School visit

the photo: University of Nottingham

I am visiting Crossdale Drive Junior School in Keyworth in Nottingham, UK tomorrow.

I am updating my presentation material to reflect on what is happening in Japan now.　

Later this week, many school are going to have their first day ceremony (called nyu-gaku-shiki 入学式）. The cherry blossom is full in the most of the places in Japan.  It is a happy event for may children and their parents.

But many children and schools in the affected areas are not having normal ceremony this year. Many of them are not in their schools but somewhere else.  If they have a room to study, they are lucky ones.  Their friends and classmates are not always altogether.  Some go to one school and the others to go to a different one.  Teachers at the schools which escaped from the damage need to accommodate these children in their classroom.  I am hoping that many smiles come back to the children through going to school.

And tomorrow's presentation will raise awareness to the children at Crossdale Drive Junior school about Japan.

Our New Adviser

I have a wonderful announcement to share with you.   

Mr Malcolm Cargill, who is Principal of South Nottingham College, and also in charge of Castle College as interim Principal, has accepted to be our adviser to the charity.

Young people in both Colleges will get involved with us to achieve our common goals - to help the children and the young people in the most affected areas to be encouraged and inspired to continue their education. 

The length of the day is no longer the same; the axis of the globe has shifted 15cm.

This is a brilliant programme to understand what has happened in Japan.  It's BBC Horizon by iplayer. 

Watch this while it's still on.

A dog rescued after three weeks

A dog has been rescued off the coast of Japan after surviving the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and then a further three weeks alone at sea.

Click here to see a Reuter news.

What is really happening now? Natori City in Miyagi Prefecture

Put this in Google Map:  

Natori, Miyagi Prefecture

Japan

There are 1700 homeless and live in a refuge camp.  There have been shortages of food and other things.  The city council is asking for the following items:

Electrical pot, a laptop computer, humidifier, tin food which can be opened without a can opener, confectioneries, pot noodles, vegetable juice, vinegar, sesame oil, mayonnaise and ketchup.  

They seem to be essentials for their day to day; they politely ask for only these things but nothing else.  

Nottingham Evening Post article about the Japanese community

Did anyone see an article about our Japanese community in Nottingham Evening Post on Thursday? It is online now.

Economic impact

I came back home last night from Brussels after a long day at conference 'The EU-Japan Business Forum' - it's my real job - a management consultant helping EU companies doing business with Japan. At the Brussels airport, I was greeted by an immigration officer with a very spontaneous and kind question 'Is your family OK back home?'. I was very touched and tried to hold my tears....

At the conference, all the speaker addressed their sympathy and condolence to the victims of the disaster.  There has been a rumour that G8 would be G7 for a while as Japanese economy is strong enough to sustain their contribution.  Having said that, the cooperation from all G8 countries right after the tsunami was overwhelming.  They tried to support the Japanese yen, which managed to raise the yen, which is a reverse result!  

In the last big'Hanshin Awaji ' earthquake disaster in 1995, a British company offered immediate support to build pre-fabricated houses.  There must be many things that companies in the private sector can do and help Japan rebuild the affected areas.