Ashinaga President Tamai (center) attends a tree planting ceremony at Makerere University

 Ashinaga President Yoshiomi Tamai delivered a lecture on May 4 at Makerere University in Uganda. Makerere University was first established as a technical school in 1922, and is now Uganda’s largest institution of higher learning. The university today features 22 faculties, institutes, and schools offering programs to some 30,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students. To date, the Makerere Africa Lecture Series has featured four lecturers, and President Tamai was invited not only as the first speaker from Japan, but also the first non-African lecturer. Past lecturers include notable figures such as a former South African president and a former governor of the Bank of Uganda.

President Tamai (right) and Richard Kazynski (left)

 On the day of the lecture, people gathered at the main hall of Makere University. The hall was filled with an audience of about 600, thanks to the special posters and banners publicizing the lecture that the university had put up all over campus. Sitting at an oblong table on the stage, and accompanied by Mondo Kagonyera, chancellor of Makerere University, Luboobi Livingstone, former vice chancellor of Makerere University, and James B. Baba, Minister of State Internal Affairs and Former Uganda Ambassador to Japan, President Tamai began his address, titled “Ashinaga’s 100-year Vision for the Education of African Orphans: Work Hard, Aim High,” through interpreter Richard Kazynski, an Ashinaga associate.The lecture was realized after the Makerere University administration learned of President Tamai’s 100-year vision, and requested that he talk about it for the university’s students.

 In the first half of his talk, President Tamai explained how the loss of his mother in a traffic accident in 1963, as well as the loss of his then-29-year-old wife to an incurable disease, had been major factors in motivating him to work in support of orphans. He also described how he had cut short a business trip to Uganda and returned to Japan immediately after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck the Tohoku region in 2011. He noted that Ashinaga had quickly decided to provide one-time emergency relief grants to children who had lost parents or guardians to the catastrophe, and that the swift action had been highly praised both in Japan and overseas.

Audience in the main hall of Makerere University

 In the latter half of his lecture, President Tamai discussed how Ashinaga had devoted its efforts to the psychological and emotional healing of children who had lost parents in other countries, as well as how the organization had promoted international exchange with them, beginning with an Ashinaga program in 2000 that brought to Japan 32 children orphaned by disasters and conflicts in Turkey, Taiwan, Kosovo, and Colombia. The audience applauded when he related how Ritah Nabukenya, a Ugandan woman who had lost her father to HIV/AIDS, had received a scholarship from Ashinaga to come to Japan in 2006 and study at Waseda University, where she is now enrolled in graduate school. President Tamai informed the audience that other orphans from Uganda had received similar scholarships from Ashinaga, and were currently studying at prestigious Japanese universities such as International Christian University, Sophia University, Kansai University, and Doshisha University, and noted that the number of scholarship recipients from Uganda would exceed 30 in 2013.

 President Tamai then explained that, in the context of a prediction by the United Nations that the population of the African continent would account for one third of the world’s population in the 22^nd century, the education of children is indispensable to improving African living standards and preventing European countries, China, and India from exploiting Africans. He described the “Ashinaga 100-year Vision of Educational Support for Orphans in Africa,” which plans to take one superior student from each of the 49 Sub-Saharan nations and prepare them for entry into top universities around the world. President Tamai admitted that it would require significant funds to enable 49 students to study overseas each year, but added with confidence and passion that he believed the plan to be feasible, given his own experience of having collected over 90 billion yen in donations over the past 40 years only in Japan.

 In closing, President Tamai encouraged attending students to work hard and hold true to their beliefs, and warned that persons who worked halfheartedly would never achieve much; the audience responded with enthusiastic applause.

 Children from Terakoya, a school run by Ashinaga Uganda, an international NGO established in Uganda to support children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS and who cannot afford to study at school, were also invited to the lecture. Dressed in colorful costumes, and accompanied by an up-tempo drumbeat, the children delivered an enthusiastic 15-minute performance of a folk dance while occasionally uttering strident whoops and cries, after which the hall echoed with thunderous applause and cheers.

 His Excellency Kazuo Minagawa, the Japanese ambassador to Uganda, officially announced in his speech after the children’s performance that Japanese Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko would visit the Ashinaga Uganda Rainbow House in June, on the occasion of their visit to Uganda to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Uganda.

 In his speech at the end of the event, Mondo Kagonyera, Chancellor of Makerere University, said, “I myself was an orphan at the age of 15 and had to endure many hardships in order to somehow raise money for school, so when President Tamai talks about supporting orphans, I am personally touched, and would like to thank him. Japanese people are very disciplined, and I would also like to note their spirit of generosity in reaching out to less fortunate people. That is the reason why Japan is so successful, in my view. In Africa, people want to get rich very quickly, even if it means stealing. You can’t develop that way. The individual may become rich, but the country can’t develop through stealing. What this gentleman (President Tamai) is doing is to help some unfortunate kids, and to contribute to the development of this country, by giving them an education, which is the most important thing needed for Africa to develop. I support President Tamai and his 100-year vision, which will make it possible for everyone—including the poor—to live well.”

