Despite being half Japanese, despite having lived here in when I was young, I had some experiences that I don’t think would have ever happened had I grown up in Japan and not come here for study abroad. Originally I had planned to arrive in Japan early just to be with family and get used to the lifestyle, however the opportunity to volunteer for the TOMODACHI Initiative came up and my summer gained a new purpose. If I hadn’t planned on being in Japan for the fall semester then I wouldn’t have had any intention of returning to Japan for the summer.
This lead me to get involved in Tohoku (Northeastern Japan) related service in a way that is much more sustainable then I had been able to do up until this point. I was working with high school students from the regions who were about to leave for a life-changing learning opportunity in Berkeley, California with the TOMODACHI Summer 2012 Softbank Leadership Program. I arranged and facilitated events with Japanese university students to find out how TOMODACHI can help students and young professionals follow their US related dreams and passions. I was able to physically GO TO Tohoku and volunteer for a few days and see with my own eyes the damage that a horrible earthquake and tsunami wreaked upon a small town, and hear with my own ears stories of those who faced that horror that day. Fundraising at GWU for a region that most people had forgotten of the following year was definitely a challenge, but I now believe that I was really approaching this service for Tohoku in the wrong way. Sending money to a region is not very sustainable. On a whim a donor can decide to withdraw their decision to donate, but this summer I was given the chance to make people to people connections that have much more directly tied to the region that I think I can help the most in.
This is actually key in the Tohoku region, particularly now after most NGOs have left the region and have cut off their support. Native Tohoku people do not trust every volunteer they see because they are skeptical of whether that person will return. Sending money doesn’t change the lives of those still living in temporary housing, however helping a student who lives goes abroad to learn about urban planning and community building does have a direct effect on people in Tohoku.
Meeting and connecting with youth from Tohoku and with other university students who are passionate about helping the region has opened my eyes to what sort possibilities there are to help rebuild and recreate the region. Upon my return to GWU, the Japanese American Student Alliance and others in the GWU community will have the opportunity to connect directly with the students to collaborate on a joint project, or just to help some of the Tohoku high school students with their English. I want to help people from Tohoku do things that they think need to get done, not send my money to big corporations that decide for the community where to spend it.
I can really see some amazing partnerships forming between passionate students at The George Washington University and students from the Tohoku region. Whether its a pen-pals or occasional Skype chats in the beginning that then grow into a fully fledged sister school relationship or GWU students collaborating with Waseda students on some innovative resources for Tohoku, I know that we are going in the right direction toward meaningful and impactful change. これからも、ずっとTOMODACHIだよ〜！