About $5000 Raised For My Friends in Japan! 義援金が約＄５０００に達成！

We started this fundraising back in May and have raised about $5000.00 for my friends in Miyagi Japan so far.  Thank you all so much for your donations and support for my friends.
５月から始めたこの義援金活動で、約＄５０００ドルの義援金が集まりました。
皆様の暖かいご支援、ご協力、本当に有り難うございました．

All the donations were divided into 4 evenly and have been sent to 3 families last week via wire transfer.
My missing friend, Yuki, has not been found yet, but I was able to contact her husband and sent him the donation (I will be making a separate post for more Yuki's information later).
Eri and Kanako also have received their portion of the donations.
They are all so thankful for your support.  I will be making the last transfer (to Hitomi) soon.
 集まった義援金は均等に４等分にして送金され、もう既に３家族に義援金が届きました．
未だに友人の友紀は行方不明ですが、ご主人と連絡が取れ、ご主人に義援金を送金することができました．（友紀の事に関しましてはまた改めて別のポストで書かせて頂きます）。恵理と加奈子にも送金ができ、本当にみんな、”ご協力して頂いた方々に心より御礼を申し上げます”と言っておりました．ヒトミにも近日送金する予定です．

Eri bought fans (the fan is the most wanted item in the affected area, and it costs 3 times more than the regular price these days) for her friends who were affected by the tsunami using the donations she has received.  Below are the pictures she took when she delivered them this past weekend (the boxed item is the fan she bought for them)
恵理は彼女の口座に入金された義援金を使って他の津波の被害にあった友人達に
扇風機を購入し、配ったそうです（今、地元では扇風機が必要アイテム／購入が難しいアイテムのようで、購入が大変難しいだけでなく、値段も９千円くらいするそうです！！とある仙台のお店ではなんと７０００台待ちだそうです！！）。
その時の写真を送ってくれたので、こちらで紹介したいと思います．

Eri's Neighbor/childhood friend who lost the mother in tsunami.

(以下、写真の説明は恵理からのメールです）

うちのすぐ近所の幼なじみで家族ぐるみの付き合いのこ。

お母さんが震災時、渡波の実家に居て亡くなったの・・・・

本当にありがとう。と伝えててと言われたよ。

Eri's younger brother's girlfriend and her son.

　これは弟の彼女.

鹿妻に住んでいるのね。

家はぎりぎり床下浸水で済んだけど、エアコンの室外機も

ダメになって、ハエが凄すぎて扇風機が一番うれしいみたい！

鹿妻は本当に本当にハエがヤバいよ。

よくみんながいうのは、カンボジアとかのハエとかいるなかで

ご飯食べてるのをＴＶで見るけど、それ以上。だと。

Eri's friend/ex-coworker's dog at her friend's house.

犬と移ってる写真は、中里の人です。

１階が浸水してやっと掃除が終わって、大工さん待ちみたい。

もちろんエアコンもダメだし、ハエもすごくて窓もあけれないみたい。

扇風機は前にイトーヨーカドーで並んだけど、買えなかったと本当に喜んでいたよ。

旦那さんはアメリカに長期出張してて、震災後に一度戻ってきたけど

もう帰って仕事をしているみたい。。

What Eri bought for her and her boyfriend.

あとは、うち用に震災時用具で

簡易ガスコンロ＆電池式ランタンを購入したよ。

電気・ガスが止まってもこれがあれば

何とかできると思う。

大切にします！

本当にみんな喜んでいたよ！

ありがとうね！！

恵理

Pictures from Hitomi

Hitomi e-mailed me some of the pictures of her house and their seafood processing plant (Hitomi's family runs a  seafood processing business and owns a couple of processing plants which both were destroyed by the tsunami)
My other friend told me that the search for missing people (cleaning up the debries) for Hitomi's residential area (Watanoha) just started last week.  
 友達のヒトミが被害にあったご自宅とご家族が経営している会社の工場の写真を送ってくれました。
家も工場も被害が大きく、復興の遅れている石巻市渡波地区にあります。
別の友達からの情報によると、湊地区や渡波地区の捜索は先週からやっと始まったとのことです。

