27 Sep 2022

Maria-chan’s Summer Trip to England

by | posted in: Feature, News |

In Summer 2022 the charity team welcomed Maria-chan from Japan to the UK. We even managed to fit in a dream trip to Disneyland Paris! Maria-chan’s primary reason for visiting England was to take part in a Vidal Sassoon Academy short course in hair styling. She passed the course and got a certificate, which will help her achieve her career goal of working in the beauty and fashion industry in Japan, where she is currently studying at a Tokyo university.

Maria-chan has been a long-time beneficiary of the charity Aid For Japan after she tragically lost both her parents and close relatives to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. We have known her since she was eleven years old and over those years, she has become a wonderful, confident and strong young adult.

Highlights from the trip

Maria-chan saw Frozen the musical. She is a big fan of Disney, and her favourite princess is Elsa, so she was very happy to get to see this hit West End show.

We went to Disneyland Paris! It was during a heatwave and coincided with the 30-year anniversary of the theme park, and so we were able to see a phenomenal light show at the end of the evening. It was a beautiful summery time to see the sights of Paris.

Some of our Japanese speaking volunteers visited the Foundling Museum together with Maria-chan to see an exhibition called Superheroes, Orphans & Origins. It featured illustrations, comics and manga with characters whose origin stories were about being an orphan or “foundling”. Maria-chan told us she enjoyed the visit and had discovered some new manga artists as well.

While Maria-chan was home-staying in London, we met up with the charity trustees in Hyde Park. As it was summertime the evenings were long and bright. Before our meeting Maria-chan had experience a very nice afternoon tea at The Dorchester Hotel. Her favourite thing on the menu was the clotted cream.

Towards the end of her trip Maria-chan travelled to Manchester along with charity volunteers to attend Doki Doki Japanese Festival. She helped run the fundraising stall and dressed people in kimono – a handy skill she’d learned at fashion college in Tokyo.

During this summer’s activities, Maria-chan was as much as a help to Aid For Japan as she was a beneficiary. We’re very grateful for her reciprocity; in giving back her time and skills to benefit the charity. The summer trip was a wonderful experience for all involved, and we also could not have done it without the generous support and donations received from everyone over the years.

We would like to thank The Rotary Club of Chiswick and Brentford, the Duggan family, Andrew Gaskell, Risa Rokuhara, Genevieve Edwards, Aidan Clifford, Yuka Harada-Parr, Richard Pennington, Paul Browne, Sumika Hayakawa

30 Aug 2022

Doki Doki – The Manchester Japanese Festival 2022

by | posted in: Events, Fundraising, News |

The return of Doki Doki Festival to Manchester after the pandemic hiatus proved hugely successful. The Japanese themed stalls were bustling with pundits and there was food, music, cosplay and more, all related to Japanese culture.

As with previous years all proceeds from the festival were being donated to us, Aid For Japan, and we could not be more grateful. Doki Doki Festival is a non-profit project that is being run by the passion of the organisers, and so, we were very glad to be partnered with such a pure and joyful event.

Doki Doki Festival took place over the August bank holiday weekend, so there were many visitors. Aid For Japan had a stall offering to write people’s names in shodō (Japanese calligraphy) which was surprisingly popular! We also dressed people in kimono so they could take photos.

We also sold copies of the book, The Power of Chowa – Finding you balance through the Japanese wisdom of harmony, written by our late-founder Akemi Tanaka to raise money for Aid For Japan. Her daughter and director of the charity, Rimika Solloway, appeared on the ‘Traditional Japan Panel’ alongside other Japanese specialists. She also gave a speech about the work of Aid For Japan, where Maria-chan introduced herself to the gathered crowd, which was a very brave thing for her to do.

Doki Doki saw the charity raise over £700 from shodō and book sales, while the kind efforts of Meian Maid Café raised nearly £200. The cute and bespoke design T-shirt sales from Genki Gear raised £520. Meanwhile, the festival itself raised £4,500 which meant that Aid For Japan benefitted from £5,963 in total from the event. We are very grateful to Doki Doki and their associates as well as all of our dedicated volunteers for raising this amazing amount of money.

