Mummy power

While Risa was in Sendai, I (Aoi) have been supporting other fundraising efforts in London, mostly through my yummy mummy network.

A network of Japanese mothers in south-west London has been really active after the earthquake.
There has been a lot of cake sales at nurseries, schools, and children's centres all over in London. If one mother crys out for support by e-mail, 10 of us would bake cookies and make sushi.

I helped about 5 -6 events - Even on the days I was in office, my cookies were being sold by other mums.

One of the events in April held at St Mary's church hall in Wimbledon raised over 6000 pounds.


Also there was a group of mothers succeeded to send 10,000 disposable feeding bottles and cartons of ready-made baby milk - both not available in Japan for some reason - to the tsunami affected area where mothers of babies are struggling to find clean water.
This operation required a massive effort - from finding sponsors, sorting out the logistics from UK and within Japan, and even translating the how-to-use instruction.
You can see the smiling babies recieving bottles on their own site.

Who are we?

Those who just blogged in and wondering what's this 'Cakes for Sendai' is about,
please see the news pages of VSI & ARADO websites.

The event was purely volunteer-based, not a corporate PR event,
and yet our boss and colleagues helped us massively. Thanks eveyrone!

How did people in Sendai live after the disaster - my parents' story

Fortunately my parents live towards the city centre, they got a lifeline fairly quickly.
This is the story in my parents area. For people who live farther from the centre, it took a long time to get them back.

No water supply -  for 4 days
The city set temporary water supply centres. My dad walked for 20 minutes to get 3-4 litres every day.

water supply truck. People queued for a few hours to get water.

No electricity - for  3 days
They had only 3 hours before sunset after the earthquake. Everyone was rushing to tidy up things and do whatever they could to. My mum said that it was like a race against the sunset. They lived under the candle lights. I saw candle wax stains here and there in their house.

No gas - for 5 weeks
My parents' house had changed to an all-electric system from last year and they don't need gas. My parents' neighbours couldn't take a bath/shower until the gas supply was back. My parents house became their community's "bathhouse" for 5 weeks.

Limited amount of food - for 1 month
No milk or yoghurt - dairies seemed to be a big problem. Japanese favourite "Natto" (not so many fans among non-Japanese...) - fermented soy beans weren't in the market. Fresh vegetables were limited. As soon as they were on the shelf in the store, all went so quickly. Now it seems to come back to normal, but the ones grown in the nuclear power plant area have been hard to sell - people are worried about the contamination in the vegetables and have avoided them.

Limited amount of petrol for 1 month
You needed to queue for hours and were only allowed to top up 10 litres at a time. The price of the petrol has soared. When I went to the petrol station, I needed to pay 23 pence more than usual per litre.

Shops
Some are still closed - the ones currently closed mainly have building safety problems.
Some of them have received a "red card" from the city - the order of demolishing the building.

Radiation problem
I didn't hear much news about it. The public criticise the government; they kept changing their opinion. I suspect that some information is covered up. My mum was worried about the radiation and hung the washing in the house and she wouldn't open the windows. Most people wear masks all the time. We don't have enough information about what is right and what is wrong. People still live being threatened by the danger.

Community
People shared information and food. When my mum received food from my brother in Tokyo, she cooked them and gave some to neighbours. When one of my neighbours found bread sold in a shop, she bought a lot and delivered to my parents' and other houses. They shared information about which supermarket re-opened or when etc. My mum has realised how much the bonding in the community is important. This disaster has taught us something we tend to forget in the contemporary life; you don't live by yourself; you live your life by supporting each other. 

Limited information resource
The only information they could get for 3 days was from a radio. When I had been horrified by the overwhelming Tsunami video in the UK, my parents were too busy tidying up the house and dealing with never ending aftershocks. My dad told me that when he heard the radio news saying that 200 dead bodies were found on the shore, he thought that a passenger ferry or something was brought down by the wave, and he never imagined that the Tsunami intruded inland this far. My parents were so shocked to watch the video with their own eyes - that was 3 days after the disaster.

Our dog - "Daku-nosuke" also went through the disaster

He is an old Dachshund (sausage dog).
His sleeping time has been getting longer and longer and now he sleeps most of the day.
Daku became 15 years old on 1st of May.

In his bed on a usual spot.

He was at home all by himself on 3.11.
My mum drove back desperately in the chaos without traffic lights. The snow started to fall.
As soon as she got back, she checked his usual sleeping spot. The space is in front of the cupboard, and many objects fell down all over his bed including a heavy clock ... and he wasn't there... he wasn't trapped under the objects.

Where was he then?

She found him in front of the electricity condenser. That was the warmest space in the house and it was also the safest place. There was nothing falling off from above. 

How did he know the situation and manage to move to the safest place?

Was it a so-called animal instinct?
Or it was just coincidence?



Nobody knows except him...

Taking a bath for the first time after the earthquake. Daku loves bath time. He sometimes relaxes too much and falls asleep.

Giving a massage to Dad with Mum

Cakes for Mum and Dad

My mum really wanted to come to the Cakes for Sendai event on 10th of April.
She saw the photos from the day repeatedly and told me how much she had wanted to be there.


So in some small way, I had "cakes for my mum and dad" events several times.

Berry berry tart
These blueberries are from last year from my parents' garden. Mum made a blueberry jam, so I used them.

Blueberry and peach tart

White choc and cheese cake and an Apple cake for a slightly early mother's day.
The tea pot, cups and plates are the ones I brought from England and gave her this time. My mum has collected tea sets and cherished them, but most of them were broken because of the earthquake on 3.11. She got depressed but she was thrilled this time.
For your information, this tea set was wrapped and put in a cardboard box immediately in preparation for the next earthquake.

