Despite the steep drop off in media attention on Japan, we are working hard to keep our Facebook followers up to date on news from Japan. GlobalGiving is not only continuing to support organizations that are distributing the essentials, but are also now supporting medium and long term rebuilding efforts. One project has concentrated efforts in Kesennuma to support teachers, parents, and firefighters to reopen the local kindergarten so that life may return to normal. See their updates here.

Following the $75,757 from the auction, we’ve added another $13,744 through direct tax-deductible donations, Cafe Press purchases, and donations from HFJ artists. We’re just $499 short of $90,000, so please consider helping Handmade For Japan over this significant milestone by either making a tax-deductible donation online or buying something from our Cafe Press store.

While there are many interesting and worthy art-related projects benefiting Japan, we’d like to mention two in particular.
Mashiko, a pottery center north of Tokyo made famous by Shoji Hamada (see his auction piece), was hit particularly hard by the earthquakes. All of the more than 400 studios and kilns there were damaged or destroyed an will need a considerable amount of help to rebuild. Ayumi, one of the HFJ organizers, traveled there at the end of April, and witnessed first-hand the havoc (see the collapsed arch on the kiln). The town has setup a fund for rebuilding efforts.

Uncanny Terrain, a film that will document the response of organic farmers in the area just outside the evacuation zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The filmmakers are currently trying to raise funding for their trip on May 23rd to Japan and for production.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 9th, 2011 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.