought some vegetables, cookies and snacks, their faces lit up since these items were not included at all in the supplies from Self-Defence Force.  It had been already two months after the earthquake.  I don't think I can live without cookies for two months !!

 

Ladies were also excited about the clothing we brought.  As boxes were brought in the room, they looked very happy as if they were window-shopping.  Seeing the colorful underwear from the US (brands like Fruit of the Loom and Hanes),  they started smiling and saying "oh, sexy looking..."

We left there as we promised them we would come back once more before we leave.  Their requested items - bananas, milk, tofu, sausages, ham.

I really hope at least they get water access soon.

First day: May 21st Tokyo To Ishimaki ①

Unfortunately, while in Ishinomaki-city, we encountered a difficulty to connect online.  We went to several places to get access including McDonald, but the online access in Japan is a bit complicated and not easy.....  I felt that Japanese wireless system in public area is not as convenient as in the US.

I am back in Tokyo now, so I want to continue this postings like my diary.

On May 21st, we left Tokyo 3 am and meeting other girls at Utsunomiya at 5 am.
Two cars are packed, really packed with relief supplies, such as water, clothing, bedding and towels.  I don't know how my friends packed the car like this... only breathing area for people left.

As soon as we arrived Ishinomaki Senshu University, Ishinomaki-city, we set up our tents.  Three of us are staying here for a week -two tents for three of us, more space is better.

This university offers their class rooms as a volunteer center and also their track field as a tent site for volunteers, and there are more 100 tents scattered around there when we got there, small and big, red, green, blue, etc.  It almost looks like the tent show !!

It looked like a regular outdoor activity, doesn't it?

We took a coffee break , then off to Ogatsu-city for relief supply delivery.

At this campus, one big supply warehouse is setup.  These supplies are for people who are living in their houses, but having difficulty getting foods, toiletry, and other things,  (They can not obtain enough supplies either due to the bad road conditions or financial difficulties because they lost jobs.)  and we, volunteers can get some items and deliver to them.  The supplies are coming from many companies and NPOs , such as UN WFP, Piece Boat, and several others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRMe1u42BbE (you can see how the warehouse is organized in first 5 minutes.)

We collected a lot of supplies by ourselves, but we wanted to take more water, beverages, and vegetables if they have. So we went to check out the warehouse.

Lucky !!!  We were able to get boxes of fresh cabbages, carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers. Every minutes their inventory changes as volunteers like us came in and out.  We got 10 more boxes water (2L x 6), bottled juice, cookies, rice crackers, food bars, and Konbu rolls (kelp rolls).

Now, we are ready to leave for Ogatsu-town.
Here is the google map for the town we went from Ishimaki-city.
Ishimaki-city, Miyagi to Ogatsu-town Map Link


Continue to the next posting.

Truly “Kashimashi Girls”...,..

As you saw the pictures from the previous post, it became so clear to us that one car, Mitsubishi Pajero, was not going to be big enough.

My friend called me saying
"i don't think we can carry all of them in one car.. how much of the space do we still have? Our minivan is already filled full.. "

"Well.... not much any more. Our stuff and the clothing we collected pretty much filled the trunk space already... So, maybe we just need to ship them by courier."

"No way of shipping all  - i mean ..we are talking about 20 boxes or more. The shipping cost will be a hefty sum...  almost same as having another car."

"yeah...but we don't have a second car. Let me think about it."

Then 5 minutes later....

"Found second car !!!!  My friend and another one are willing to drive this minivan !!!  Two girls are going to come with us and come back home that night. "
"Really ???  Yeah !!!"

So, two girls joined this trip to Ishinomaki-city from Utsunomiya-city , three-hour drive for one way, leaving 5 am and be back home that night.

I am known for my frequent long driving back and forth, 200 miles distance, but I think my girl friends are tougher.  They are so independent, capable, intelligent and tough - and of course, very pretty, too. hehehe.

I am so lucky to have them and hang out with them, and I am so proud of them.
We chat a lot. We laugh a lot. And we do things a lot.  Truly we are being Kashimashi, I thought..


Love you all from my heart.


   

So many relief items and things collected again.

I am so lucky to have such a good friends and colleagues.  Thank you all, girls !!

I emailed on May 17th to my friends and colleagues that I was to collect bedding, linens and towels to take to people in the affected area, and by 20th I received so many packages from them in Japan.

We set up three places to be delivered, and oh my......  all three places were filled with the packages either mailed or delivered in person.  The packages of clothing, new and used, bedding, linens, and towels covered the floor of the room, and there was almost no places to place my foot !!

You got to see these pictures....you know what I meant...  so many nice things.  Then.... we thought.... would they all fit in the car ?????!

Undercover Mission: HANA-PAN

People lost everything...house, cars, clothing, things they had.  Tsunami took them all...

What can we do?  What can I do to help these people who survived and somehow could encourage them a little..  what would be their mmedicate needs?   foods? clothing? branket? toiletary? underwear?

