1. i wanted to thank again everybody from the bottom of my heart for
the ongoing support for tohoku. we’re still getting support from all
over the world and it’s a great feeling. when i pulled up to naoka’s
house yesterday, i was surprised on how many boxes of warm clothes,
candy, okinawa snacks, and even a letter of messages from kids sent from
okinawa. if it wasn’t the support from all of you, our missions would
be impossible. anyway, we loaded up van 1 of 2, and headed up north. a
long 6 hour drive.
2. driving up this time was much different than the first time. the
roads are fixed and back to normal now. when we pull over at the
parking stops for a break, there are lots of tourists. before, there
were only a few people which included search and rescue, military, and
volunteers. it was a much different feeling back then, nobody was
smiling. it was nice to see people going back to their normal lives.
3. i was monitoring the radiation all the way from chigasaki and
tokyo. it kept going up and up as we got closer to fukushima. i took a
nap and then the alarm went off. levels as much as 0.97 recorded on
this geiger counter as the alarm sounded for over 30 minutes.
we had a nice dinner in sendai with kiku-chan last night. it’s 5:30 am
now and we are going with her to onagawa, which was one of the worst hit
places in japan. on our last trip, we drove by and couldn’t believe the
damage. nothing was left, even the solid foundation of buildings were
all but gone. reality will sink in as 8 of us will visit some same
places we did back in early april. i’m sure the memories will all come
back. i’m just hoping for improvements. these next 2 days will inform
us, and hopefully the world, on how much japan has come back, and how
much things are still the same. i better get going. i had a bear named
“toda-san” sleeping next to me snoring all night. the thunder sound and
vibrations going through my ear plugs. still jet lag, still tired, but
i’m ready to hit the road. stay tuned.
