Sanpo - round 3

Its hard to believe tha this is the third sanpo! 
Its just over two years since the big earthquake and the first sanpo was set up to help raise funds for the animals in need.
Well, as the even becomes more and more popular - today 100 people have signed up - we 'regulars' now have the chance to get involved!

Animal Walk Tokyo!

This year, the money went to help the animals at SALA (Save animals, Love animals) and we were lucky enough to meet some of the dogs staying with SALA right now.

The second AnimalWalkTokyo was a great success (Read about last year's HERE).

The turnout was once again a good one and some similar faces were there too.

Marley

Lucky Marley!

The first creature that caught my eye was an Elbi look-a-like! So I was happy, although again, I wished I could have brought him in! Marley (the 17kg Frenchie) was lucky to bag a ride with mama at the back of her bike!! It gave me more ideas for Elbi, although I should probably limit myself to the pram!!

The walk was a lot quicker than last year even with the inevitable stops for snacks. It was nice to see families and newborns even enjoying the event.

So well behaved!

Maku 7 months old.
A rescue dog from Fukushima, now with Sala.

Hello :)

Marley guarding the donations box

There was tight security - Those funds were precious.

To round of the walk itself, cookies were on sale for 200 yen a pop. They were delicious and each cookie sold would pay for a meal for one of the dogs at SALA.

Catching up with V, left and finally meeting a wonderful animal lover and tireless volunteer, K

To accompany all the chit-chat, the catch ups and the barking, there there was some delightful music form a husband - wife duet (whose performance name I forget....doh! They are at  'What the Dickens?' tonight...). It made for a wonderful morning in the breezy sunshine!

And for me, it is a day out in Tokyo! These days, it's a rare occurrence; it's so far from home and, like Marley, I get tired easily!!

Pooped!

3/11...one year one

The Blog has been neglected of late due to extra studies. But, I have to write my thoughts on today.

I thought it important to share today with friends given the sheer atrocity of this day last year. It was a lovely day in Tokyo; the sun was shining and positive vibes were plenty.

We ate a great (British) lunch and then moved to a nearby cafe. A few of us stopped on a bridge at 2.46pm to remember. It was peaceful, sunny and we all stared thoughtfully into the murky water below. What got me was that not a single car stopped; not another pedestrian paused for thought. It seems Tokyo really never stops. That made me sad, sadder than the events themselves.

Since last year, there have been endless stories of positivity, progress and peace. Residents of Tohoku have come so far (not all of them, it must be also noted and still many are suffering in shelters) and we have to take this as our inspiration. If they can move on and look ahead then, so can we.

 Japan, Tohoku - we love you.

JEARS - Fukushima wishlist

We have a new wish list for the Fukushima shelter!!

We urgently need cat food especially.

JEARS WISHLIST - FUKUSHIMA

All the details are on the facebook page, including tutorials showing you how to actually do it!

Thanks for the support!!

Facebook Page & Tutorial

Radiation rising...

I came home from work to this article in the news

 - Asahi Shimbun - Raising levels of Radiation

There have been more rumours of the government lying to us and it is scary to see another map like this.

Should there be another big earthquake in Fukushima, Japan will be over with...so I have heard.

Apparently, the mountainous areas of Saitama have been hit quite badly.

So, what does it mean?

We pack our bags and go? Science professionals and farmers wish they could. A few we know are...

Fukushima is on the news a lot these days, but we know about the animals dying, but what do we know about the radiation?

No one can measure the levels and predict it all accurately.

Not out to scare you but we need to think about these things.

The thing is, the 'radiation' lines conveniently stop at the borders of Saitama, Chiba and Tochigi, not reaching to Tokyo, Niigata, Nagano. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not wishing clouds of radiation to float over anyone. However, I am thinking, that should there be any levels of radiation in these prefectures, then we need to know. It would mean that half of Honshu island is affected, but of course, no one knows that yet.

Check out this picture from May -There has been a clear spread of radiation in the past few months, so it just makes you think ahead, that's all. What to do and what to believe is another matter.

.

Earthquake Pets: Maruko's happy ending

Earthquake Pets: Maruko's happy ending: Maruko,last week at HEART 6 months on This lucky lady certainly has a guardian angel or two shining down on her. In brief, she was trapp...

Maruko's story!

We have just had news in of Maruko being returned to her owners!!!

I am so happy, I cried. Her owners had lost everything on March 11th so Maruko was sent to the pound. They were ready to gas her, when JEARS stepped in and begged and pleaded to rescue her from her evil plight. Now, six months later, she can be reunited with her family!

Here is her story on youtube - 

Kate wrote about her as she was there to meet her and follow her story.

Please read all about it on her blog -

 Maruko's story - Part 1  & Maruko's story - Part 2

Earthquake Pets: Beating the heat!

Please read Kate's post about time at Heart animal shelter, Tokushima. Also included are tips on how to deal with the crazy heat.....¬

Earthquake Pets: Beating the heat!: We lucked out! There was a typhoon on the horizon a few days before we headed up to Tokushima. It miraculously dissipated before we got there...