Oh, YES ! Underwear !!  They are small enough, maybe light enough we can ship from here without too much shipping expense....  everybody needs them everyday.  I hear guys can wear the same one several times in and out ....but that is not gonna happen to girls.  NO WAY !!
I was also hoping the colorful and pretty underwear might give a little joy to girls and ladies under this extreme circumstances.

So, that's that.   I decided to send pretty underwear to Japan. 
Undercover Mission: Hana-Pan was started.
( “HANA-PAN” an abbreviation in Japanese we made up for flower pattern undies. HANA = Flower, PAN = PANTIES abbreviated )

By sending emails to friends and colleagues requesting the support to this projects, I was able to find supporters both in California and Japan.

The project started the March 21, and the first shipment of our package with 239 pairs of undies was sent out on March 28 to AAR Japan. 
http://www.aarjapan.gr.jp/activity/report/emergency/ 

After that was a snowball effect.... at the end of this project, we collected 2,831 pairs of new underwear in California and Japan by April 16, and we made total of 10 shipments to several groups, such as NPOs, an handicapped center, an orphanage, and evacuation centers.
We received many thank you letters from these groups. That was nice.

2,831 pairs of undies....   almost 3,000 pairs is an amazing result, isn't it !!!

I am so proud of my colleague friends who helped me and supported me on this project.  I am very thankful how quickly they responded to my call...  Amazing people.  Love you, all !!

Friends here went to Ross, Marshalｌs, Targets, Outlets and flee markets, etc.
Friends all over in Japan were mailing the underwear to my Tokyo delivery office, another friend place.

Her place (Tokyo delivery office as I called it) was filled with pretty undies and panties flying over her head like crazy as my car trunk was filled with them, too. 

I really hope these undies brought a bit of hope to them.


Here are some pictures from Undercover Mission: HANA-PAN.

 

Collection of pretty panties in California

Packed and ready to fly to Japan 

Our first shipment to AAR JAPAN

more packages to ship out.. yeah !!

How did my blog start.. Earthquake and Technology

Until now, i did not have a blog.  Now, I have two. 
( Well, I said two, but essentially they are going to be same or similar, one in Japanese and the other in English.)


When the Earthquake and Tsunami hit Japan in March, I was in Dallas, TX for business.  I just came back from Japan 4 days ago, March 6.  Many of my friends (Japanese who live in California and Japanese who were from Japan) were there, too, and now as I think back, that was very fortunate for us as we could share the concern and the pain.

March 10, just before midnight (Dallas time), my friend called me about the earthquake as she found out that just happened checking out her email.

For Japanese, earthquake is one of those thing you live with, maybe like rain for Californian.  We grow up with earthquakes in Japan.  So, as my friend called me, my first reaction was "oh...another one again - I hope it was not a big one".
Then everything changed as I started to check out the internet news.  This one was really big....  We started to call the hotel rooms and let Japanese people know about the earthquake.  And started to call the immediate family members and close friends in Japan for their safety.

Of course, the phone line was jammed.  As we were calling to Japan from the United states, so as people in Japan calling.   Thousands of people were calling to reach to their family....

From that moment, it took us about two hours to get connected to family members.  We were lucky since we had my computer, Smartphone, and iPhone.  With these three devices working, we were able to use telephone line, Wi-Fi, and email to find the way to connect people.  Really..... without these technology, Internet and SKYPE, we would not be able to do the thing we did that night.   

I truly appreciate the communication technology we have now.  I know many people agree this.  I really think that the communication was much faster even in this disaster because of the current technology.

For some of our friends from Japan, the wait was longer.  It was a very frustrating situation when you knew only things you could do was to WAIT.  Some people wanted to fly back home soon, but that was not an option either because the airport was shut down in NARITA, and the train system was shut down. Fortunately, eventually, everyone I knew were able to connect with family members.

From this day, things changed.  Japan changed.  My whole world just changed.
I am sure many people felt the same way...“ I needed to do something ....”　

Gotta put pictures first....

It is going to take a bit of time to catch up with my Japanese blog .... but I can upload at least pictures..  Pictures tell all, right ???

These are actually taken by my best friend, who is currently volunteering in Ishinomaki-City.

 

Got a lot of supplies, Rice, Soy Source, Oil, Miso, Potatos from UN WFP and loaded fully in the trunk.  Off he went to people who have not received any help on food supplies yet.

 OMG !!   It used to be a road, still is,,,, but it is in the ocean now.

The land and the roads sunk after the earthquake.

Home, sweet home.... for volunteers.  (Senshu University Camplus @Ishinomaki-City)

Volunteers bring their own tents, water and foods.

What is "kashimashi"? What does that mean?

Let's start with Japanese Kanji lesson...

(You know Japanese uses several sets of characters, and the Kanji is one of them.)
 

kashimashi  =　姦し    

Look at this kanji “ 姦 ” . You notice same three characters in it? The same character  is 女.  It means a girl or woman. 

There are three girls in the one character... so you know what it means.  No?

What happens when three girls get together?

Chatting here and chatting there......They chat your ear off.

Yakky.  That what it means...　

Yes, Kashimashi Global is a place that girls (+ cool boys) all over the world get together and talk about something, plan something, and act on something to have better lives and better world.