We are hoping to be back again next year, but until then please spread the word about how wonderful Doki Doki – The Japanese Manchester Festival is to everyone!

dokidokifestival.com
genkigear.com
meianmaids.com

28 Jun 2022

Call for submissions for Aid for Japan and asari music video collaboration

by | posted in: News |

The Tōhoku based artist asari has shared her latest creation with us at Aid For Japan. The song is quite appropriately called ‘Share’ and contains all the hope, sadness and anxieties of someone who survived the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011. Working together with asari, Aid for Japan are putting out a call for anyone who survived the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami to get in touch and contribute their own videos, which will become part of a music video for the song.

asari is a special breed of artist who believes that music can help share the burden of loss and grief that others have felt. Aid For Japan and asari have worked together to translate her song lyrics into English, so that a whole new audience can listen and understand the song’s true meaning. You can listen to the song with lyrics in English and Japanese here:

asari wrote ‘Share’ to express how she still felt inexplicable sorrow for the losses incurred from the 2011 disaster:

Through working with school students on the production of the song ‘Share’, I was moved to learn that many of them were struggling with the responsibility to tell their stories, and, in spite of these uncomfortable feelings, continue to face up to the disaster and participate in disaster prevention activities.

I myself am a survivor of the Great East Japan Earthquake. I have often found myself wondering if I could share my thoughts and feelings with others, to do something to lighten their hearts and offer encouragement. I feel very grateful to the students for allowing me to get back in touch with this feeling.

This is why she published ‘Share’ without taking out any copyright. With the intention that as many people as possible can re-create her song, adapt the score and share the meaning of the lyrics, even beyond Japan.

Let’s make a music video!

If you (or anyone you know) have survived the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami disaster and would like to contribute to the music video, then please get in touch. Your collaboration will help bring asari’s song Share to a wider English-speaking audience. Hopefully, it will help you feel part of something bigger and allow for you to share the burden of your grief.

Please send us any video footage we can use to create a music video for the song Share.

  • You can film it on your camera phone
  • It can be as long as you like, but as the song is only five minutes long videos may be trimmed down
  • It can be videos of anything, however, try and keep in mind the theme of the song Share. What does it remind you of? How does the song make you feel? Is there anything about your survival that you would like to share?

Once you have filmed your videos, please send them to us by e-mail to info @ aidforjapan . co . uk Please include your name and contact information, however you can also remain anonymous if you so wish. Once the music video is finished it will be published on YouTube.

Thank you and please share this project around!

Japanese language version of this project can be found here: www.aidforjapan.co.uk/jp/asari

You can buy copies of asari’s music from her shop here: https://asarishop.official.ec/

6 May 2022

Hanami Cherry Blossom Viewing Picnic hosted by Aid For Japan

by | posted in: Events, News |

In Japan there is the tradition of cherry blossom viewing called hanami 花見. Where people gather beneath ample cherry blossom trees to appreciate the flowers’ fleeting beauty. In April 2022 Aid For Japan hosted such an event at Greenwich Park.

It was a lovely day, and we were lucky as the weather held out for us! The cherry blossom trees were in full bloom, so that everyone could enjoy and appreciate them. People brought along sushi, homemade Japanese food, such as dashi-maki tamago (egg rolls), onigiri (rice balls), and pink cake to match the cherry blossom.

Serendipitously, The National Trust were making a podcast about “blossom appreciation” and so their producer joined us to record at our hanami event. Fresh sushi was donated by the kind restaurant owner of Yuma Sushi. And a bottle of good quality saké was provided by a saké sommelier.

Our hanami picnic gave our charity members and supporters the opportunity to meet in person after such a long absence. We discovered old friends and new and were glad to spend time together in the beautiful setting of one of London’s Royal Parks.

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