2-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake: You can still help

Today, March 11, is the 2nd year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the north-eastern coast of Honshu, the main island of Japan. I would write many things about it, but I’d like to focus on some ways you can help the victims of the earthquake, besides the usual places such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, that you may not have been aware of.

The Hatachi Fund is non-profit set up to help the children who survived the earthquake. To quote from their site:

The Hatachi Fund is a Japanese financial body that aims to provide ongoing support for education and independence for children affected by the disaster so thatthey can grow into independent twenty-year-old adults who will in turn support society at large (twenty-years-old, hatachi, is the age of maturity in Japan)….

In the near future, even if the towns [devasted by the earthquake] have recovered, even if the schools are repaired, lost family and friends will not return. The children will have a lot of “homework” to get over. But without forgetting the pain of the disaster, if there is someone who can keep giving encouragement – “you are not alone” – over the long term, keep providing kindness, we believe this can be the driving force to get through this trial. And in turn, with the strength due to overcoming this trial, they can become an adult of strength and kindness, and in turn be an ally to help solve the future challenges society will face.

Children who have faced hardship and adversity can become stronger and kinder than anyone. The growth of children affected by this disaster is this country’s new hope. With these thoughts in mind, we established this fund to provide on-going support to children.

Read their complete mission statement. You can donate directly with a Visa or Mastercard credit card in increments of 1,000 yen; or if you’re in Japan, you can make a donation via bank transfer. (I don’t recommend international bank transfers since the fees are ridiculous.) Alternatively, and especially if you’re in the UK/Europe, Japan Centre is holding a Tsunami Art Relief Project event on their online shop, with many attractive items for sale; proceeds go to the Hatachi Fund. I’ve already ordered this pretty cool grafikgraffi ramen tote bag for myself.

I’ve already mentioned this before, it’s still one of my favorite ways to donate to the survivors of the earthquake that are most in need. Unfortunately the pages are all in Japanese, although they are fairly easy to figure out. Here is the list of organizations seeking donations of goods. You just have to add the items to your shopping cart (which can be switched to English on the Amazon site) and place the order - the recipient’s shipping address is auto-inserted.

For example, this is the wish list of a facility in Ishinomaki City that houses many elderly people who are unable to work or move around much. Most of the wished-for goods are things like rice and umeboshi, which I’m sure the residents crave. Just click on the yellow-orange ‘put into shopping cart’ button (the wish lists are laid out exactly as they are on other Amazons). Or if you’re an animal lover, you can buy some things off this wish list from an animal shelter in Fukushima; not only do they use the pet food listed there for animals in the shelter, they also distribute it to local residents who are still in dire financial straits to feed their pets. (If you want translations of other wish lists there, let me know and I’ll be happy to oblige.)

If you think that Japan is a rich enough country to take care of itself, consider just placing a donation with an organization that goes to help out during any world crisis, such as Doctors Without Borders.

I wrote about my thoughts on the one year anniversary a year ago.

And, here’s a rather uh, angrier thing I wrote earlier today on Quora. (It’s there because, honestly, Quora questions about Japan piss me off about a 1000x more than any comments I’ve gotten on JustHungry or JustBento. ^_^;)

View the original article here

Japan Earthquake: How to help, personal update

I’m still tweeting translated updates from Japanese news sources whenever I am up. I’m doing this because news on English and other language sources is at least 2 hours behind that of news broadcast in Japan, and rather uninformed or sensationalistic more often than it should be. It also helps me cope.

As I said before, my family and friends are all ok, (including my mom, who I know has quite a lot of fans via this site) though my stepfather hasn’t been able to reach one of his brothers in Aomori as of yesterday update: all family member have been contacted and are safe.

I’d made plans prior to this to go to Japan in 2 weeks. If at all possible, I will go. If not on the planned date, as soon as I’m allowed to.

I’ve gotten emails and so on asking specific questions about missing individuals and other thing. I am only a private individual, and I’m pretty much overwhelmed at the moment. I have no power to help you officially. Please use official sources to get information/assistance. For online information, the Google Crisis Response page is a good place to start. I also periodically post pertinent links on the abovementioned Twitter stream.

