Steve is from Canada and is a full timer with Global Medic.  He is a duplicate of the lead singer of Coldplay and cringes when I say this.  He was obviously hoping to avoid being "recognized" while in Japan.  He will be here for weeks or possibly months and will continue to do the installations of water purification systems for HOPE.  He will also continue to check up on the systems already installed.  Clearly an experienced disaster responder, as recent postings have included Pakistan and Haiti.  Hard to believe when you see the damage around, but for this team Japan is considered an easier posting.  Around us may not look like a first world country, but the attitude is and generally things get done here.  

Dave, Hikaru and Shannon return.  It has been a successful day installing two water units, but the van had a flat tire and the rim is damaged and needs fixing.  In a separate incident Shannon smacked her head when Dave had to jam the breaks earlier that day and she flew into the back of his seat.  The van they have is a cargo type and the flimsy bench seat does not have seat belts.    She is not too happy right now.  This means their van will need to go out in search of repair tomorrow, so once more we rethink tomorrow's plan.

Every night new people arrive at the B&B.  There are always new faces and new stories to keep you entertained.  I have been here a few days, but I feel like an old hand around the table. The B&B is lively.  The atmosphere loud, collegial and fun.  Some people are pouring beers, others discussing what needs to be done, exchanging information.   Tonight a young city councilman, Keisuke Miyazawa, from Shizuoka is with us.   Since Shizuoka is a very susceptible city to the same disaster that struck Tohoku, it is important to him to see first hand what is happening and how it is being dealt with.  Masa jokes that he is the future mayor of Shizuoka, and after spending time with him, I can only say, I hope so.   He is not like the politicians most Japanese know.  I almost fall over laughing when I see his on-line bio and his father's occupation is listed as "chain saw artist".   After all this time in Japan, it is amazing how many interesting characters I am getting a chance to meet here.  

Everyone has a computer open, and tries to carry on a conversation at the same time.  Cell phones are in heavy use. Before coming I thought it would be so heavy with sadness, but enough time has passed since the tragedy that a burden of sorts has been lifted.  I was feeling guilty earlier, but thinking back to Ogata-san, his kindness and humor, the realization that it is important to keep parts of life as normal as possible, I feel relaxed now.   Our group around this table is filled with free spirited people and that makes it easy to deal with the little frustrations and inconveniences.  All those things I like to complain about on a daily basis at home seem so stupid now.

I am writing my posts while others are making their reports.  We each write something into our computers, then turn and ask a question around the room.   A constant flow of interruptions, but it works.  At the office I would be annoyed, but here it just flows.   I share some of the story of our time in Miyatojima with Yoshi making and teaching coffee.  How the people responded, what happened and the overnight in the van.   Someone remarks that we are lucky as they have not had the chance to spend real time with the people.  Move in and on quickly.  A lot of what Yoshi and me have seen the past few days many volunteers have yet to encounter, the very human side of the people and their stories.  At this point Dave takes a break and shows off his Talking Carl app that gets everyone laughing and sure enough by the time I go back to writing a few of us have already downloaded it.  For tonight we are a family.  What is fascinating to me is that besides Shannon,  the Global Medic team smokes a lot.  Dave is a paramedic in Ontario and with the word "Medic" in their group name, you would figure they would never light up.  Steve mentions he generally smokes more when doing a posting and not much at home.  Added stress is the reason that comes to mind.  I should note all the pilots smoke too, so the room has a thick haze tonight.  

People start to leave and head to their rooms.  Tomorrow there are 3 vans that will be fully packed and heading to a distribution center in Ofunato.  Yoshi and I will take our loaded van with the water system to Miyatojima.  I shouldn't be surprised but I am very excited to be heading back to Miyatojima so soon.  It will be nice to see the familiar faces and the kids.  Tomorrow will be a good day.