 Students filled out a questionnaire after the lecture, and among the many responses praising President Tamai, one read, “I admire Mr. Tamai, who at the age of 77 still displays leadership and struggles to eradicate poverty and support orphans with his feet set firmly on the ground in Africa.”

 The lecture attracted much local media attention, with coverage by nine news organizations, including News Vision newspaper, NBS TV, and UBC radio.

 President Tamai attended an Ashinaga Uganda board of directors meeting on May 5, after which he left Uganda for New York on May 9 to meet with Dr. Catharine Bond Hill, President of Vassar College, Motoatsu Sakurai, President of The Japan Society, and His Excellency Shigeyuki Hiroki, Ambassador and Consul General of Japan in New York. He also planned to meet with officials from the National Basketball Association, representatives of Morgan Stanley, and the restaurant Nobu New York, among others, to appeal for support for the Ashinaga 100-year vision to provide educational support for children in Africa who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS.

Yoshiomi Tamai, Founder and President

Today, the three core goals of the Ashinaga Movement are: (1) to ensure that orphaned children—defined as those who have lost one or both parents or guardians due to natural disasters, non-vehicle accidents, illness, or suicide—can attend high school and institutions of higher learning, such as universities; (2) to provide orphans with psychological support; and (3) to implement the “Ashinaga 100-year Vision,” which focuses on providing educational support to orphans around the world.

In order to achieve the third goal, we must first liberate orphans from the chains of poverty. It is critical to reduce poverty in Africa, which contains some of the poorest countries in the world, and educate orphans to act as leaders who can contribute to the future of their communities and nations. I firmly believe that this aim requires us to first break the cycle of poverty, which has long been a major burden on Africa, and that the key to doing this is support for education.

By 2050, according to the United Nations, the population of Africa will reach 2.3 billion, accounting for a quarter of the world’s population; by 2100, Africa’s population will be 3.6 billion, which means that one third of the world’s population will be African. From an economic perspective, this will lead to enormous consumption, and the African continent will be the most affluent in the world. The dream of the Ashinaga Movement is that this will then allow for coexistence with the former rich and dominant nations, which face increasing challenges related to their aging populations and economic hardship.

To realize this dream, we must work to educate true future leaders, and support countries that can drive and sustain themselves. Human beings can coexist in harmony, regardless of the color of their skin. The key lies in how the world can support Sub-Saharan countries in escaping from poverty. Our strategy comprises the following:

1)  Selecting outstanding students from each Sub-Saharan country.

2)  Sending these students to the world’s top-ranked universities, providing them with full scholarships and living expenses for four years. It will be sufficient if we continue this program for 30 years.

3)  International “Ashinaga-san” (donors), including businesses, wealthy individuals, and professional athletes, will help fill any gaps between scholarships provided by the universities themselves and the funding required by the students.

My colleagues and I have driven the Ashinaga Movement for over 40 years, and in the process have helped some 90,000 orphaned students graduate from high school and/or attend university. This was accomplished thanks to donors who are almost exclusively Japanese. I do not believe that it would be difficult for people around the world to provide sufficient funding to support 49—or more—African students with scholarships.

This year, Ms. Nabukenya Ritah Bukenya, the first Ashinaga international student, will attend Vassar College in the United States, the alma mater of Daddy-Long-Legs author Jean Webster, to commemorate the book’s 100th anniversary. The world is full of humane, fair-minded people. I believe that the Ashinaga 100-Year Vision of educational support for orphans in Africa will bring about happiness not only for Africans, but for the whole human race. I pray that we all acquire the ability to act out of a spirit of trust in our fellow person.

March 16

Ashinaga started its fundraising campaign on Friday, March 16. Ashinaga staff members, scholarship students, and a number of volunteers that included Daichi Sato and Nozomi Uchimura, first set up a booth and decorated it with Ashinaga banners and flags. The booth was in a vast parking lot at Dodger Stadium, where many other booths were set up by manufacturers of products designed for marathon runners, such as shoes, clothing, sports drinks, and food.

The occasion was the “LA Marathon Expo,” an event held by sponsors of the LA Marathon on March 16 and 17. Ashinaga, as an official charity of the 2012 Honda LA Marathon, had been given space for its booth.

Using the booth as a base, the Ashinaga members spent both days passing out various items to some of the thousands of people visiting the LA Marathon Expo: pocket tissues donated by a supporting company, with each packet containing an Ashinaga leaflet; wristbands with the Ashinaga logo—also donated by a supporting company—and English pamphlets on Ashinaga. Although there were not many visitors in the morning of the first day, numbers increased dramatically in the afternoon and on the next day.

The Ashinaga booth was crowded with visitors, including many who had seen Ashinaga on the local TV news the previous day; many of the visitors also donated money.

The money collected at the LA Marathon Expo will go toward the construction and operation of Tohoku Rainbow House and four satellite facilities in the Tohoku region.

March 17

Daichi Sato, a recent high school graduate from Miyagi prefecture who lost his father in the tsunami on March 11 last year, along with six high school runners from the Tohoku region, participated in the 2012 LA Big 5K, an official 5-kilometer race held in conjunction with the LA Marathon, on March 17.

