good morning. after 1 week of life changing images, i’m back to tokyo
to recollect what the heck happened. mission 1 is officially over for
now. i want to say otsukaresama deshita to our crew that took on this
mission with so much uncertainty. i think it was a wake up call for
each one of us. our lives will never be the same and hopefully
experience will make us all better people.
i’m trying to figure out what to do for mission 2 that will start
soon. want to do more hands on things and want to help in the clean up
and rebuilding of the places we visited. the question is, where do
you start?
the question in everybody’s minds are “where is the help?” how can it
be over a month already and most cities look the exact same as the day
the tsunami hit? just looking the people in the eye was really hard
for me. yes, the japanese are strong, but the would be much stronger
if they had answers. something to look forward too. in the next few
years, about a million will lose their jobs, if they didn’t already
yet. millions will be homeless, millions will struggle. the world is
clueless to what’s happening here and when you see it with your own
eyes, you will know what i’m talking about.
met hawaiian enson inoue yesterday in fukushima and it’s cool what
he’s doing. he’s filling up his car with supplies and driving around
to evacuation centers making people happy. he and i feel the same
when it comes to “where the heck is the help?” he and i feel the same
about donated money being caught up in the “government red tape.” he
and i feel the same about helping hand to hand. maybe it’s because he
and i have been here for the past 21 years, we feel the same.
the bottom line is japan needs help. even though everything looks
normal in one block of the neighborhood, the other side is gone.
well, i’m going to take these next few days to breath, recollect, and
react. i have mixed emotions now and hopefully can get them sorted
out soon.
have a nice day.
by the way, taking all these photos wasn’t easy. in fact, it’s pretty
heavy….
