Just a reminder to everyone Tokyo-side that this weekend there will be a charity music and reading event at Infinity Books in Asakusa. Proceeds go to Support Our Kids which sends Tohoku teens on homestays abroad. The event kicks off at 3pm. There’s also Shakin’ it Back, an anthology of poems and stories collected to support victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear disaster.
Hope to see you there!
attachment-536832681 Back in 2011, the local and expat artistic community alike wanted to do something to help the survivors of the March 11th earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. Some staged charity events; others went north to volunteer with the cleanup. Some did both.
For my part, I read a short essay at a charity reading even, Shakin’ It Back, at What the Dickens in Ebisu. “In Bloom” was inspired by the bravery and self-sacrifice I witnessed in some of my students the day we had to evacuate the main school building and spend the night in the gym, uncertain, what lay ahead of us…
Now, three years later, clean-up and recovery efforts continue. As a fund-raising effort, some of the performers from the original Shakin’ It Back event have contributed their poems and prose pieces to an anthology, available as an ebook from amazon.com.
Two readings are being planned, both at Infinity Books‘ new brick-and-mortar location in Asakusa. The first event will raise funds for Support Our Kids, which sends Tohoku teens on homestays abroad. The second event will once again support Japan Heart, the original recipient of the What the Dickens event, which provides healthcare and life support to Tohoku survivors, as well as people in Myanmar and Cambodia.
The first reading is scheduled for Sunday, April 20th from 3 – 10 pm. The second reading will be in May (TBD).
I plan to be at one or the other – perhaps both! Hope to see you there!
On the third anniversary of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake – and the tsunami and nuclear mayhem that followed – the Japan Times reports that 267,000 people are still evacuees nationwide, and that 97,000 people in the most affected areas still live in makeshift accommodation.
I included in the previous post links to charities working in the Tohoku region. Back in 2011 I participated in a music and spoken word event, Shakin it Back, at What the Dickens in Ebisu. Now, an anthology of work read at that event has been published for the Kindle, mostly through the efforts of Taylor Mignon – one of the organizers of the original event. There’s a short essay of mine in there, “In Bloom”, which I wrote in response to how my students – who had to evacuate the school – handled themselves on a day that tested the mettle of everyone affected. Half the proceeds of the book sales will go to organizations who continue to work with victims of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis.
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