Blind - A short film

Watch this - it will take five minutes, but you will be thinking for a lot longer.

It is a video about a salary man and his journey to work. It might seem so surreal, yet, in today's world, it is more real than we realise.


blind from YUKIHIRO SHODA on Vimeo.

September 11th 2011

Today marks the six month anniversary of the tragedies in Japan and the tenth year since the attack in the US.

We have to stop for a minute and remember. Remember the people lost at those times. Remember the suffering on those days, the suffering that continues still in their hearts.

Humanity has to hold its hand out to one another and be kind, patient and caring.

Please don't forget.

JAPAN - 2.46pm - Stop for a minute.

Rehousing animals

It is almost 6 months since the Great Eastern earthquake, and only now, can we bring you news that people are being supportive to the face that there were animals involved too.

Here is an article printed yesterday. So many animals have already died or suffered unnecessarily. At least something is being done, even if it is so very late.

Stray Sendai kittens seek Tokyo homes

Kyodo

The government in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, is promoting the adoption of stray kittens born in Sendai following the March 11 quake and tsunami.

The first 15 kittens were brought to Tokyo on July 21 and owners for most of them have already been found, with Chiyoda Ward hoping that about 50 kittens will be accepted in the capital or its vicinity by the end of the year. Volunteers are caring for them.

The number of stray pets in Sendai has more than doubled compared with usual years.

Many kittens have also been born to runaway house cats that apparently panicked and left their homes after the disaster.

On a positive note, Selena, from JEARS, who works so very hard to feed and look after so many of the animals at the Fukushima base, just forwarded this picture. She has a driving companion! You see, you look after the animals, they look after you!

(My) Tohoku update

Being back from holiday is great. feeling so ready and refreshed to do so much.As I wrote before, there was to be one promise and that was 'my pace'.Sadly, this pace includes the financial path as well as the mental one.

If I could have it my way, I would be back now to help this weekend. But, such things are not possible.

Work, Elbi, many personal projects (work related) and then some visitors too, all stop me from dropping things and going up north.

So many people are helping and this is great.

We have a plan to go up (my husband and I together) once again in October. There is a long weekend, and we can devote more time to the work needed.

In the meantime, there is still plently to be done from Saitama. JEARS is still running strong and we must update the facebook page almost daily. The animals are all being cared for by amazing people who still need our support.

Sadly, Susie had to return to the shelter she came from. Having two dogs completely opposite to each other was difficult. She needed walking at 5am, Elbi just wanted to muck around. He never accepted her, she never responded to his play requests and subsequently hit back one time damaging his eyes (now recovered - phew).

The shelter is is at, is HEART, Tokushima. I have mentioned it before (one of the 3 JEARS shelters). We promised to go down and help at the shelter, but I just checked the flights down there and it isn't cheap, so we may have to wait until we have a longer break in order to use the time more wisely.

In the meantime, we are still collecting donations

JEARS HOME PAGE

and you can read about all the updates on our facebook page.

JEARS on facebook

Donations

It hasn't been a complete success trying to round up the troops.

The animal food drive fell on its face, perhaps because we had to cancel the first one and then, for the second, I began the day in hospital, so any efforts were as limp as my leg.

However, thanks to lovely friends and the great takkyubin of Japan, I have a stash of donations that will make their way up to Fukushima next week.






I have some more goodies at work to add to this wee pile too, which will feed the volunteers too.

So, the next challenge in all this is more awareness, more donations and more care for the animals.

There are still some big steps to take in all this.

Four months on almost, and still so much is uncertain.

I will be back in August with a fresher mind and a new determination to help the animals and the people of Tohoku.


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Location:Kasukabe,Japan

Shocking...

For those of you who remember this post and my rantings...

The Hawgood Life: Telegraph Expat

Well, they have done it again...Three times now.

Why, oh why are they printing this garble again??

DB garble on DT

Words fail me.

Earthquake Pets

So, little miss silly here totally forgot about her work schedule, and, after booking a bus to Sendai, I had to go and cancel it within hours.

Sadly, there will be no trips to Sendai for me this month.

However, one awesome JEARS volunteer is there right now and she IS updating her blog with rescue and relief work.

I want to point you in her direction. Yesterday, they collected two corgis, sorry, two stinky corgis. Follow the stories from the ground here...

EARTHQUAKE PETS

Volunteering at Heart Tokushima

One of the JEARS team members spent some time at one of the JEARS shelters (remember, there are 3 in total).


Junko went to HEART TOKUSHIMA. Here is her blog where describes her time there. The blog is in Japanese, but there are some pictures too. She talks about the dogs who are so eager to go out for walks. All they want is the love and attention from the volunteers. She also talks about Maruko, who was rescued from the rubble after 11 days following the earthquake.


Here is Junko's blog - Junko's blog from Heart Tokushima


If you want to know more details, just ask!!


 Want to volunteer at JEARS? CLICK HERE.

Elbi & Susie

Well, it has been just over 2 weeks!

There has been progress! We have established routines, ignored & fixed the previous issues and overcome any potential problems with either the neighbours or the dogs themselves!

