一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

Rentai Tohoku has been providing consultancy services as well as human support to fishermen who are involved in Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project (Urato Project hereinafter) for some time. The circumstances surrounding this project are as follows.

 

In mid April, a month after the earthquake, Yasuhiko Sata, Board Chairperson of Rentai Tohoku, saw on TV a Mr. Koizumi explaining in a halting way the establishment of "One Unit Sponsor" system. Knowing the dire situation they were in, Sata immediately tried to contact Mr. Koizumi.
On the 30th April, Rentai Tohoku held the first meeting in Tokyo for various people including disaster victims as well as well informed experts to exchange opinions. We invited Mr. Koizumi, who is a fisherman cultivating oysters and seaweeds at Katsura Island in Urato Islands, Miyagi prefecture, to the meeting. He brought Mr. Masumi Chiba, Chairperson of Urato Project, with him. Mr. Chiba explained that fishermen in Urato Islands had established a private organization, "Urato Project", aiming at raising financial backing in order to resume operation.
By then, it was several million yen that had been collected. However, through the enthusiastic call for support on the website as well as thanks to frequent media exposures, the fund raised reached 175 million yen by the 1st deadline for application on the 30th June, 2011. All involved in this project were truly moved by the warm support from all over Japan.

 

In order to resolve the tax and legal problems and facilitate the recovery of the local fishery, Rentai Tohoku provided tax, legal and management consultant services by experts. Backed up by these efforts, Urato Project has duly become incorporated as a juridical person.
By being granted as an incorporated juridical person, Urato Project has made a big step forward toward a self-support reconstruction.

As part of our physical support, Rentai Tohoku sent 4 volunteers each every weekend from mid May to the end of July, 50 volunteers in total, to Katsura Island to help beach clean-up, floater making for seaweeds farms, administrative work at Urato Project office and so on.

 

In a spirit of friendship and cooperation, Rentai Tohoku will continue to support the recovery of the earthquake-stricken area by collaborating with local people and valuing personal links built through our activities in many places in Tohoku.

 

 

Shinko Ryu and Syed Tahir, Rentai Tohoku Collaborating with Kesennuma Social Welfare Council, Rentai Tohoku is holding a curry party in the common room of the temporary housing at Shishiori Junior High School on the 27th August (Sat.). We are hoping to provide residents of temporary housings and evacuation centers an opportunity to share a meal and enjoy each other's company. As we believe that it is important for evacuees to find what they can themselves as a process of reconstructing their lives, we would like to ask our participants to prepare rice and we will provide delicious Pakistani curry.

We are expecting to welcome about 400 guests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urato Umi-no-ko Recovery Project of Katsura Island in Urato Islands, which we have frequently introduced in volunteers' reports on this website, was proudly granted as an incorporated body on the 11th July. The project that aims at collecting funds for the reconstruction of oyster and seaweed farms heavily damaged by the earthquake, originally started in early April, based on the idea of Yoshimasa Koizumi, an oyster farmer of Katsura Island. The project raises funds in 10,000 yen lump sums, which are spent to restore the farms and purchase tools washed away by the tsunami. The funders are to receive sea products harvested from the restored farms. The project received an intense public reaction from both home and abroad, the number of funders reached 12,000 at the first offer and the money collected was 175 million yen. As the project was approved as an incorporated body, the fishermen of Urato Islands have been able to create the framework to appropriately manage funds to continue their activities. The administrative board of the incorporated body consists of three leaders of the local fisheries corporative, a university professor and the board chairperson of Rentai Tohoku. Currently, Urato Project manages and runs funds with an aim to recover fisheries in Urato Islands and give back the resulting products to the funders. The recovery efforts at farms on Katsura Island steadily progresses with a help of volunteers from Rentai Tohoku and there is a prospect to achieve a certain amount of harvest this year.