3月13日撮影ー山三布施商店　加工工場

Fuse Shoten Seafood Processing Plant (3/13/2011)

3月13日撮影ー山三布施商店　加工工場

Fuse Shoten Seafood Processing Plant (3/13/2011)

3月13日撮影ー山三布施商店　加工工場

Fuse Shoten Seafood Processing Plant (3/13/2011)

3月23日撮影ー山三布施商店　加工工場

Fuse Shoten Seafood Processing Plant (3/23/2011)

3月23日撮影ー山三布施商店　第2加工工場件祖母自宅

Fuse Shoten Seafood Processing Plant-Bldg.#2/Grandmother's house (3/23/2011)

3月23日撮影ー山三布施商店　第2加工工場件祖母自宅

Fuse Shoten Seafood Processing Plant-Bldg.#2/Grandmother's house (3/23/2011)

３月12日ヒトミの自宅から撮影

Picture taken from Hitomi's house (3/12/2011)

3月19日ヒトミの自宅

Hitomi's House 3/19/2011

3月23日撮影 ヒトミの自宅一階

Htomi's House 1st Floor (03/23/2011)

3月23日撮影 ヒトミの自宅一階

Htomi's House 1st Floor (03/23/2011)

2 months After the tsunami....

It's been 2 months since the tsunami devastated my hometown.
The picture above was taken by my friend, Eri, last week in Ishinomaki.
As you can see, it's still a clean up stage and people are still looking for their missing families.
You can see MORE PICTURES FROM ISHINOMAKI HERE.
Eri also sent me pictures she took when she found her racing car in Natori, Miyagi Japan.

Hitomi and Her Family Business Update

I was finally able to talk to Hitomi this past Sunday.
It's been difficult to talk on the phone since there is a time difference between here and Japan. Things have been really hard for her since 3/11/11.
I wish I could be there just to listen to her and cheer her up.

I told her about our project and she was so thankful for all the support she's receiving.
Hitomi's house is in Watanoha and they finally have water and electricity, but no gas yet.
Her father is doing everything he can to re-open their seafood processing business, but things have not been that easy. All the equipments they have at their processing plant are destroyed and their house was destroyed, too. To make the situation even worse, the insurance does not cover the damage from the tsunami. Despite all the hardship they are going through I really hope that we can have that Fuseshoten's famous Shiyokara someday.

Sad News From Ishinomaki.

Today I received a package from my mother, and in that package, she included a photo book of the 3/11/11 Tsunami which was published by the local news paper.  In that picture book, there was a photo of the Okawa Elementary school which lost 70 percent of its students.  The school name made it to the national news headlines many times, so many of you might have already heard about this school.  Every time I hear or read about them, I wondered if I know any of the parents of the students who were killed or missing, or any of the teachers.

My mother also included a copy of newspaper article which tells a story of a local teacher and his wife looking for their daughter who was a student at Okawa Elementary and still missing as of May 21st.   The teacher in the article is my history teacher from my junior high school.  He was also my brother's homeroom teacher.  I cannot even imagine what they are going through.....Just like my teacher and Yuki's family, there are many others who are still searching for their families.  In Ishinomaki, people lost at least one family member, relative or friend in 3/11 Tsunami.  I’m no exception.  My heart goes out to my teacher and his wife, and all the people who lost their loved one in the tsunami.

