May Day

When the door opened to the JEARS apartment, I was greeted by so many faces, it was hard to keep track! There must have been about 9 people there at that time, plus Omori San, who lives upstairs.

It was a crazy encounter; I dumped my bags, got some donations from Yumi, and quickly got changed into some trousers. I packed my rain boots, my waterproofs and was good to go.

Today, I was going with Yumi's gang. I wanted to help them a little, like they helped me and also, Shichigahama is an area I am fond of as we used to go there often for so many beach BBQs.

Shichigahama still doesn't have water, local shops have limited supplies and you cannot even pee in a local convenience store, now that is saying something as usually, a convenience store sorts you out for everything.

So, why are we here? The whole of Tohoku has suffered from the events of March 11th, and so many people have suffered in so many ways. We see on the news endless tales of destruction and loss and it is to these areas only where the majority of money, food and volunteers go.

Shichigahama is a set of bays and the shape of these bays meant that some of the destruction was lessened. Small islands out to sea or inlets held of the tsunami just a little and this meant that the damage was not as severe as in some other coastal towns.

So, in Shichigahama, there are still many houses missing, flattened or ruined by the wave, but there are still many standing. And, it is for this reason the people are put aside by the Japanese Government. I suppose the logic is that they have a house, so they are OK.

This is far from true. Water is still limited if any at all, food supplies are lacking as shops cannot get deliveries still. Those with cars can access shops further away, but they must still be careful, as gas is limited too.

Yumi had heard the story of people in Shichigahama and knew she had to do something to help.

First stop was Fumiko's house.

Fumiko used to live down below by the water a long time ago. She sold her house and moved uphill. Of her former house, all that remains is the second floor. The house itself, or what is left, has been thrown over towards other buildings. Fumiko must be feeling glad for her decision to move, but, rather than dwell upon selfish mullings, she, has taken to helping all her local neighbours. She is a very jovial lady, full of energy, spirit and a lot of laughter!

We started to set down the donations (yumi had to takkyubin some of the boxes of clothes up as there simply was not enough room in the van!).

Meanwhile, Fumiko San was the first ( of many! ) to get her hair cut.

The donations were sorted out both inside and outside the house. The van was also reloaded for a wee journey down below. Some neighbours came and collected some goodies.

We drove down to the coast and saw Fumiko's old house, along with more destruction.

The harbour had bad damage and one area

was being used as a central

dumping ground for garbage. Amongst the wood and the dirt, there was a small children's toy, a stark reminder of who may be among the victims.

Along the coast, some houses were fine, some houses missing, and some marked with signs that read, 'limited entry' or 'unsafe'.

You would not expect people to be living in such buildings, but they were, somehow, and getting on with it as best they could.

Donations were accepted graciously although in a fiercely proud nation, it can be hard to offer things, even at times like this.

We even delivered to a small gas station that was open, but surrounded by destruction.

Impressive, but sad, but life goes on and the clean up must continue.

Back at the house, we sorted through more donations and reloaded the van.

Haircuts were still going on in full swing, mostly obachans, older ladies whose mobility is limited. Everyone was grateful for the support and had a little chat with us. We even got an invite for coffee at a neighbour's house, but we had to keep going.

Next stop was Yougai, down by another bay. The fishing bay had a couple of boats overturned and on top of each other.

We went right to the end of the bay to a house at the end. From the drive, you can see the beginning of Matsushima Bay,

a bay famed for it's beautiful islands and ranked one of the top three sits in Japan. Apparently, the islands broke the tsunami wave a little and were not destroyed at all. Yokatta!

I could see the tourist boats going to and from the islands, business as usual, it seems. it is Golden Week after all.

We delivered more food donations and divided them up so each neighbour could receive a bag. I walked with Rena to one house nearby. She was an old lady, very cute. Her house was not in good shape and had the 'limited entry' sticker on it. She showed us a massive crack in the driveway as she laid down her bags by her kotatsu.

I suddenly felt very empty inside. How could this lady be alone? And living in a house that was not safe? She smiled and invited us for coffee, but we had to get back to help at the main house.

We loaded the van with garbage to take to the tip. The tip was a big open space with a massive collection of frisbee, televisions, computers, not to mention rubble, all collected since March 11. There was a bad smell too.

Over by the fridges, there was a collection of toys with the Japanese flag blowing in the wind next to them. Yet another horrid reminder of the young and helpless victims.

We made a couple of trips here, offloading many things that had been damaged in the outhouse, television, shelving unit, many toys, electrical goods etc.

The hut itself had been thrown to another area of the garden completely. It was now back where it belonged but it was still wet inside. Tomorrow's was to clean and dry out everything in the outhouse and the shed.

At the end of the day, we were welcomed into Fumiko's house for snacks and juice. We all chatted and shared stories. One lady had family in Ishinomaki and her father was living in a shelter there. He wants to kill himself because life is so slow to progress. He has nothing and just lives day by day in the centre with nothing to do. She, is plagued with worry, especially as he won't leave the area as it is hometown.

Yumi gave out some remedies for the ladies of the neighbourhood (she is a herbalist by trade) and hopefully, they will feel less stress very soon.

I was also introduced to a lady whose dog had been very sick since the earthquake. She has a pomeranian and he is hardly eating and also vomiting. All the vets in the area that she knows have had their clinics destroyed or lost in the tsunami. I had to act now to help her.I promised I could return either the next day or the one after with a solution, a vet or some meds, something, anything to help.

A few calls later and I knew who to contact. I would mail the vet later, a Sasaki Sensei who has been helping immensely since the disasters. We would get this dog better quickly!

We quickly popped into the neighbour for coffee, where her hospitality was just wonderful. One coffee and two green teas later (it would have been rude to refuse) along with a chocolate bar ( the generosity is astounding - remember, we are there to give them food!), my gamman and stretch was slowly fading. I would need the toilet very soon! We were all the same.

It had been almost eight hours of running around and work and not going to the loo. We had a portable toilet, kind or and if we really wanted to we could have used this...!!!

We drove off, leaving Maria still cutting hair, ( I think she helped almost thirty people by the end of the day!!). I had to get back to my base to see what was happening.

We eventually found a conbeeny with a toilet (!)

and treated ourselves to a post-pee coffee!

Much needed and well deserved!!

Back at the JEARS house, the teams were still out. One was in Iwate collecting cats and dogs at the city hall.

The others were in Fukushima.

I was alone for a while, so Fumiko (it's her mother's apartment we renting) popped over. Omori San upstairs had made curry for the volunteers, but they hadn't returned, so I could get double helpings!

I sent mails to the vet and spoke with Fumiko about an Aigo centre nearby. Usually an Aigo centre is a friendly place for the animals. It is the hokenjos where the animals have one week to live if no one collects them, sometimes these animals come form the aigo centre, so we though we would make a plan to go there's tomorrow morning. I also wanted to sort out the sick dog, so I had a plan, i just didn't have transport.

Thank goodness for friends and good people! Fumiko was coming to get me at 9am, from there, the rest would fall into place, I was sure of it.

Yumi has a page on facebook - Follow her and her team's work here -

https://www.facebook.com/pages/DIRECT-HELP-for-victims-and-animals-REJECTED-from-shelters-in-JAPAN/185436641502603

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Location:Shichigahama & Sendai, Miyagi