It’s been 8 1⁄2 months since a monstrous earthquake and tsunami ravaged northern Japan, but members of Makiki Christian Church haven’t forgotten the victims and their arduous steps toward recovery.
Last week the church delivered about 900 beanies, 70 scarves and 30 blankets to churches and shelters in Fukushima, which suffered not only tremendous damage, but also radiation contamination from the crippled nuclear power plant at its shore.
“If we could bring a smile on their faces, that was our aim. To make them a little warm and happy — that’s big — and to show people in Hawaii care,” said Eileen Ishihara Clarke, who organized the church’s effort. “I realized how much people here in Hawaii really wanted to do something — it’s from their hearts and their hands.”
She and sister Linda Oka returned this week from a trip to Fukushima that began Nov. 13, and were able to see the delighted reactions from victims who received their gifts.
Clarke, a retired teacher, had wanted to see how close relatives affected by the disaster were faring. She also wanted to bring something tangible to residents who she heard were not benefiting from all the donations pouring into Japan from throughout the world.
Makiki Christian Church also donated more than $20,000 to the Japan Evangelical Association for disaster relief since March, church bookkeeper Danny Yonemine said.
Clarke, who is also a member of Fukushima Kenjin Kai, a cultural club in Japan, said she had heard firsthand of the horrible ordeal of a family she hosted in April through the Aloha Initiative, a home-stay program formed to give Japan victims respite on Oahu and Maui.
“The government had refused to allow them back into their homes to get anything because of the radiation. They had nothing! Nothing! I thought, what can I give? I knew it was going to get cold.”
In August, Clarke asked the church’s ladies to crochet or knit caps in various sizes, knowing that a lot of body warmth can be lost via a person’s head. They were led by Jeanette Yoshinobu, known for her crocheting skills, with Betty Kodani, Becky Smith, Terry Oyafuso, June Kurita and Clarke’s brother Michael Ishihara lending support. Some also knitted or donated scarves and blankets. The number of volunteers snowballed to about 50, including friends and relatives in California, and those they knew, as well as people sitting next her on a plane going to Las Vegas who asked about her knitting.
“Strangers heard about it and volunteered,” Clarke said. “I was floored. I had no idea the response would spread so far and wide and take off so rapidly.”
People who couldn’t knit donated the yarn, or cash, or the air cargo and mailing fees, including Hawaiian Airlines, which allowed four boxes through free of charge, she said. In the end she and her sister escorted 10 huge boxes of items on their flight to Japan. “We wanted to actually make sure this went to the people in need,” she said.
The project was called “Furoshiki for Fukushima” because all the items were bundled according to size in “furoshiki,” a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that her sister made from yards of Hawaiian print. They wanted to wrap the items as gifts instead of just dumping them in a box “so the Japanese people would really feel honored with that little special touch,” she said.
Boxes were given to St. Timothy Church and the Global Mission Church in Iwaki city near the shore, Asahimachi Church in Fukushima city and two temporary housing shelters in Nihonbachi, Clarke said. Marian Moriguchi, a frequent Hawaii visitor and Kenjin Kai club organizer, helped coordinate their logistics in Fukushima.
“The people were so appreciative — that was the most important thing!” she said. “They were all lining up and trying their caps on. That was precious. They loved it! We’re across the Pacific Ocean, and it seems so far away, but we’re so connected and there are ways to support them.
“We cannot solve the problem, but maybe we can provide some temporary happiness. Relief may be short-lived, but the positive effects are long-lasting and profound.”