Runners gathered at Dodger Stadium, where the race started and finished, and ran in tough conditions that included occasionally heavy cold rain. Wearing t-shirts provided by supporting companies and printed with the Ashinaga logo, the Japanese kanji character for “hope,” and “Help The 3.11 Tsunami Orphans,” the high school runners gathered at the starting line after they finished warming up.

About 20 other runners, most of whom were Japanese Americans living in L.A., and who had offered to wear the Ashinaga t-shirts during the race, started with the high school runners. The run, winding 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) through scenic Elysian Park, serves as the official warm-up race for the 2012 Honda LA Marathon, and drew thousands of participants—many of whom were gearing up for the full marathon the next day.

The seven high school runners who took up positions right at the starting line dashed away at the sound of the starting gun. Of 2,649 runners, Kouki Takayashiki, from Aomori, came in fourth, with a time of 17:17; following him was Yuto Kikuchi, from Miyagi, who came in sixth at 17:42; after him came Daichi Abe, from Fukushima, who completed the race in seventh place, with a time of 17:54.

Koki Takayashiki

Of the three female Ashinaga runners, Yukiko Kikuchi, from Aomori, finished with a time of 21:14, although she later said she was not satisfied with her time. Daichi Sato and Sachi Oyama, from Miyagi, and Misaki Abe, from Fukushima, also did their very best in the race.

March 18

Eight college runners from the Tohoku region participated in the 2012 Honda LA Marathon on March 18. At around 5 a.m., the runners left their hotel for Dodger Stadium, where the marathon was to kick off. It was extremely cloudy, although the rain had let up, and the temperature was low for March in Los Angeles. The sun broke through the clouds, however, when the race started at 7:42.

Ashinaga staff members and scholarship students, together with Daichi Sato and Nozomi Uchimura, set up Ashinaga banners and flags on the sidewalk five miles (eight kilometers) away from Dodger Stadium, and cheered the college runners from Japan, who were accompanied by some 50 local runners, all wearing the special Ashinaga t-shirts. A group of about 10 Wadaiko (Japanese drum) drummers from the Taiko Center of Los Angeles joined in cheering on the runners, performing for 2 hours from 7 a.m. while thousands of runners passed by in from of them.

The 2012 Honda LA Marathon—the biggest international marathon on the West Coast of the United States—started at world-famous Dodger Stadium and finished at the beach in Santa Monica.

The run was nicknamed “the Stadium to the Sea.” It wound through downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood Boulevard, the Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

Ryo Ota

Of the 22,286 registered runners, Ryo Ota, from Fukushima, came in 15th among the men, and 20th overall, with a time of 02:33:41. Shoei Tanaka, from Aomori, and Yusuke Danzaki, from Miyagi, also finished in under three hours. Of the four female college runners from the Tohoku region, Mio Hayashi, from Iwate, came in 40th among women.Kyoko Tashiro, from Fukushima, Rina Sasaki, from Miyagi, Sohei Otani, from Iwate, and Mami Sato, from Aomori, also did their best and finished the race.

Amazingly, not one of these eight college runners had ever run a full marathon before. Previous to the race, they said that they wanted to do their best in order to encourage people in the Tohoku region, many of whom were still struggling after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. By finishing the race without giving up, the runners definitely succeeded in their goal.

 Ashinaga would like to take this opportunity to express its gratitude to everyone who supported and made possible the Ashinaga LA Marathon Fundraising Project.

A delegation from Ashinaga visited Los Angeles from March 14 through March 21. The group included 14 high school and college athletes who participated in the 2012 Honda LA Marathon as a part of efforts to raise funds for the construction and operation of Tohoku Rainbow House in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, as well as four satellite facilities to be built along the coast devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011. The Rainbow House and related facilities will provide emotional and psychological care to children who lost parents in the catastrophe. The following is an overview of the Ashinaga delegation’s activities during its time in Los Angeles.

March 13-14

Daichi Sato and Nozomi Uchimura from Miyagi Prefecture, both of whom lost their fathers to the tsunami, arrived in Los Angeles together with several Ashinaga staff members a day before they were due to address a March 13 summit meeting on the Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami convened by the Japan Council. Sato, who had graduated from high school two weeks earlier, said in his speech that there were still many people and communities that needed help. He asked participants not to forget them and to continue their support. For her part, Uchimura—who had also graduated from high school just two weeks before the visit—told summit attendees that she and her sister had cried terribly when they finally found the body of their father at a morgue three weeks after the tsunami, and that she still got tears in her eyes when she thought of him. Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles, who has two children around the same age as Sato and Uchimura, listened to their speeches intently, and noted that although he could hardly imagine the hardships they had endured, he wanted to praise their courage.

March 15

Ashinaga held a press conference at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in downtown Los Angeles at 9:30 a.m. on March 15. Hitoshi Washida, head of the Ashinaga LA Marathon Fundraising Project, explained first that Ashinaga had come to Los Angeles to raise funds for the construction of Tohoku Rainbow House and four satellite facilities in the Tohoku region. Daichi Sato and Nozomi Uchimura then offered speeches in English.

