Japan-America Society of Indiana
Japan Earthquake Relief FundGreat East Japan Earthquake
3.11.11

Japan-America
Society ofIndiana
Report ofthe Japan
Earthquake
Relief FundDonors, Partners and Friends,
It is with immense gratitude that we share the results of the Japan-America
Society of Indiana (JASI)’s Japan Earthquake Relief Fund (JERF). The Japan
Earthquake Relief Fund, which opened immediately after the earthquake
and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, received generous support fromindividuals, communities, businesses, educational institutions, churches, andorganizations that collaborated with JASI and entrusted the Society as thechannel for donations to Japan.
We thank Chase, Fifth Third, Old National, and PNC – the banks represented on
JASI’s Board of Directors – for helping establish a statewide channel for donations
in which donations could be made at any bank branch. Shank Public Relations
Counsellors donated vital services in publicizing the campaign and securing
media involvement.
Contributions to JASI’s Japan Earthquake Relief Fund total over $886,000. This
remarkable amount places the JASI Fund as the fourth largest among all Japansocieties nationwide, behind New York, California, and Hawaii. From corporations
that have given major gifts and facilitated employee matching funds, to children
who have given money to Japan in lieu of birthday presents, every donation has
been precious. Our heartfelt thanks to all who have been a part of the effort.
Truly, the spirit of kizuna, or bond of friendship, has been realized.
An initial disbursement of funds was made two months after the disaster tomajor relief agencies and to funds administered by the governments of theaffected prefectures and municipalities, in particular to those representing
Indiana’s sister prefecture and sister-cities in Japan. A second round ofdisbursements was made to organizations involved in the phase two rebuilding
effort. JASI has endeavored to fund projects that are uniquely helping the peopleof Tohoku help themselves, with hand-to-hammer reconstruction efforts aswell as with heart-to-heart services and support. A description of the projects isincluded in this report.
100% of the JERF donations are committed to relief organizations in Japan. JASI
incurred all expenses associated with facilitating the fundraising campaign aswell as travel in Japan to research the relief effort. It was a moving experience topersonally visit the Tohoku region six months after the disasters, to see the extentof the devastation, to volunteer, and to meet with relief workers and social
service agencies.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the National Association of Japan-America
Societies for its guidance and for its excellent work in connecting theJapan societies in the United States to several relief agencies in Japan.
Our thanks also to JASI colleague Tamayo Fukumoto for her researchand communications with Japan-based partners ; and to the All Hands
international relief organization for inspiring and hosting my visit to Ofunato,
Iwate Prefecture.
We continue to keep in our minds and hearts the people of Japan who havebeen affected by the disasters, as well as those who are on the front lines
providing assistance. We are hopeful that the donations from Indiana willbring renewed hope and resources to those who have suffered as they rebuild
their lives.
Theresa Kulczak
Executive Director
COVER PHOTOS:
Residents of Taro, Iwate Prefecture, during memorial ceremony at the tsunami wall.
“Ganbarou” sign in Ofunato; photo by Theresa Kulczak

JASI’s Japan
EarthquakeRelief Fund
Received Over$886,000 inDonations.

First Round Distribution: Immediate Relief
Government-Directed Relief Funds
Tochigi Prefecture “Tochimaru Relief Fund”$ 100,000.00

City of Kuji, Iwate Prefecture “Kuji Relief Fund”$ 50,000.00

City of Kakuda, Miyagi Prefecture “Kakuda Relief Fund”$ 50,000.00

Fukushima Prefecture Relief Fund

$ 50,000.00

Miyagi Prefecture Relief Fund

$ 50,000.00

Iwate Prefecture Relief Fund

$ 50,000.00

Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations
Japanese Red Cross Society$ 100,000.00

Ashinaga$ 50,000.00

Save the Children (Japan)$ 50,000.00

Funds distributed within two months after the disaster:$ 550,000.00

Second Phase Distribution: Rebuilding and Renewal

Columbus Japanese Business
Association – “WE PRAY FORJAPAN” Fundraising Event

JEN (Japan Emergency NGOs)“Forklift Project” Yagawahama, Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture$ 60,000“Hama Project” Jyusanhsama, Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture$ 50,000

Living Dreams Children’s Homes$ 60,000

Shirakawa City and Horikawa City, Fukushima Prefecture
Japan Center for International Exchange: “Kitchen Car Project”$ 60,000