Flowers and a mother's day card I gave with cakes

Candle cake- I didn't make this one...
This is a bunch of flowers shaped into a cake. These flowers look like vibrant candles on the cake.

How I survived in Ishinomaki

Since I was totally a beginner volunteer worker, the food I brought was only 6 rice balls, a bottled water, bottled teas and oat snacks.
Most of my "house mates" were experts; they brought vegetables, noodles, rice, stove burners, pans, dixies, bowls, mugs and even chopsticks. They told me "Eating enough food is a fundamental of volunteer workers. Without enough energy, you cannot work or encourage local people". In fact it was right. We need to give them the strength needed for reconstruction of their town.

Some people took me to the hill behind our house.

What we did was.... looking for food!　Yes, wild food picking!

We met local people on the hill by accident. As supermarkets in the area are still closed, it's difficult to get enough ingredients locally. For these occasions it's good to go back to the old days, using the ancient wisdom. Although, we need to be careful with wild flowers since some of them can cause toxic reactions. Luckily I was with a guy who knows well about them.
 The leaves of the photo above are "Mitsuba"- trefoil. It's delicious to put them on soups or boil them and eat with soy sauce.

This is "Yomogi"- mugwort. We eat them boiled and mixed with soy sauce.

"Tsukushi" (Yellow tall ones)- horsetail. Again we boil them.

Ingredients of our dinner!

They brought back a bamboo stick which had been left in the forest.
What are they using this for...?

They taught me how to make bamboo chopsticks. (They knew I didn't bring my chopsticks.) It was like a craft-work class.
Boys love craft works... when we started, other house members joined us one after another.
I never thought of me making things from bamboo in my life...

Whittling a bamboo stick with an awkward manner... and making MY chopsticks. It was really fun!

And my "master" made a bamboo bottle and glasses.

After the class, we started cooking.

Dinner!
And long-awaited drinking time!

One member brought sake, and we drank it from a fresh bamboo bottle and glasses.
After pouring sake into the bottle, leave it for 30 minutes, and then it's ready to drink.
Strangely, sake had become mellow and tasted lovely!

This is how I survived with the limited resources.

I shouldn't forget what I experienced here; my staying here was merely a "trial version".
Disaster victims who lost their family members and friends live their life in even worse conditions for almost two months now.

Nature destroyed our normal life, but we still enjoy the blessing of the nature.

We couldn't help relying on it.

It made me humble and reflect on my profligate lifestyle.

I learned a lot and I had such a productive time here.

Oshika- photos

Volunteer Work in Oshika Peninsula - Part 2

As I wrote on the previous diary, what we can do here is limited. The army was collecting rubbish, building banks and tidying up chaotic roads.

Today our team was divided into two- a house cleaning team and a food/clothes delivery team. I was in the house cleaning team.

On our way to work

There are small number of houses miraculously standing after the disaster.

The owner of the house was third-generation fisherman who has run the sardine fishing business. The ground floor of his house was damaged by the Tsunami. All the mud was taken out yesterday by other volunteer teams.

I and another girl were requested to clean the "Kamidana"- Shinto altar. It's common to have household altars, however, it was like 10 times as big as the normal size. I have never seen such a humongous one at someone's house. They must set this to pray for business success.

I am surprised that I was assigned religious-related work two days in a row. Their ground floor was still in a mess and there were so many things to do- they chose the altar to be cleaned first of all.

I understood the reason when I heard the story from the owner. This altar was made by the father of their current builder who's also the third-generation builder. They've been working together closely from the grandfather's time, and the altar is the sign of their bonding. Also they believe that the altar will protect them from a disaster.

All wooden parts of the altar were assembled without nails. It was an elaborate beautiful masterpiece. We needed to clean it without disassembling it, using whatever we can use- toothbrushes, thinly sharpened chopsticks, or a special air-gun (I don't know how to call it). 

It's not a man... it's me! I am blowing all the fine rubbish by this special tool.

Other team members were taking rubbish away from the river running by his house. This rubbish has stopped water flowing and given a very bad smell.

Some of the rubbish here- scallop shells; this area is famous for cultivated oysters.

This came from their neighbouring oyster farm.

Taking rubbish away- it seemed a never-ending work...

We were warned not to cut our fingers or feet by objects. 

They are receiving reports of a growing number of cases of tetanus.

One of our team members cut his foot by stepping on a rusty nail with his welly.

He was taken to a hospital immediately.

The end of the day, the house owner repeatedly thanked us, saying it was a big step. However, one day's work is not enough help... it's a small improvement in a long long way before they go back to their normal life. I've realised that the important point is "continue to help people". At the moment this area is crowded with volunteers who want to help victims, but it shouldn't be a "trend". We need to remember 3.11 and continue our activities in the future.

Volunteer Work in Oshika Peninsula - Part 1

About Oshika Peninsula

The Oshika Peninsula was the closest part of Honshu (mainland) to the epicentre of the earthquake on 3.11, the closest parts of its eastern coastline approximately 72 km (45 miles) away. A report on March 14 indicated that 1,000 bodies had washed ashore on the peninsula. The March 11 earthquake shifted Oshika Peninsula by 5.3m (17 ft) towards the epicentre and lowered it by 1.2m (3.9 ft).

You don't need much explanation if you see the video I took from the bus.

The scenery was overwhelming- this was totally another world. 

I couldn't hold my camera without shaking, since the road was really bumpy.

At this stage there is not much we (general public) can do with the land- very dangerous.

Most of the houses were washed away, leaving debris.

The army was everywhere, working to stop seawater from flooding the town and collecting the rubble.

You wouldn't imagine this used be a residential area.