-----------------------------------

From Yoshi's calls it seems there is a lot happening we need to try to get a handle on.  A possible interview of two people to work here for HOPE, a van loaded from Nagoya arriving with items to be redirected, more product arriving into the Fukushima warehouse, checking up on Global Medic's water installations, the helicopter guys and now a pastor in the area who may need HOPE's assistance.  After a lot of talking on possible plans for the rest of the day and tomorrow, Yoshi turns the conversation to what I expected to be the mundane.  In the end I learn about his radio show, vinyl records and which type of needle goes best with which type of vinyl recording.  Depending upon how deep the grove is in the record and where it was produced (USA, England, etc.) it will change which needle on your phonograph you use.  The only needle of the more than 10 he mentions that I remember is the bamboo type.  Another of Yoshi's passions and one more surprising side to this crazy professor who plays the bass, loves Jazz, making coffee, wearing bow ties and owns 24 pairs of glasses.   

We drive along following the Navi.  Before coming here I assumed a Navi would be useless, but most travel is along the highways about 8km inland, so the roads are fine, with sporadic damage from the quake.  The Navi works perfectly guiding us around.  Near the coastline and on the islands the roads are a mess, but a Navi still works to guide you.  They have made tremendous progress in clearing the roads for vehicle passage.  Another expectation was heavy traffic, but there has been none on our routes.  With gas so limited, many cars destroyed from the tsunami and people having fled the area, it leaves rather open roads for the emergency vehicles.  Our van has an emergency pass allowing us to avoid paying tolls and waiting in the long lines at gas stations.  Near Sugo we find a closed looking gas station that lets us in and fills us up.   

The logistics of the operation are quite simple.  Donated items are brought to a warehouse in Fukushima that can handle pallets and large trucks.  From there they are sent on in smaller amounts to Sugo, which is a racetrack.  HOPE is using the car pits as tiny warehouses to have a smaller forward base closer to the delivery areas.  It is spacious and allows for the helicopters to easily land and park here.  Today we have the oddity of some race cars testing out the track, which seems like an insult as gas is in such short supply.  

Once product arrives at Sugo it will be loaded into smaller vans or flown by helicopter to the areas that are in need.  At the drop off point, you are supposed to write the number that is on the outside of the box.  This number tracks who gave it and what is inside.  This way HOPE can know where a person's donation went.  After seeing the organization of the emergency shelter on Miyatojima, you know things are not going to waste and that it will not end up in a black market economy, as it would in other parts of the world.   The problem for us finding out who needs it.  This is what is discussed every phone call, every meeting and every night before dinner by the various teams operating.  We sit around the table trying to get a clearer picture of which communities are in need and which items they want.  It is a challenge as you do not have a complete stock list, there is spotty cell phone coverage, not much internet and no faxes.  As the elder statesman of our group and a HOPE board member, it is clear Yoshi is the one everyone looks to for guidance.  Once out in the field though everyone is trusted to make their own decisions.  Since the goals are so clear for this type of operation, those decisions are easy to make.  You only need to ask, is this needed here or not.  The answer almost always is, yes.

Masa, who runs the ground operation for the helicopter pilots, is looking on the social site Mixi.  He checks this site often to obtain leads.  It seems a post was made that indicated supplies were in need at a hard to reach location.  He has a phone number and calls.  No answer.  It is hard to tell how reliable the information is, as the area was thought to be serviced by the SDF.  In general if the SDF is there, the helicopter pilots are not needed to fly in supplies.   Masa sends out one of the guys to do a fly over and check.    The helicopter pilots do this as a hobby and each brought their personal choppers here.   As a hobby it is a very expensive one.  Unlike the racing car club guys I know around Kansai, they are not flashy.    No Prada being worn by these guys.  As the roads are more and more clear, the need to fly supplies is dwindling.

The van from Nagoya loaded with canned tuna and corn arrives.  We start to unload then stop.  It appears a community 4 hours to the north near or just over the Miyagi border with Iwate needs food desperately, so we pack the van back up and they leave.  Eventually Masa finds a community not reachable by van that is in need of rice and other supplies.  Problem is that it will be dark soon and the pilots have to stop flying, also we have no rice.  We decide to take the all the rice at the B&B and fly it out first thing in the morning.

