Governmental/ NGOs:
- Peace Boat: Peace Boat not only helped with disaster relief in Sandy, but in Tōhoku well. We visited one of their relief centers in Ishinomaki, a small fishing city hit badly by the tsunami. Their efforts there were really focused on getting the fishing industry restored in Ishinomaki. Our interviewee stated that it took so long for the city to recover from the tsunami that most of the buyers had found new places to get sea products. Peace Boat was running programs where young people stay with fishermen and work with them for a couple months. This encourages a younger generation to try fishing because most of the industry is run by an older generation. This problem is exacerbated by Japan’s declining population rate.
- Temporary Housing: The government both locally and federally in Japan set up temporary housing districts in various prefectures. These houses were made for those who could not return to their house because of either tsunami damage or because of radiation. One person we interviewed was a worker at one of these housing developments and was employed by the prefecture. Her job was to establish a sense of community in one development and organize community activities and events. The prefecture was funding a kind of social project for the people in these communities.
- Financial/Business Aid: One daycare worker that we interviewed noted that there was financial aid by the Japanese government to any businesses who have lost income because of the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima. The problem with this was that it was really only worth it for large companies to try and receive this money. The daycare worker described the process for receiving this aid long and tedious, so in the end she did not have the time or patience to go through the process.
- Local NGOs: We visited one NGO in Fukushima City that worked on spreading awareness about radiation and testing for it. The company had 3 devices that could test the radiation levels of any material sent to them. Farmers would send crops, students would send school uniforms and even average shoppers would send groceries to get tested. The company also owned a machine that tested the radiation levels in a person’s body. All the data the NGO collects is then published weekly online for the public to see. There is a major emphasis on educating the public with this method of relief after the nuclear meltdown.
Religous/ Non-profit:
- Local Church: One of the first people we interviewed in Japan was in charge a local church program that worked to inform citizens about radiation. There were weekly talks about it almost like support groups for mothers to go to and monitored radiation levels in the area. One of the major concerns from mothers was letting their children play outside again, but not all mothers shared this concern. This caused some social divides and having this kind of support group with like minded moms really helps the community.
- Local Nonprofits: One local nonprofit in Fukushima City had a device for tested for radiation in the city and had a kind of clean air camp. The women in charge of the organization had a bike that she would ride around on with a radiation monitor on the back. She would enlist the help of other people and ride around the city taking readings of the air. She also ran a camp where kids in the city would be taken south to play on a beach far away from the radiation of the power plant.