She was barking and even howling at the start, scared of separation or wary of noise. Even the past couple of nights, she was barking at 1am!! Aaarg, Susie, what is wrong? I think it was either food or pee related, so last night, I made sure she was OK and, indeed, there was no barking! Phew. We could all catch up on our sleep!

From a ditch, Susie has travelled the lengths of Japan - I met her in Niigata, after she was found in Fukushima and taken to AFN. From there, she was transported to Heart Tokushima, where she was spayed and eventually then driven up to Saitama. She has certainly travelled further than me these past few months!

And, now, look at them!! These dogs get it better than us!

This is last weekend, and, weather permitting, this is what we have to look forward to this weekend as well!

Elbi is 16 months old, so he still has a big puppy element to him. I think he loves Susie, but he really wants her to play with him. She, on the other hand, just wants to sit back, preferably ON you and get tickled! She is a big baby at heart, but very different to our other +10kg baby of muscle!

They walk relatively well together, that is, when Elbi isn't pulling!

But, he is learning from her too. He is sniffing a lot more. She follows her nose like a real dog. He does what he pleases! But, now he sniffs more. This isn't always a good thing! lol

Sometimes, her nose takes her north. I wonder how much of home she can smell...or is it just the local talent?!

She loves to run and I think that off her lead, she would just go. Elbi tries to run, but he is only small and gets out of breath a lot quicker. Sometimes, he just needs a break en route!

Right now, it is 7.30am and both dogs are completely conked out after their beautiful morning walk. We went out around 5.45 (!) and it was already very warm. I am also pooped, but must now get ready for work!! lol

Have a great day!

Unbelievable...

The Daily Telegraph should be a reputable newspaper inn UK, but one could easily doubt that when they read this crap.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8520505/Time-to-return-to-traumatised-Japan.html

The reason I am so incensed is because of this same guy's earlier rantings. Reading this article last night, brought back just how awful it was back in March reading sheer nonsense from the foreign media.

Clearly, this guy is dreaming of a job in journalism, planning some creative writing plot that thickens like horrid gravy.

I cannot believe this is the second post from hi,.

It brings up all the drama from before. There was a lot of hurt, anger, frustration...All sorts of emotions from everyone.

And here the DT go again with this guy....Ugh...

His first load of rubbish prompted me to write to the DT simply to try and express to people that things were a lot better than they were hearing about from the media...

http://leonorasophie-everyday.blogspot.com/2011/04/telegraph-article.html

It was my first time to write to a newspaper, and now, with his second article, I am reminded that I actually need to do another piece for JEARS. So, there is some method in his madness? Well, not enough.

I really hope he finds his rock and hides there before he picks up another pen, or types another word about Japan.

www.animalwalktokyo.com

So, today was the animal walk! The sun came out, as did many, many people, animals too, all to support JEARS! Thank you!!

I got to meet the organiser, Brandy and also another JEARS helper, Kumi!




So many animals were there with their owners. I wish I could have brought Elbi, but the journey would have been too long for him. And, I had no transport for Susie, so it was just me and my human friends.

Registration was ¥2000, all of which of course went to support the animals. The turnout was great! The facebook event had 25 confirmed, but there were most certainly more people than that!


We were each handed a map and a JEARS information leaflet and we were ready to go, after the fashion show, that was!



Given the heat, even at that early hour, it was difficult to dress the dogs in much more than the fur they already had, but there were a few clad especially for the occasion.




I think Brandy's dog was a favourite of mine, given the fact that he looked like a potential best friend for Elbi!

There was even some colour co ordination. This dog on the right, called Spike, had a gorgeous turquoise scarf on to represent the animal walk group's colour!


The dogs in the prams were adorable too, in a monster-y kind of way! Lol



One lady had designed her own T-shirt for her and her dachshund.





It just goes to show that people do care. She was also handing out flyers to help try and raise awareness amongst the Japanese people about animal shelters. So many animals are dying in Hokenjos, yet people still shop for pets like they do accessories.

Someone even brought their cat along!



All in all, the walk was a great success. We also got to meet a lady, who can help us with some more publicity. I will post the finished article here too once it is done!

It wasn't a long walk, but for some animals, it was hard work in the sun of early June.











Thanks to all those who took part! Thank you to Brandy for organising the event! I can't wait to do it again! We need more of these fun fundraising events, things that many people can enjoy, but that also give them the chance to support those in need!

Otsukaredesama to the animal walk group!

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Location:代々木公園、東京、日本。

Help needed in Miyagi - URGENT

This is urgent from JEARS....

Remember last week, I was saying about animals dying at Hokenjos?

And one dog died because we couldn't get help to him in time.

Today, there is an appeal for more help from those in Sendai or around able to collect the animal from its impending doom.

Via @japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support
((JEARS facebook page))

URGENT: Anyone in Miyagi interested in helping rescue some cats & dogs from Miyagi hokenjo-s? We need helpers who can go to hokenjos, take them out. We'll pick them up and bring to our temporary shelter. P/s tweet @NotWoAnimals or email us to jearscoalition@gmail.com. Thank you!
blog.livedoor.jp/liablog/archives/1524241.html



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