Yoshi spends a good hour on the phone talking to the HOPE board, trying to reach the pastor and the interviewees, while I try to figure out what the helicopter guys have been doing the past two days and what the current situation is.  Yoshi can't easily reach the two candidates and then he finds out one does not have a drivers license.  We return to the B&B to figure out the best plan for the next day as more vans and people are arriving tonight.  Jeff from Wall Street Associates is driving up from Tokyo, with Steve from Global Medic who flew in from Canada and will stay for several weeks.  Sean is driving in from Fukushima where he spent the night after driving from Nagoya.  Sean will take over the operations for the next 10 days.  And the van we sent north today will return as well.  Tomorrow we will have four vans to deliver a lot of donations.

Soon everyone will return and the kitchen will be busy with activity again.  While I have the chance I take a bath and have never felt water like this before.  I try to imagine 3 weeks without a shower or bath.  I think of my three sons and what we would do if we were in the same situation as those on Miyatojima. I have no answer.   I think of Shin, Kiku, Rina, the other kids, Ogata-san, the men around the fire and wish there was more I could do.  The tragedy has been personalized for me.  The bath feels guilty but it rejuvenates nonetheless and I am no longer tired.  

---------------

Breakfast is being prepared.  I eat the orange I brought and walk towards the fires.  The men all say Ohayo in friendly voices.  It has been just one night but as a second day starts with them, you feel like you are at home as you see the familiar faces.  It is clear from the morning greetings and conversations around those fires that bonds have been established and it is all Yoshi's doing.  Though being from the Kobe area and being a Japanese speaking foreigner clearly has a large impact, as I stand out far more than if a Japanese person accompanied Yoshi.  It dawns on me, something that I already knew but tried not think of, that this is not just a one time visit.  I will need to come back again and again over the next year to this place.

Yoshi and I go to make more coffee.  The kids run over to help and small groups eagerly line up, grab a cup and talk.    It seems like we have been at this shelter far longer than we have.  The conversations this morning show how much connection you can make with people in less than 24 hours.  So much of it just over coffee.  We know many people by name and they come to talk, read the newspapers and sit with us.  Once again a bit of normalcy to life, the mental support that is becoming needed.  Coffee is one of my businesses, but the meaning is now changed for me.  This morning is a lot of fun. I  run outside to get my camera from the car, I have tried not to take pictures too often but this was a scene I needed to try and capture.  Outside I come across the school's teacher and a group of men, children and mothers doing their morning taiso (excercises).  This is a Japanese tradition and is broadcast on NHK radio. You listen to some goofy music and an announcer calling out the moves.  Some light calisthenics to start the day.  The kids have little booklets hanging around their necks with the days of the week and inkan stamps on them.  This is the record of them attending the taiso workout.  It is a a rather funny but pleasurable scene to watch.  One more part of normal life.

Our goal here was not just to bring the supplies, but to engage the community.  Let them know we are there to assist in the coming months if they want.  We needed to establish a bond with this community or the next stage would not be possible.  HOPE, nor for that matter any non profit, cannot force its way into people's lives.  The foundations we are laying down are for the work of volunteers to come.  Yes, we brought supplies and dropped them off, but that is delivery.  It takes driving a car and unloading a van.  You get to your location, unload, try to find out what more is needed, which areas around there are in need, then move on to the next location or back to base to fill up again.  You do not get time to know the people you are helping, to hear their stories, the lives they had.   As the supplies are needed continuously it is important work, the most important work at this moment, but the next stage is going to begin.  We are here to know this community, see what is needed, what is wanted, and find out the near term plans.  This information will be valuable to make sure the work done in the coming months, and possibly years, will have the impact and results that are needed.  This is what will make all those donations have results.