Sendai Griefcare Association$ 30,000

Second Hand

$ 15,000

Tsunami Taro

$ 15,000

Miyagi Prefecture Orphan’s Fund

$ 11,000

Iwate Hope Learning Fund

$ 11,000

Second Harvest$ 10,000

Project Funbaro Eastern Japan$ 10,000

In process$

Distribution of Funds for Phase Two Rebuilding:$ 336,000

Tamayo Fukumoto with sixth grade students at
Clinton Prairie Elementary School, Frankfort, IN

4,000

Rebuilding
and Renewal
Projects

JEN (Japan Emergency NGO)JEN (Japan Emergency NGO) is an international humanitarian relief anddevelopment organization that has worked in many countries, and spent fiveyears in Niigata Prefecture in response to the 2004 and 2007 earthquakes.
Donations from the Japan-America Society of Indiana (JASI)’s Fund aresupporting JEN’s work in Ishinomaki City on the Oshika Peninsula of Miyagi
Prefecture, an area hardest hit by the tsunami, located just 45 miles from theepicenter of the Great East Japan Earthquake. JASI is funding two projects incollaboration with local fishery associations.
The “Hama Project” funds the construction of a temporary fishing
warehouse for the village of Yagawahama, Ishinomaki, selected by JEN
because it is the only port among four neighboring ports with a postal
service. The fishing industry provides the livelihood for over 60% of its
residents, including the aqua-farming of scallops, oysters and sea-squirts.
Because of the extent of the damage from the tsunami, the local fishingindustry must rebuild from nothing. The prefab warehouse will provide asecured storage space for equipment and property of the fisherman, a workplace, a community gathering center for other residents, and a hub for therebuilding of the village.
The “Forklift Project” Jyusanhama, part of Ishinomaki, contains several small
fishing villages located on the coast. Products of the fishing industry include
wakame (seaweed), kelp and scallops. The villages were destroyed by thetsunami and all almost all heavy equipment was lost. In order to start therebuilding process and revive the industry, the local fishermen indicatedto JEN an essential need for cranes and forklifts; however, given the highexpense of cranes, it was decided that forklifts would be used to accomplish
as much as possible. In a three-way partnership funded and facilitated by theJapan-America Society of Indiana, JEN purchased two Toyota forklifts for use
by the fishing villages comprising Jyusanhama. The forklifts were suppliedby Toyota Industries Japan and its representative sales dealer, through thecommunications support of Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing,Columbus, Indiana.

JASI/Toyota forklifts withrepresentatives of the fishingindustry at Jyusanhama, Ishinomaki

Second Harvest Japan
Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) established Japan’s first food bank. The
organization distributes food to soup kitchens, orphanages, the elderly,
emergency shelters, single mothers, the homeless, migrant workers, andmany others. Food that would otherwise go to waste is collected from food
manufacturers, farmers, and individuals, and is distributed to people inneed, including children in orphanages, battered women and their children
in shelters and the homeless in Japan. After the 3.11 Great East Japan
earthquake and tsunami, 2HJ was one of the first NGOs to receive certification
so that its trucks could immediately spring into action to deliver food supplies
to those in need in the disaster area. It currently makes regular deliveries toMinami-soma, Soma, Shinchimachi, Ishinomaki, and Minami-sanriku.

Living Dreams: Tohoku Kids’ Support Project
Fukushima Children’s Homes
Living Dreams is a Japan-based organization providing services to a networkof eighteen orphanages in central Japan. Following the disasters, LD offeredemergency relief and then, with years of rebuilding ahead for some of
the children’s centers, Living Dreams is now focused on replacing funding
gaps to the homes caused by reprioritization of the government following
the disasters. LD’s support makes possible counseling services, educational
activities, field trips, and equipment to improve the kids’ overall quality of life.
As ongoing needs are identified, the Living Dreams staff will work to create
enriching and empowering programs that will help kids without families see
past the devastation in their communities. Theresa Kulczak, JASI Executive
Director, visited two of children’s homes located approximately 60 miles fromthe Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Reactors where the children wear personalradiation monitors outside. As described by LD, one of the homes, Shirakawa
Gakuen, housing seventy children, is an old building with an “institutional”
feel, no amenties, and one of the “dreariest“ in terms of phyical environment
in the Living Dreams network. The second home, Horikawa Gakuen, houses
forty children and practices the U.S.-based Boys Town model with live-in staff.