In his speech, Sato said that the earthquake and tsunami were fading away from the memories of those who had not experienced the tragedy, and that people in some communities seemed to no longer care about the devastated region. In reply to a question from a reporter after his speech, he also said that reconstruction work had not progressed very far, because few local governments were willing to take portions of the tens of thousands of tons of debris from the devastated areas.

Nozomi Uchimura told press conference attendees that she had managed to pass the entrance examination for the college she wanted to attend, thanks to support from many people. She added that even though a full year had already passed, she had never forgotten her father and still got tears in her eyes when she thought of him.Uchimura further stated that there were many small children who were undoubtedly suffering worse emotionally than she was, and said that her goal now was to become a nurse and tell those children, “You are not alone.”

Camera crews from local TV stations

The press conference was covered by 11 local and Japanese news organizations, including the affiliate stations of NBC, ABC, FOX, Kyodo News Agency, and Fuji TV. At the end of the press conference, Daichi Sato—who was also to run the LA Marathon—joined the 14 runners accompanying the delegation to stand in two rows, with all the runners raising their fists in the air to demonstrate their motivation for the cameras.

Prior to the press conference, the two recent high school graduates and 14 high school and college runners had made a live appearance on the morning show of KTLA, a local Los Angeles TV station.

KTLA news video:

http://www.ktla.com/videogallery/68832718/News/ktla-honda-l.a.-marathon:-tsunami-victims-&-hand-cyclists#pl-65390278

After the press conference, Daichi Sato, Nozomi Uchimura, the 14 runners, representatives of the Japan Amateur Athletic Association from the Tohoku region, and several Ashinaga staff members enjoyed a tour of Dodger Stadium at the invitation of the L.A. Dodgers.

Upon their arrival at the stadium by bus, camera crews from local and Japanese TV stations, as well as photographers from both local and Japanese newspapers, began shooting video and photographs all at once. The Ashinaga group saw the VIP boxes and the press box, and even got to touch the grass on the field.

ABC news video:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8582830

The Ashinaga group then visited Crenshaw High School for a cultural exchange program at 1 p.m. The school was opened in 1968 in order to draw students from several African-American and white neighborhoods in South Los Angeles, and is famous for its choir, which consists of both male and female students. As the Ashinaga group entered a classroom and sat at desks in the rear of a room designed like a small concert hall, about 50 students sitting at desks surrounding a piano in the front of the room performed a mini welcome concert.

The Crenshaw students sang several beautiful songs for their guests, one of which was a Japanese song called Furusato (Hometown). When the choir began singing the song, which it had practiced for only a few hours since that morning, the Ashinaga group members joined in. Some Crenshaw students also performed incredible dances that deeply impressed the Japanese students. Both the Crenshaw and the Japanese students had overcome their initial shyness by the end of the event, and hugged each other goodbye when the event was over.

That evening, Mr. Jun Niimi, Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles, invited the Ashinaga group to his official residence. During dinner, two waiters suddenly appeared in the dining room with cake on plates, and began singing “Happy Birthday” to celebrate the birthdays of Sachi Koyama, a high school runner, and Yusuke Danzaki, a college runner, both of whom were from Miyagi Prefecture.

Left:Sachi Koyama/Right:Yusuke Danzaki

Koyama, whose house had been half-destroyed by the tsunami, thanked everyone in the room with tears in her eyes, and said that she was very grateful for the surprise celebration, particularly because she had been unable to have her birthday celebrated by anyone the previous year due to the tsunami. At that moment, it was clear that everyone in the room hoped that her life back in Japan would return to normal as soon as possible. Thanks to Mr. Niimi, the runners were able to completely refresh themselves.

Daddy's face (10-year- old girl, Fukushima Pref.)

Some time passed after Tsunami
when I went to the morgue.
My daddy and three other people were there.
Mum entered first and looking at daddy's face she was crying.
When I saw daddy's face covered in blood I cried.

     Ashinaga announced at a press conference held on February 21, 2012 the  publication of  a collection of compositions written by children who had lost parents to the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011. Ashinaga has received so many requests for copies from the people who learned the publication since  the announcement was widely reported by the Japanese media. Ashinaga would like you to pay attention to those short compositions written by children who had buried deep in their hearts inexpressible sadness and affection. If you want to read all of the compositions, CLICK HERE.

     The booklet is approximately 12 x 18 cm, and runs 37 pages. Contact Ashinaga for a free copy  (Telephone: 81-3-3221-0888; E-mail: info@ashinaga.org ).

TOKYO, JAPAN  March 5, 2012 - Ashinagais pleased to announce its participation in the 2012 HONDA L.A. Marathon with high school and college students from the Tohoku region devastated by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 2011.

High school students Daichi Sato (18) and Nozomi Uchimura (18) of Miyagi Prefecture, who both lost their fathers to the catastrophe, and 14 high school and college athletes selected by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations from Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures will run the biggest international marathon in the West Coast of the United States as a part of efforts to appeal for support for “Tohoku Rainbow House”, which Ashinaga is planning to construct in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, as well as four satellite facilities along the coast hit by the tsunami. These facilities will provide emotional and psychological care to children who lost parents or guardians, or whose parent/guardian sustained a severe disability, in connection with the March 11 disaster.

