One of Aid For Japan’s regular tasks revolves around visits to Japan to forge partnerships and also to help raise awareness of the charity and its goals.
In the autumn months, Aid For Japan founder Akemi Solloway flew out with a busy schedule of stops planned including visits to Nara, Kyoto and Himeji. This also included liaising with the charity’s Japanese representative Sumika, who is responsible for many of the issues that Aid For Japan has to deal with domestically.
As part of their schedule, Akemi and Sumika met with Mr. Nobuyuki Ichihara who is the director of the Yamato Disaster Volunteers network – who recruit people to lend assistance in areas hit by adversity. Mr. Ichihara expressed an interest in working with Aid For Japan in the future.
Aid For Japan has always enjoyed a good relationship with The Rotary Club, both in Japan and in the UK. Akemi met with one of their members Jean, who is also associated with Zonta International, a association dedicated to improving the lives of women that spans 66 countries.
As well as giving a presentation on Aid For Japan at the Nara Rotary Club, Akemi also met with the Zonta International office in Nara and also met with Mr. Takahashi who heads NPO Hanamiyama o Mamorukai. One of the topics of discussion was scheduling a Cherry Blossom viewing in Japan on the 1st April 2017 in Fukushima.
Arriving back in the UK, the net result of this Japan trip was the likelihood of 2 NPOs working with Aid For Japan in the future. Akemi’s discussions with the Zonta Club also suggests that some of the women members could help in flying over (using their own funds) with some of the orphans to the UK in 2017.