Theresa Kulczak at Shirakawa
Gakuen Children’s Center,
Fukushima Prefecture

Personal radiation monitors forchildren at Shirakawa Gakuen

An American volunteer with All
Hands, an international relief
organization that hosted Theresa inOfunato, Iwate

Columbus Japanese Business Association (Directed Donations)
The Columbus Japanese Business Association (CJBA) raised $31,720.47 in thecharity event “Pray for Japan” which was then supplemented by JASI’s Fund tototal $32,000. The CJBA channeled its donations through JASI, requesting funds
be distributed to the following three programs in Japan: The Miyagi Prefecture
Special Fund for Orphans, the Iwate Learning Hope Fund, and Second Hand. The
Miyagi and Iwate Prefectural funds for orphans are used to fund scholarships fororphans who lost their parents in the earthquake/tsunami.

Second Hand
Second Hand is a Japanese non-profit organization based in Takamatsu City,
Kagawa Prefecture. Its mission was to help children in Cambodia but following
the disasters in Japan, it redirected its efforts to the Tohoku region. It’s “Cash forWork” project employed victims from the tsunami and offered them minimal
wages to help clean up the area, providing victims with a source of income tohelp restart their lives. The next phase was focused on the “Community Shop,”a concept similar to that of the Goodwill Stores in the United States, in whichsurvivors can purchase donated or second-hand items. The stores also offer workand volunteer opportunities and a community gathering place.

Sendai Griefcare Association
The Sendai Griefcare Association is an organization of physicians, nurses, andcounselors offering volunteer support to the survivors who lost their families
and homes. On a volunteer basis, the professional personnel give psychologicalcounseling and organize survivor sharing circles with the ultimate goal of
preventing suicides as time goes on. The association also trains volunteers
to become facilitators for survivors’ circles. The SGCA volunteers travel tocommunities throughout Tohoku providing these services. JASI was introduced
to the SGA through Chikako Ishii and Takuya Sato.

Project Fumbaro Eastern JapanA Japanese volunteer organization facilitating a myriad of projects in theTohoku region, such as assisting local residents in obtaining heavy equipment
licenses to lead clean-up projects; Geiger Counter and computer provisioning;
job assistance; academic tutoring; deliver of essential supplies, etc.

Workers in Second Hand’s“Cash for Work” project

Article about the Sendai Griefcare
Association’s counseling sessions
and suicide prevention in the Komei
Newspaper

Tsunami Taro Project
Prior to 3.11, the town of Taro, Iwate, was devastated by tsunamis in 1896
and 1933. This prompted Taro to construct one of Japan’s largest tsunamiwalls (1934-1978) that ultimately saved the entire town from the 1960
Chilean earthquake tsunami. This success, coupled with yearly evacuation
drills, advanced tsunami warning systems and the teaching of tendenko (saveyourself), helped establish the town’s reputation as “Tsunami Taro.” Thispreparedness, however, failed to save everyone from the events of March
2011. JASI member Mindy Linn worked at the Taro Board of Education from1991-1993 and visited in June 2011 for the funerals of her friends lost in thetsunami. She created a fundraising campaign to support Taro’s rebuilding
efforts, and in March 2012 presented donations to NPO Taro, a non-profit
group established to aid and accelerate the town’s recovery. Their rebuilding
includes relocating essential town functions to higher ground, building taller
tsunami walls, designating uninhabitable areas, with the goal of serving as amodel town for other communities in the region also rebuilding.

Japan Center for International Exchange “Kitchen Car Project”
The Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA and JCIE/Japan) fosters
dialogue and cooperation between Japan, the United States, and othercountries around the world. JASI is one of the funding partners with JCIE for an
innovative project in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, a town that was engulfed by
the tsunami. The “Kitchen Car” project invests donations in a small fleet of foodtrucks for local chefs who lost their restaurants in the disasters and which in turnserve low cost, high quality fare. Because the kitchen trucks are mobile, they
can serve hot food to victims who are living in temporary housing units which
are often situated far from shopping areas. The trucks also serve construction
workers and volunteers involved in rebuilding. The project managers advise
on menus, the sourcing of ingredients, arranging for locations from which thetrucks can sell to communities, and sites for food preparation. Since January
2012, the trucks have also used a portable “yatai” (food stand) that has a canopy
and vinyl walls and which can be “docked” to the kitchen cars at night, or on
rainy or cold days. The ”Kitchen Truck Project” offers support on many levels,
stimulating the local economy by putting a small restaurateur back to work andcreating a path back to ownership, as well as creating a community gathering
place for displaced survivors and local citizens.