 Daichi Sato and Nozomi Uchimura will talk about their tsunami experiences and hope for the future, and express their gratitude American citizens for having helped people affected by the earthquake and tsunami at various events during their stay in Los Angeles. Daich Sato will also run the 2012 LA Big 5K, the official warm up race for the 2012 Honda LA Marathon, with the high school athletes from the Tohoku region.

Ashinaga is now working to raise 3.5 billion yen (US$45 million) for the Tohoku Rainbow House and four satellite facilities, and hopes to complete them in 2014. In 2011, Ashinaga conducted very successful fundraising campaigns in New York (June); Dalian, China (September); and Paris (December). In spite of large numbers of donations for the Rainbow House project from both Japan and overseas, however, the project still requires another 1.8 billion yen (US$23 million).

Ashinaga is an education-focused non-profit organization based in Tokyo that for over 40 years has been providing financial and psychological support to children who have lost parents or guardians due to various causes. To date, Ashinaga has helped some 85,000 students, and its work has been supported by cumulative donations of 90 billion yen (US$1.15 million) from all over the world.

One of Ashinaga’s current major focuses is assistance for children who lost parents or guardians in the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The organization is providing emergency relief grants in the amount of 2 million yen (US$25,600) per surviving child; children range from infants to graduate school students. As of February 27, 2012, 2,016 children had received the grants totaling 4 billion yen (US$50 million

※Please send us your messages at our Facebook “You Are Not Alone project.”

Ashinaga is an official charity authorized by the 2012 HONDA L.A. Marathon. The website is here

During the visit in Los Angeles, Ashinaga is planning events below.

1. Speeches by Daichi Sato and Nozomi Uchimura at Summit on Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami “One Year Later: Moving Forward” to be held by U.S.-Japan Council

Time/Date: 16:30 Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Venuue: Japan American National Museum, Aratani Hall

369 Eeast First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012  Phone: (213) 625-0414

 2. Press Conference

Time/Date:09:30-10:00 Thursday, March 15, 2012

Venue: Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC)

Address: 244 S. San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Phone: (213) 628-2725   URL:http://www.jaccc.org/index.php

Speakers: Hitoshi Washida, Head of Ashinaga L.A. Marathon Fundraising Project/ Daichi Sato / Nozomi Uchimura

 3. Cultural exchange with local high school students

Time/Date: 13:00-  Thursday, March 15, 2012

Venue: Crenshaw High Schoo

 Address:5010 11th Avenue Los Angeles, California90043

Participants: Daichi Sato, Nozomi Uchimura and the 14 athletes/Crenshaw High School students

4. EXHIBITS Clay & Petals organized in memory of the victims of the Tohoku Earthquake.

Time/Date: 09:00-09:45 Friday, March 16, 2012

Venue: Japanese American Cultural & Community Center

244 S. San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Phone: (213) 628-2725 http://www.jaccc.org/index.php

Daichi Sato, Nozomi Uchimura and the 14 athletes from Japan visit the exhibition

5. Fundraising Campaign 

Time/Dtae: 09:00-17:00 Friday, March 16, 2012

Venue: Ashinaga’s booth to be set up at the Dodger Stadium

The 2 high school students and athletes from Japan, along with many volunteers, will ask people visiting the Stadium for donations.

6. 2012 LA Big 5 K

Time/Date: 08:00 Saturday, March 17, 2012

Start/Finish: Dodger Stadium

Daichi Sato and 6 high school athletes from Tohoku run the 2012 LA Big 5K which winds 3.1 miles (5 kilo meters) through scenic Elysian Park. Serving as the official warm up race for the 2012 Honda LA Marathon, the race draws thousands of participants many of whom are gearing up for the Honda LA Marathon the next day.

7. The Full Marathon 05:30-12:00 Sunday, March 18, 2011

8 college athletes from Tohoku run the Full Marathon (26.2 miles/42,195km) which starts at world famous Dodger Stadium and finishes at the beach in Santa Monica. The course is referred to as “The Stadium to the Sea”. It travels through Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood Boulevard, the Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

8. Farewell party for the 2 high school students and 14 athletes from Japan by the Japanese community in Los Angeles

18:00-20:30 Monday, March 19, 2012

Venue: The Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC)

The Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California, Japan America Society of Southern California and other Japanese American organizations will cheer up and say a farewell to Daichi Sato, Nozomi Uchimura and the 14 high school and college athletes from the Tohoku region devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.

*Ashinaga has been looking for registered runners who will run the L.A. Marathon wearing Ashinaga’s T-shirts, and volunteers who will help Ashinaga conduct a fundraising campaign.

 Ashinaga is an official charity authorized by the 2012 HONDA L.A. Marathon

The above events will be organized by Ashinaga in cooperation with, and under the sponsorship of, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles, KOREAN AIR, ANA, Miyako Hotel Los Angeles, asics, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California, Los Angeles Dodgers, Japan America Society of Southern California, The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Japan Foundation, The Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, and many other friendly organizations.

