Kurashi - News From Japan

It's not journalism, not fiction, and certainly not your usual travel book. Patrick Sherriff has written an acute account of his recent trip to the coastal areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Add watercolours and you have a great little book that helped me remember that there is still a world up there, a couple of hours north of the comfort zone that is Tokyo, that hasn't recovered, but the people are doing their very best to cope. Children of the Tsunami is an e-book, easy to order for $0.99 or an oversize paperback at $6.99 from all Amazon sites including here at  Amazon.com .  Amazon.co.jp  and  Amazon.co.uk , or get the paperback directly from  CreateSpace . You can also sign up for Patrick's mailinglist (details below). Background - Patrick drove up in 2011 with emergency supplies, like many of us did, trying to help wherever we had contacts or the need was the greatest. Now, he went back on a more leisurely trip, with wife and tw...

February 9 is the date of the vote for a new mayor for Tokyo, and it has been called a "nuclear referendum" but I smell rat. The candidates may be for or against nuclear power. But the reality is that for Tokyo citizens, there is very little possibility of nuclear power plants to provide energy for the city's bright lights. Consumers, who vote, should know that only a handful of nuclear power plants that may provide energy to the metropolis are even candidates for restarts. A reminder: Currently, none of Japan's 48 nuclear power plants are online. Japan has completely gone off the nuclear "heroin" drug. But 16 are applying for restarts as of February 1, 2014 (pdf) . Of those, only two would be in any position to provide Tokyo with electricity. Those are reactors 6 and 7 in Kashiwasaki Kariwa in far away Niigata prefecture. Both were severely shaken by the earthquake back in 2007, so we know they are not yet confirmed to be safe as such. No other...

Monday next week of course a very solemn date for all of us here in Japan, as it marks two years since the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Tohoku, northeast of Tokyo. Polls in the news this week indicate that a lot of people are still suffering and in doubt how to carry on. The Tohoku region, and Fukushima prefecture, has such a long history. It is not easy to abandon one's roots and one's hometown. However, many people in this part of Japan were migrants in earlier eras, going to the US and Hawaii. Fukushima also has that special kind of vibe, with people from Manchuria returning after WW2, to battle against the forces of nature again. No wonder there are a lot of people in Tokyo who want to support and help any effort from Tohoku, like the Nippori March events. You a;so get the inspiration from ladies like the Hula Girls movie, based on a true story. Plus the fierce fishermen and everyone involved in the trade along the coast. I was particularly struck by t...

Here are a couple of links to some bright ideas from fellow bloggers. Also, for the new year, some principles to scale up in your daily life. Thanks everyone! 1) Exchange/Study/Survive Help indigenous Ainu youth get to New Zealand for an exchange with Maori to study methods for cultural survival. In January 2012, a Maori leader, Te Ururoa Flavell visited Ainumosir (Hokkaido) and Tokyo and witnessed the work Ainu people are doing in their communities to revitalize their culture, language, and rights. He immediately suggested that Ainu youth come to Aoteroa (New Zealand) to see how Maori community members have been working to ensure cultural survival. Immediately, we formed the Aotearoa-Ainumosir Exchange Program Committee to seek out participants. After a rigourous interview process, we chose 7 Ainu youth to go on the exchange starting end January for 5 weeks. Once they reach Aotearoa, they will study, experientialy, about the various ambitious endeavors of M...

"700 plan" is simple enough, but the old neon sign makes no sense at all. What does it mean? The Swedish newspaper SVD decided to outsource the question, and after a couple of days, an answer was found. Something about 700 square meters, or whatever, as a promotion for a new shop. I like how Sweden had a totally un-metric unit, the "plan" back in the 1950s. These days, we are all too standardized to care. Japan, of course, has tatami mats as the way to go (make that "sleep"). Soft to step on, made from rice, with a certain bounce. One tatami mat is just about 2 square meters, by the way, but since the days of the Silver Pavilion was built in Kyoto, or whenever, the 2.73 m × 3.64 m (6 mat) room is a standard. Isn't wikipedia amazing, here is the page for tatami . Korea also has the pyeong (tsubo) and in Taiwan, the ping is used.  I digress, but for a reason. The United States is sometimes blamed as the only country on Earth that does not...

If you have a film camera of any kind, you can participate in the Japan In A Day project with great director Ridley Scott of Bladerunner fame, Fuji TV and others. I like how this can evolve into something that involves a lot of people. Getting published or playing live, having your work out there for others to enjoy! It is such a great chance with all the technology we have at our disposal. There has never been such an era before. Who knows where it will take you? Make a film and the rest is up to fate or karma, things that happen beyond our control. Use it! - Chihiro Kameyama and Takayuki Hayakawa ask you to capture your Japan in a day: It’s easy. All you need is a camera to get started! This is your chance to express yourself. From the ordinary to the extraordinary, we want you to film your day and show us your life and your Japan. No limits – you can submit as much or as little footage as you like, but you must film between 12:00AM to midnight on 11 March 2012 wherever you are. Go t...