Mindy Linn delivers donations
to Taro, Iwate Prefecture

Kitchen Cars with awnings that allow
them to operate at night and in badweather

A Kitchen Car in Kamaishi, Iwate
PrefectureJASI Japan
Earthquake
Relief Fund
Corporate andOrganizational
MajorDonations
JERF Committee Members
JASI Board of Directors:
Pawel Fludzinski
Kazuyuki Hidaka
Larry Ingraham
Robert Reynolds
JASI Staff:
Theresa Kulczak
Tamayo Fukumoto
Wesley BishopJohn Lajiness$100,000 and Up
Indiana Packers Corporation
Indiana Packers Corporation Employees$50,000 to $99,999
Duke Energy Indiana
Duke Energy Indiana Employees
Duke Energy Indiana Employee Match
Ogletree Deakins Law Firm
Ogletree Deakins Law Firm Employees
Subaru of Indiana Automotive
Subaru of Indiana Automotive Employees
Subaru of Indiana Automotive Employee Match
Vectren Corporation
Vectren Corporation Employees
Vectren Corporation Employee Match$25,000 to $49,000
Columbus Japanese Business Association
KYB Manufacturing North America
KYB Manufacturing North America Employees$10,000 to $24,999
Barnes & Thornburg
ELSA
ELSA EmployeesELSA Employee Match
Elwood Staffing
Elwood Staffing Employees
Elwood Staffing Employee Match
Enkei America
Enkei America Employees
ExactTarget
ExactTarget Employees
ExactTarget Employee Match
Heartland Automotive
Hoosier Energy
Ice Miller
Ice Miller Employees
Indiana Automotive Fasteners
Indiana Automotive Fasteners Employees
Indiana Japanese Language School
Kamic Corporation
Nachi America
Nikkei MC Aluminum America
PK USAPK USA Employees$5,000 to $9,999
Allison Transmission Employees
Allison Transmission Employee MatchAustin Tri-Hawk Automotive
Austin Tri-Hawk Automotive Employees
Austin Tri-Hawk Automotive Employee Match
St. Pius X Catholic Church
Hotta Liesenberg Saito
Hotta Liesenberg Saito Employees
Ryobi Die Casting
St. Pius X Catholic Church
San-J International
San-J International Employees
San-J International Employee Match
Seymour Tubing
Seymour Tubing Employees
TOA (USA)$2,500 to $4,999
JASI fundraiser with
Indianapolis Mayor Greg
Ballard at City Market

ATTC Manufacturing
ATTC Manufacturing Employees
Bailey Trucking
Bloomington Mom’s Group

Depauw University
Force Construction Company
Henry County Community Foundation
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Indiana University Japanese Student Association
Noblesville Schools
Precision Tools Service EmployeesPrecision Tools Service Employee MatchSomerset CPAs

$1,000 to $2,499
City of Seymour
Cornerstone Environmental, Health & Safety
Cornerstone Environmental, Health & SafetyEmployees
Cornerstone E, H & S Employee Match
Economic Development Coalition of Southwest
Indiana
Edge Technologies
Ford Tool & Machining
Goshen College
Griffith High School
Hisada America Employees
Hisada America Employee Match
Indiana Association of Chinese Americans
Indiana Hydraulic Equipment, Corporation
Indiana Okinawa Kenjinkai
Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation
Knox County Development Corporation
Mursix Corporation
Mursix Corporation Employees
Nagakura Engineering Works Co. Employees
Pakistan American Friendship Association
Runnebohm Construction Co.
Sigma-Tau Pharmasource
Sigma-Tau Pharmasource Employees
Sunright America
Taiwanese American Association of Indianapolis
TASUS Corporation Employees
TASUS Corporation Employee MatchTBK America
Telamon Corporation
University of Notre Dame
Zumba for Japan$500 to $999
Claus’ German Sausage & Meats
Clinton Prairie Elementary School
Community Health Network of Indianapolis
Cosmopolitan Club of Columbus
Cummins Komatsu Engine Co.
First Presbyterian Preschool
Greencastle Middle School
Harrison County Economic Development Corporation
Hickory Elementary School
Honda Trading America Corporation
Impel Industries
Indiana Academy for Science, Math, and Humanities
at Ball State University
Indiana University Kokomo
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
International Center of Purdue University, West
Lafayette
Kahn, Dees, Donovan & Khan
One World MarketOSR
Pakistan American Friendship Association
Plastic Solutions
Saint Bartholomew Catholic Parish
Sakura Restaurant / Ocean WorldStar Metal Products
Terre Haute Economic Development Corporation

Please visit the JASI website for a comprehensive list of donors - www.japanindiana.org