Ashinaga media contacts:                 

Hiroshi Iizuka　iizuka@ashinaga.org

Phone (L.A.) +1-424-254-4950 (March 14-21, 2012)

Izumi Tanaka　AshinagaLA@me.com

Phone (L.A.): +1-(310)749-9091

On March 2, a women’s youth soccer team from the Tohoku region of Japan played a friendly match with the women’s youth team of Centro Olimpico, a powerful professional soccer team in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The match took place in connection with Ashinaga’s efforts to support children who lost parents in the Great East Japan Earthquake. The agile Japanese team used skillful ball control to defeat the Sao Paulo team, 3－0.

The charity match featured a women’s under-17 team from the Tohoku region; team members consisted mainly of members of the Tokiwagi Gakuen High School women’s soccer team, which won Japan’s National High School Women’s Soccer Tournament in 2011. The team visited Brazil in conjunction with the one-year anniversary of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and one of the visit’s goals was to raise funds for the construction of “Tohoku Rainbow House,” a facility which will provide emotional and psychological care to children who lost parents to the tsunami. The team also played two other charity matches with local women’s youth teams while in Sao Paulo.

At a ceremony prior to the first game, Shodo Sasaki, a high school student who lost his mother in the tsunami, spoke about the purpose of the charity matches, the need for Tohoku Rainbow House, and present conditions surrounding children who lost parents in the tsunami last year. Both spectators and members of the Brazilian team vigorously applauded his remarks.
　

Kazukai Obu, Consul General of Japan in Sao Paulo, attended the match with his wife and offered words of encouragement to the players of both teams. The match was widely reported, not only by Japanese media, but also by AFP, Brazil Education Channel, and Globo, the largest TV station in Brazil.

Ashinaga hopes that the charity match between the young players from opposite sides of the globe will grow into a broad circle of support in Brazil and South America, and that children who lost parents to the tsunami will find healing at the Tohoku Rainbow House, so that they can recover as soon as possible and take steps toward achieving their dreams.
　

In his speech before the match, Shodo Sasaki said, “This match will be played in support of the construction of Tohoku Rainbow House, which will provide psychological care to children who lost parents in the tsunami. I myself lost my mother and grandmother, but there are many children much younger than I am, who also lost parents and who need emotional support even more urgently. That’s why we need a Rainbow House. Please give us your support.”

Shodo discovered the body of his mother 10 days after the tsunami, where it was lying with others at a local gymnasium. His father had also been caught up in the tsunami, along with his mother and grandmother, but miraculously survived. Shodo now lives in a temporary housing unit. He is studying hard to pass the entrance examination for the national university in his area, and hopes to become an engineer in the future. Saying he wanted to do anything he could to support children in Tohoku, he eagerly participated in the Ashinaga Brazil project.

 Some members of the women’s youth team that played in Brazil also lost homes and family members due to the tsunami, and some were forced to change schools after evacuating from the area around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which was seriously damaged by the tsunami. One of the team members comes from a high school team which had only four players survive the disaster.

The final charity match was played against the Juventus women’s youth team on Sunday, March 4. The game was watched at the Juventus home stadium by over 500 Japanese and Brazilian spectators, including Consul General Obu and his wife, and was covered by some 11 news organizations, including Globo and other local media outlets, AP, Reuters, and Japanese Brazilian organizations. Those who attended the match were given Ashinaga pamphlets, as well as a collection of orphan’s letters entitled “Daddy’s Face,” compiled by Ashinaga and translated into Portuguese. Standing in the center of the pitch, Shodo Sasaki made a strong appeal for donations to support construction of Tohoku Rainbow House. He received warm applause from spectators, and the appeal was seen on many TV stations both inside and outside Brazil.

The Juventus team scored a goal in the first half of the match, but Hikaru Kojima of JFA Academy Fukushima answered with a goal from a set play in the second half, and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. For its three games in Brazil, the Japanese team recorded one win, one loss, and one draw. Overall, the Japanese team did a great job of dealing with skilled opponents that included some members playing for professional teams.

After the final contest, spectators gave a long round of applause in praise of the players of both teams, who had spent an enormous amount of energy to ensure that those attending the match would not forget that children of the players’ own generation, as well as those even younger, had lost parents in the tsunami.
 

While in Brazil, the women’s team from Tohoku visited a local high school for some cultural exchange activities. The group also traveled to Santos Port, where a Japanese ship, the Kasado-maru, had arrived with the first group of Japanese immigrants to Brazil one hundred years ago. At the port, delegation members learned about the history of Japanese migration to Brazil. The group returned to Japan on March 8.

Ashinaga is deeply grateful for all the support that made the Brazil soccer project possible, including cooperation by the Japan Football Association, sponsorship by Qatar Airways, which supplied discounted round trip air tickets, and backing from the Japan Country Club in Sao Paulo, which provided accommodations.