今日は悲しいニュースが地元からまたありました。
母親から小さな小包が届いたのですが、その中に地元の新聞紙、三陸河北新報社が発行した特別写真集が含まれていて、その写真集の中には生徒の７割が犠牲になった石巻の大川小学校の写真もありました。大川小学校はニュースや新聞でも全国的に大きく取り上げられたので名前を聞いた方もいらっしゃるのではないでしょうか．．．ニュースなどでこの小学校の名前を聞くたびに、犠牲になられた生徒達のご両親や先生方の中に私の知っている人がいるんだろうか．．．といつも考えていました。。。。そしてその写真集の中に1枚の新聞記事のコピーが大川小学校の写真のページに挟まっていました。

その記事には中学校で大変お世話になった先生が、奥様と一緒に行方不明のお嬢さんを探していると書かれてあるではありませんか。。。。。５月２１日の時点ではまだ見つかっていないそうです。どんな思いでいらっしゃるのか。。。。本当に心が引き裂かれる思いです。そして辛い地元の現実は先生のような思いをしていらっしゃる方がたくさんいるということ。。。石巻ではみんな必ず自分の身内や友人に犠牲者の方がいる状態です。先生のお嬢さんや私の友人のように、まだたくさんの方が行方不明で見つかっておりません。一日も早く、そして一人でも多くの方が家族のもとに帰れますように。。。。

（河北新報の記事：http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2011/05/20110523t13006.htm）

E-mail From Kanako加奈子からのメール

I received an e-mail from Kanako yesterday.
I'm going to share the part which she wrote about how things are going in Ishinomak.




幼なじみの加奈子からメールがありました．
石巻の様子などが書かれている部分をご紹介します．
（私に対する個人的なメールなので、かなりカジュアルな
表現もありますが、そのままご紹介させて頂きます。）




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こちらはね、徐々に回復しつつあるよ。毎日自衛隊が瓦礫撤去と遺体捜索......御遺体もまだまだあるみたいで… 瓦礫は石巻ゴミの100年分だって…水産会社の冷凍庫からの魚が腐敗して強烈な臭い！！ヘドロの臭い！くっせー！ってもんじゃない！暑くなってきたから余計にね… 
We are gradually recovering.....The National Defense Force is cleaning up the debris and searching for the bodies everyday.  Many bodies still need to be recovered.  They are saying we'll have the 100 years worth of debris.  There is a strong smell from the rotten seafood from the freezer in the seafood companies!  The smell from the mud! It really stinks!! The warmer weather is even making it worse...

....まるで原爆投下のよう…鉄屑だらけ、車もぐちゃぐちゃ…
女川はコンクリート３階建てのビルが倒れてた！
生きてる間にこんな恐ろしいこと… ってあるのね。日和山から変わり果てた石巻をみて悲しくて、悲しくて… 
It is as if the atomic bomb were dropped....you just see the metal frames of the buildings and cars are all messed up, too.  A three-story building was destroyed in Onagawa.  I realized that things this terrible can happen during our lifetime... I'm just so sad when I look down the changed scenery of Ishinomaki from the top of Hiyori Mountain.  

でもでも、早く元の石巻に戻れるよう皆頑張ってたよ！
東北人は強いって(笑) 
旦那の仕事も頑張って再開することにしたよ。
.....再建頑張って！と沢山の物を支援してもらったよ。
皆応援ありがとう〜！！
と大声で叫びたい.


But, everyone is working really hard to bring back the old Ishinomaki!
Tohoku-jin(People in North East of Japan) are strong!!
My husband's company is also re-opened for business.  
We received a lot of support to rebuild the business. 
I just want to scream and say "Thank you so much for your support!!"

CNN Reports on Ishinomaki

I found this under CNN's headline today.
It shows the video and pictures from Ishinomaki.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-608738

Watanoha-Nagahama Before and After Picture 長浜（渡波）のBefore ・After 写真

My late grandpa used to take us to the Nagahama beach a lot when I was little.  We took our son to there when I visited my parents the last time back in 2009.  It was his first time to see the beach/ocean and we had a great time. This picture was taken then (this is one of my favorite picture of my son and my dad) .  I happened to find the picture of Nagahama beach when I was looking at Miyagi Prefecture's official website, and thought I would share with you all.  

Taken Sep. 2009. ２００９年９月撮影

I found this picture on the Miyagi Prefecture official website, taken a few days after 03/11/11.津波の後

They put the temporary levee (according to the Miyagi pref. website, this picture was taken on 4/21/11)

４月２１日の状態