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How it started

I was in Saipan writing a book when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11th. During the following week I was overcome with a sense that returning to Tokyo “business as usual” was not the right thing to do, so on March 18th I took three flights that would eventually lead me to the UK. I felt that I could better help Japan by generating resources in England, rather than using them up in Tokyo.

I spent several weeks travelling around the UK, giving talks to schools or other community groups, sharing my love for Japan and all the reasons why I have made it my home for the past 15 years. I tried to connect the people I met with images of very real people and places in Japan that are different from the horrific images they may have seen and might therefore be a little easier to relate to.

I am not a registered charity. If people were not comfortable in any way then I encouraged them to please donate money or items to a registered charity but come along to hear about this wonderful country anyway.

Hitachi Capital supported my mission by generously insuring and lending me a van, the back of which I filled up eight times over with items that people donated — there ended up being almost 10,000 donations. I spent weekends outside supermarkets; with shopping lists I gave customers so they could add an extra something to their basket for the people of Japan. And people gave me cash donations of over two thousand pounds.

In addition to gathering financial and practical support, I also collected items to provide emotional and spiritual support, such as thoughtful drawings or letters of encouragement made by young children. Children and adults, alone or in groups, were welcome to say words of support in my videos.

I blogged almost every day, and was astounded to discover that thousands of people in almost 90 different countries, were following my trip around England — it was wonderful to see how many people throughout the world cared about what had happened to Japan. You can read the stories of everything that happened if you check out my blog from March 18th to April 16th.

I slept in a different place most nights and rather than spend money unnecessarily on hotels, I was put up by friends and often complete strangers who welcomed me into their homes, fed me, and often filled up the van with fuel too.

Virgin Atlantic very kindly helped me get everything back to Japan, where a friend and I drove a couple of trucks up north, and delivered everything to people in the Oshika-hanto area. We focused on helping people who were trying to make it on their own, as opposed to distribution centres or shelters, which for the most part seemed to be getting what they need. We literally stopped on the road when in the distance we saw half a house and a couple of people trying to live in it. Every single item I collected in England went to someone who needed it. And all of the money I collected either got those items up north, or went directly to the people trying to live there. No administration fees, no employee salaries, no unnecessary costs. And I even got a bank to waive the exchange fees.

Here are links to my account of my trip up north:

While delivering items to Oshika-hanto, I met Seiji Yoshimura, a former politician who since the Kobe earthquake in 1995 has dedicated his life to people dealing with disasters such as these. I decided to take a break from my life in Tokyo, to travel around the UK talking to schools and other community groups, collecting needed items, and raising funds to build houses for the fishermen of Oshika-hanto, together with Seiji. I’m also helping any groups that would like to raise funds to sponsor a house themselves. I have now scaled back on my previous professional activities and am focusing on support I can bring to Japan, from the UK.