TOKYO, JAPAN, February 23, 2012-Ashinaga will dispatch to Brazil a women’s youth soccer team consisting of high school students from the Tohoku region. The team, which includes players who in the future are expected to join Nadeshiko Japan, the 2011 FIFA World Cup-winning women’s national team, will play two friendly matches with local women’s youth teams in São Paulo between February 26 and March 8, as a part of efforts to appeal for support for Tohoku Rainbow House, which Ashinaga is planning to construct in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, as well as four satellite facilities along the coast hit by the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011.These facilities will provide emotional and psychological care to children who lost parents or guardians, or whose parent/guardian sustained a severe disability, in connection with the March 11 disaster.

Ashinaga is now working to raise 3.5 billion yen (US$ 45 million) for the facilities, and hopes to complete them in 2014.In 2011, Ashinaga conducted very successful fundraising campaigns in New York (June); Dalian, China (September); and Paris (December). In spite of the large number of donations for the Rainbow House project from both Japan and overseas, however, the project still requires another 1.8 billion yen.

A male high school student who lost his mother and grandmother to the tsunami will also travel to São Paulo with the women’s soccer team. This student had to identify his mother’s body at a local gymnasium 10 days after the disaster. His father was also washed away by the tsunami, but miraculously survived. Currently, the student lives in a temporary housing unit. He hopes to become an engineer, and is studying hard to gain entrance to the local national university. He played on a soccer team when he was in elementary school.

During the visit in Sao Paulo, Ashinaga is planning events below.

1. Departure ceremony   17:30 Sunday, February 26, 2012

  Venue: Room C-1, 5^thfloor, Central Building, Terminal 1, Narita International Airport

2. Friendly match 1  Friday, March 2, 2012

  Opponent/venue/time to be announced.

3. Friendly match 2 15:00 Sunday, March 4, 2012

  Opponent:Clube Atletico Juventus (Futebol Feminine)

  Venue: Conde Rodolfo Crespi, also known as Estadio Rua Javari

4. Cultural exchange at a high school in São Paulo

Date/time/venue to be announced.

Program: Speech by Japanese high school student who lost his mother and grandmother to the tsunami. The 16 students from Japan will build friendships with local high school students through soccer.

 The above events will be organized by Ashinaga in cooperation with, and under the sponsorship of, the Japan Football Association, the Consulate General of Japan in São Paulo, Qatar Airways, and Japan Country Club (São Paulo).

Ashinaga media contacts:

Yukichi Okazaki okazaki@ashinaga.org   Yuka Yamada yamada.y@ashinaga.org

Department of International Affairs

Phone: +81-3-3221-0888  Fax:+81-3-3221-7676

www.ashinaga.org

 Ashinaga held its 17th “Gathering to Remember and Reminisce about Lost Loved Ones” at the Kobe Rainbow House on January 14 in conjunction with the 17th anniversary of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Some 90 people participated, including people who as children had lost parents in the disaster, other surviving parents and guardians, student volunteers, and Ashinaga staff members.

 After offering a silent prayer for the victims at the memorial service, Shota Nakano (a second-year university student ) and Yuri Fukui (a third-year student), both of whom had lost their mothers 17 years ago, read out messages to their mothers, whose portraits were on view.

 In his message, Shota Nakano said that he had had more fun playing with other children at the Rainbow House than he had with those at school, and that he hoped that children in the Tohoku region would enjoy playing with other children as he had, without feeling too sad or lonely.

 In her message, Yuri Fukui wrote as follows: I was only four years old when I lost my mother to the Kobe earthquake. I was too young to understand the meaning of death, but as I grew older I came to realize that I was motherless and that I was not like my friends. I would often feel lonely. The people who supported me then were those whom I met at the Rainbow House. I believe that they are the last gift my mother gave, so I will treasure them. When the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami occurred last year, I thought it was my turn to do something. Since May of last year I have been in touch with children in the disaster areas. They sometimes cheer me up unexpectedly. I look forward to continuing to cherish my relationships with children there.

Participants in the gathering also offered a silent prayer for the victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami after the memorial service, and some participants reported on their meetings with the families of children who had lost parents to the tsunami in the Tohoku region.

 Shinji Otorii, who lost his wife to the Kobe earthquake and who has a son, said, “As someone who had lost family in the Kobe earthquake, I went to the Tohoku region hoping to be of some help. I mainly visited motherless families and talked about experiences of grief with them. My work and the sense of responsibility that I have for my son have always supported me, even in times when I felt like giving up. I feel that it is necessary for bereaved families to connect with each other in the future.” Participants then divided into three groups, and discussed their experiences that afternoon with each other.

 In closing remarks, Ashinaga President Yoshiomi Tamai said that he was happy to see all the participants again, for the first time in many years, and that he had never forgotten the worries and pain suffered by children who had lost parents, or of bereaved families. He asked participants to remember that they could be of help to children who had lost parents in the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

 Svetlana Vladimirovna Medvedev, wife of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, along with the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, invited 15 high school students from Iwate and Miyagi prefectures to Russia. All the students had lost parents in the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, and visited Russia from December 18 through 25.

 Students invited were selected from among the high school students who had received emergency relief grants from Ashinaga. They participated in exchange events with Russian youths in Moscow and surrounding areas. Ms. Medvedev, who was deeply saddened to learn of the children who had lost parents in the catastrophe, suggested inviting them to Russia. The project was realized with the cooperation of the Japanese Embassy in Russia and the Japan Russia Youth Exchange Center.

