The Ohana International School community is preparing for its third visit to a remote coastal village that was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
For the past two years, Ohana International School — along with the Miyabi Arashi taiko drumming group and the British School in Tokyo — has been raising funds to support the repair of Koamikura’s shrine. Funds have now reached over ¥2 million.
This money has repaired the steps going up to the shrine (which was damaged not only by the earthquake but also the landslides that followed), and walls of the shrine itself. It has also paid for the repair and re-erection of the shrine’s torii (sacred gateway) that remained in pieces on the ground for more than three years after the tsunami.
The Tokyo-based community has also visited Koamikura twice, the first time with a large group of taiko drummers who performed for the local residents and participated in the first festival the town had had since the earthquake. They are building a special friendship with the town’s residents, and are currently planning their next trip.
If your school or community group would like to get involved with supporting the fishing communities on the Oshika peninsula as they rebuild their lives, please see: www.carolinepover.info