Since many people have asked, I’m putting a list of places to donate. If you have specific questions about donating to a particular organization, please consult their website. I’ll update this list as needed. To send in listings for other places to donate, (new request) please post it as a comment to this article, so it will be at least accessible to everyone before I have time to update the page.

Money donations are the best way you can help from overseas. At the moment roads are very congested to hard hit areas because of partial closures, etc. Don’t try to send goods; they may not even get to victims. Money can always be used to purchase needed items.

Finally, for my fellow Americans (and yes, I am a U.S. citizen), just in case you’re hesitant for whatever reason about lending your support, please see this report, after Hurricane Katrina. Japanese prove truly “A Friend In Need”. I believe this is at least partly why the U.S. Military operation name for the disaster assistance is named Operation Tomadachi. Tomodachi means Friend in Japanese.

UPDATE I’m putting any time sensitive fundraising events up at top here.

Note the international Red Cross organizations (see below) have set up earmarked funds for Japan.

My fellow bento bloggers have set up a fundraising site, See Bento4Japan.

The Japan Society of New York has set up a Japan Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund. Details here.

The Japan Society of the UK has also set up a Japan Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund. Details here.

The JCCCNC has also set up an Earthquake Relief Fund. Details here.

eBay auction March 18-20 to help the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Organized by Japanese-American Japanese-American ceramic artist Ayumi Horie. She, Ai Kanazawa Cheung, and Kathryn Pombriant Manzella have mobilized to solicit, promote, and auction handmade pieces of art generously donated by talented artists throughout North America and Japan. Facebook page.

You can order a We Pray For Japan wristband via Lady Gaga’s official site. You can add money to the $5 price to donate if you wish.

Cranes For Japan is an initiative to gather 100,000 paper cranes. For every crane the Bezos Family Foundation will donate $2 towards relief efforts.

Wow, this is a very creative way to raise funds. The Society of Typographers is calling for type designers everywhere to contribute a glyph to a special typeset that will be sold to raise funds to be sent directly to organizations in Japan. Info here.

Via the American Express donation page listed below, I found this list of Japan related organizations. Even if you don’t have an Amex card, you may find it useful to find a local organization.

Note that many international organizations are now earmarking funds specifically for Japan’s disaster.

Both my grandparents on my father’s side were Salvation Army officers. I have great faith in this organization.

MSF is another great organization. They’ve already started work in Japan.

The Japan Red Cross is taking donations by bank transfer (in Japan) or credit card (in Japan and from overseas) but their site is understandably swamped. Try this link.

Otherwise, all international Red Cross offices are accepting donations earmarked for Japan.

In the U.S., you can text REDCROSS to 90999 with your cellphone to donate $10 to the American Red Cross. Many U.S. websites have set up ways in which you can donate easily to the Red Cross, such as: Amazon.comApple iTunes (note: opens iTunes).Google In the UK, Japan Centre has set up a system where you can buy donation coupons in 1 pound increments. Link here Donations will go to the Red Cross via the Japanese Embassy.Hilton will match donations up to $250,000 to the International Red Cross/Red Crescent of members donating their Hilton HHonors points. Call 1-800-HHONORS (1-800-446-6677). Hilton is also matching all employee donations. American Express also offers ways to donate to card members, including donation of Membership Miles points. Amex link SXSW conference You can donate to support the International Medical Corps’ relief efforts in disaster areas everywhere by buying a Groupon coupon.You can donate via Paypal to one of four charities.

If you’re in Japan as a visitor, the easiest way to donate is to put cash in the donation boxes at all konbini (convenience store) cash registers, including 7-11, Lawsons, FamilyMart and am/pm. If you’re in an unaffected area, also check if government offices or local businesses have donation boxes.

Otherwise most if not all Japanese donation methods require a Japanese bank account or cellphone. The page I linked above has many links to donation sites in Japan.

View the original article here