Svetlana Vladimirovna Medvedev, wife of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,(right) meets with Japanese students at the Kremlin

 The day after their arrival in the Russian capital, the 15 Japanese students visited the Japanese Embassy in Moscow and met Chikahito Harada, the Japanese ambassador to Russia. The group then visited School No. 1535 in the afternoon to attend a welcome reception organized by middle school and high school students learning Japanese at the school. The Russian students welcomed their guests from Japan in the school concert hall. The hosts sang a Japanese song and a Russian folk song, and performed a drama in Japanese and a traditional Russian dance, for which they had practiced since September. In return, the Japanese students sang “The only flower in the world,” a popular J-pop song, and during the performance all of the 200 or so Russian students stood and waved their hands in time to the music, filling the hall with excitement.

  Mana Abe, a second year student at Ishinomaki Municipal High School, said that she was able to momentarily forget about the disaster thanks to the warm hospitality. The students of School No. 1535 and School No. 1555, who organized the welcome reception, accompanied the Japanese students throughout the rest of their time in Russia, resulting in many new friendships.

Alexei Yagudin, a former Russian figure skater and gold medalist in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics (right)

 The Japanese students also enjoyed Russian arts, such as a joint concert by scholarship students of the Rostropovich Foundation and Japanese students studying at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and “The Nutcracker” ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre, which had just completed a six year-long restoration. The visitors also participated in a skating workshop given by Alexei Yagudin, a former Russian figure skater and gold medalist in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. The students obviously enjoyed their visit, growing more cheerful each day.

 The group from Japan visited the Kremlin in Moscow, where they met with Ms. Medvedeva at St. George Hall, a frequent site of national ceremonies. At the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, the First Lady welcomed the students, wished them a Happy New Year, and expressed her hope that their visit to Russia would become the memory of a lifetime.

 Ms. Medvedev appeared visibly impressed when Saki Ashikaga, from Kesennuma High School, expressed her thanks and added, “I am now a third-year student, and will graduate next April. Since I was helped by members of emergency rescue teams from Japan and overseas at the time of the disaster, I would like to engage in rescue work in the future.”

 The First Lady said that she strongly hoped to meet Yoshiomi Tamai, president of Ashinaga, on her next visit to Japan, and expressed her deep respect for the support that Ashinaga has provided to children who lost parents or guardians in the tsunami, as well as the cooperation that Ashinaga has provided for the ongoing exchange events. The students looked much more relaxed after the meeting.

 They realized that they had experienced something very precious, and talked excitedly about the magnificence of the Kremlin. Their faces brightened with pride in the snow, and many said that their visit had already become a memory that would last a lifetime. 　

 Later in the visit, the students participated in various activities, including a visit to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, from which a rescue team had been dispatched to Ishinomaki soon after the earthquake and tsunami, and laid flowers at a memorial. The students returned to Japan after bidding a fond farewell to their new Russian student friends and the staff of the Ministry of Education and Science, who had taken such good care of them during their stay in Russia.

December 22, 2011-Tokyo 

 Ashinaga announced on December 22 an increase in its one-time emergency relief grants from 1.5 million yen to 2 million yen. These special grants are provided to children who lost parents/guardians, or whose parents/guardians suffered serious disabilities, due to the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

 Ashinaga decided to provide the one-time emergency relief grants on March 14, 2011, only three days after the catastrophe, and has subsequently increased the grants twice, in May and October 2011. Ashinaga continued to receive donations even after the second increase, and, as of December 20, 2011, the amount of donations received by Ashinaga for the one-time emergency relief grants totaled 3,386 million yen.

 Ashinaga decided to implement this third increase in order to deliver the donated money to the families of eligible children as soon as possible. The increase will take effect on December 26. Ashinaga is sending previous grant recipients an additional 500,000 yen, equivalent to the difference between the original 1.5 million yen grants and the December 22 revised 2 million yen grants.

1. Those eligible for the one-time special relief grants are:

Children who have lost parents/guardians, or whose parents/guardians have suffered serious disabilities, due to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, including:

1. Preschool children.

2. Elementary school students.

3. Junior high school students.

4.High school students and other persons planning to enter universities, colleges, special training schools,  or other post-high school institutions of higher education in fiscal 2012, or those persons preparing for entrance examinations for such institutions.

Those persons age 18 or under, who are not studying or working for some reason as of March 11, 2011, are also eligible.

Notes

   1. Children who have lost just one parent/guardian are also eligible.

   2. It does not matter how many eligible children one family has. Each child is eligible for a grant.

   3. There are no restrictions on the financial circumstances of each family.

2. Application deadline:  March 10, 2012

3. To apply,  please call toll-free: 0120-77-8565

     Application forms may also be downloaded from

       http://www.ashinaga.org/higashi_nihon/

For inquiries, please call (toll-free) 0120-77-8565, or e-mail   tsunami@ashinaga.org

ASHINAGA

1-6-8 Hirakawa-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8639 Japan

Phone: 03-3221-0888 Fax: 03-3221-7676