Transformation

At first, everything seems unchanged in Kamakura, especially in brilliant spring sunlight. The newspaper deliveries make their rounds before dawn. The temple bells gong at six. The neighbors hang their laundry by eight. The trash is collected by nine. The wakame dries in the wind. The fishmongers lay cleaned and split fish to dry on screens. Shellfish gatherers fill buckets at low tide. Students begin the new academic year. Adults go to work. The cherry blossoms appear on hills, along roadsides, in gardens and parks everywhere. 

And yet everything has changed. A deep and profound grief for all the people, property and livelihoods lost in Tohoku has set in. Restraint and caution pervade everyday life. Festivals and sports events are canceled. Blossom viewing parties frowned upon. Overseas tourists have vanished. World Heritage sites are quiet. Wary of train disruption people stay close to home. Lights are dimmed. Heaters off. Store shelves have gaping empty spans like empty lots that suddenly appear after a tear-down when we struggle to remember what was once there.

Yet in addition to restraint and caution is vibrant activism. Everyone we know is energetically fundraising, volunteering locally and in the quake-affected areas, offering homestays, donating goods, starting long-range projects to serve the people of Tohoku.

Writers, too, have been busy. Quakebook is an e-book collection of stories and artwork about March 11. Write for Tohoku is finalizing an e-book collection of essays about Japan. Authors for Japan in the U.K. raised over 12,000 pounds. Children's Authors and Illustrators for Japan led by author Greg Fishbone has already raised thousands of dollars through an online auction which continues through April 11.

Recovery in and around the quake and tsunami devastated areas will take years and needs our active support. Do what you can to give. Start your own fundraising projects or join others at school, work, among your friends. Find your way to give to the people of Tohoku.