I am not a HOPE board member, as Yoshi is, nor am I a spokesperson for them.  I know a lot of what they do, but I am in the dark as well.  The plan I know is that once we find a place that is willing to work with HOPE and that a mutual vision or perhaps you could call it a need has been established, then HOPE can start to go to the next stage with a team of volunteers into the area for the rebirth. To Yoshi and me Miyatojima is the place.  We (actually Yoshi) found useable sites to house volunteers and negotiated terms.   One goal, even if small, is to get money into the economy again.  Right now there is no economy.  No money changing hands.  No transactions occurring.  Donations arrive, get separated and handed out.  All financial transactions are removed.  The location HOPE will use will be one where rent is paid, and that is a start.

In a few days this community will undergo another massive upheaval and separate.  Right now 500 people from several villages are housed at this school, but on April 5th school is scheduled to begin again.  Many people will need to relocate to other areas.  This is clearly a worry for some, but the need to get the school operating is also important and a symbol.  This will mean a large number of people will leave the island never to return.  Someone told me New Orleans lost 30% of their residents due to Katrina.  No doubt something similar will happen here.  Ogata-san's village however will rent half the gym and stay at the school.  It is clear he wants to do his best to keep everyone here, to retain the community.  The other villages do not know where they will go.  Some will try to return to half broken homes others will leave.

After coffee we sit down with some of the elders from the make shift government they have created here to discuss future plans, HOPE's mission and exchange information.  You can see from the way Yoshi talks to them that he is a great professor.  He knows how to listen, yet talk in a way that is both reassuring, firm and clear.  His deciding to return here after his first visit and our staying the night, did so much for creating a bond.

Before we leave to drive back to Sugo we walk around the gym and on the back wall find messages of support from a grade school in Kobe.  I point it out to Yoshi and he turns to me with a smile and shock in his eyes.  These messages come from the grade school which he and his son graduated.  It is clearly a sign that we picked the right location.  This is where HOPE should begin.

 -----------

After their arrival we spent a good part of the evening trying to figure out logistics for two of their team to return to Tokyo before heading home, while the other team was to install a water system. Who used which van to go to which place and how. Then there were all the goods coming in and discussion around that. It is amazing to hear the numbers. As an importer dealing in pallets and containers, to hear the numbers of pallets moving into the area and getting distributed is mind boggling. 10 pallets of water, 3 pallets of diapers, another 72 pallets of water, 2 pallets of corn, 3 pallets of tuna, and on and on. You can see the tremendous logistics burden to deal with, and the respect that it is getting done so quickly and so fast. Goodwill, money and donations hard at work. As an outsider I must say I am amazed how quickly these organizations get things going.

The water purifiers were explained to me and how and where they install. Some places they go, there are only a few municipal workers in the water department for whole communities. They are overwhelmed and indicate that they do not need the water purifier, but a location within their district does as they would go without water for 6 months. The local governments just can't handle it all. So the purifiers help prevent the pathogens that could occur in the water from sources some communities are using. As the weather warms with all the dead matter around this will become a big issue. So far temperatures are low or near freezing at night, so this gives time to get the purifiers in before the weather warms. The odd thing is when I landed in Fukushima they placed water in front of me and you had to ask, should i drink this? Regular tap water. But everyone around you is, and even in this B&B you drink tea made from it, food boiled in it. If there is radiation, you really can't think about it too much.

We moved onto discussions of their intel from around the area, who needed and was asking for what. Which places were not getting aid and stabilizing. It is clear things so fluid here. Poured over maps, took notes, listened, consulted, etc. Yoshi and I made minor changes to our plans based on their info. In the end we were up late into the night making the plans for today and the day after and undoubtedly those will change again.

It's breakfast time and though only met everyone yesterday the entire group, the pilots, the Global Medic group, Yoshi and me sitting around the table is already like a big family. A nice bond can get created so quickly. In 10 minutes we depart and will spend the night out in an area called Miyatojima to asses the situation there. Told I won't have cell phone coverage around there, obviously no internet, but who knows when we get there what we will and won't have. Actually surprised to have such good net access here. Provided by one of the helicopter pilots via a cellular phone mobile wi-fi point. From tonight no electricity for me, so my computer is out of commission for me. Or at least it will be once I drain the battery.

Thanks to everyone for sending such supportive comments. Really appreciate it.

--------