You may not know it, but Japanese people are very vocal and very outspoken. They protest a lot! Foreign media usually does not bother to cover activism in this part of the world. The current protests here in Japan against the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a case in point. Over 11 million Japanese people have signed a petition against TPP . They realize that "free" trade is nothing but a massive assault that will force impossible conditions on their livelihoods. What is so "free" about that? It could be called the fourth disaster to strike in 2011, after the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Joining TPP negotiations to eliminate 90% of agricultural tariffs would make it impossible to live in rural Japan. TPP might lead to a lowering of Japan's food self-sufficiency from around 40% to 13%. Asking Japan to import 87% of its food? That would essentially kill one of the best reasons this country has for attracting tourists. It would...

Global Voices writer Takashi Ota has pieced together an account of a Delta Jumbo Jet trying to land in Japan on March 11, 2011. Clearly this was a difficult call. Around 3PM, just after the large earthquake, there was massive turbulence and problems at a number of airports at Narita, Ibaragi, Fukushima, Sendai, which would affect air traffic everywhere else in the Japanese airspace. On March 11, 2011, a Delta airplane pilot approaching Narita airport described his experience of an emergency landing. It was a vivid description that his record rapidly spread across the blogosphere. This particular jet was able to land at Chitose in Hokkaido: Suddenly ATC comes up and gives us a vector to a fix well short of Chitose and tells us to standby for holding instructions. Nightmare realized. Situation rapidly deteriorating. After initially holding near Tokyo, starting a divert to Nagoya, reversing course back to Tokyo then to re-diverting north toward Misawa, all that happy fuel reserve t...

I just got back from my third trip to disaster-struck areas in Miyagi prefecture. I saw amazing efforts to clean up the huge amount of debris. I saw green fields, some farmed, some just filled with strong weed, with potential. Most of Minami Sanriku is still a mess. There is no re-building in the hard-hit towns, and perhaps it will be impossible. There are new gasoline stands, with very friendly staff, the first signs of civilisation. Huge respect. We had run out of petrol on our long drive from Hanno, Saitama and were delighted that the stuff was available. The people in Miyagi have ambition. This is such a beautiful area with so much to gain from investments and help. It is like remote coastal Oregon or Washington state, or Scotland or even more to the point, Yorkshire & the Humber. But, what can you do? It has to be said, if you just lost half of your family, or all of them, the thought of "rebuilding" is remote or not even there. March 11 not only killed some 30,000 p...

I feel so fortunate to be able to do something for the people in Tohoku, north eastern Japan, who have truly gone through hell the past 4 months. My team from Hanno, Saitama with 4 vans plus a small kei-car that we donated to a shelter went up again this weekend, with 10 people and lots and lots of boxes with food, clothes, sandals, summer hats, futons, mosquito coils, books, manga, toys, some furniture (especially boxes are much appreciated for storage) and other stuff. We started at 1AM and arrived in Minami Sanriku around 8AM, the Tohoku Expressway a very bumpy ride in some parts, and north east of Sendai and Ishinomaki it is rural roads and such beautiful scenery. Much has been done to clear up the debris (particularly by the Self Defense Forces, that have now left the region) and there are lots and lots of cranes and heavy vehicles and trucks removing the rubbish. I also saw some fires with black smoke and that got me very worried about pollution such as PCB, asbestos and other to...

Japan still needs lots of help for the Tohoku region. I was moved to tears again tonight reading the details about the Minami Sanriku town that I visited last weekend . From wikipedia (thanks for adding this): Miki Endo (远藤未希), a 25 year old employee of the town's Crisis Management Department, was hailed in the Japanese news media as a heroine for continuing to broadcast warnings and alerts over a community loudspeaker system as the tsunami came in. She was credited with saving many lives. The three-storey headquarters of the department remained standing but was completely gutted, with only a red-colored steel skeleton remaining; in the aftermath of the disaster, Endo was missing and was later confirmed to have died. Photos show the roof of the building completely submerged at the height of the inundation, with some persons clinging to the rooftop antenna. When we visited, we placed flowers and burned incense at the make-shift altar that have been placed in front of the remains of...

Trombonists from Japan and around the world perform for charity and to maintain awareness of the on going efforts to recover from the tragedies of March 11. "A song for Japan" is a beautiful piece, I think you will agree, written by Belgian trombonist Steven Verhelst. Enjoy. Whether you play trombone or not, be sure to visit the website http://www.trombones.jp for more clips, information, free downloadable sheet music, t-shirts, artwork and tools to help you contribute to the cause through music. All profits go to the Japan Red Cross. Special thanks to my high school buddy and fellow trombonist, Larry, who sent me the link.