Bring smiles to 500 children of Fukushima

203 kids of Fukushima joined winter camp from 23rd to 30th of December in 2014.

Winter camp was held in 6 areas in Japan.  We are also preparing for spring camp in March.

Fukushima Kids program will continue to this coming summer.  Kids of Fukushima will have chance to join the programs twice more.

We are planning to have a presentation to tell thaks to all over the world in New York in October this year.

Thank you very much for supporting our programs.

Michiko Iwasaki

As we carry out the 2015 Spring Program

Fukushima Kids Executive Committee

Chairperson Toru Shinshi

It’s been 4 years since the Tohoku earthquake and nuclear disaster. Life is now back to normal, but in reality, the people of Fukushima continue to live alongside radiation, making people feel somewhat uneasy and leaving them with complex feelings about the issue.

“Fukushima Kids” began activities in summer 2011. At that point we announced that we would definitely be continuing our activities for the next 5 years, and this year is the last year of that promise. Though there are some who are unhappy that the course is ending, I feel that it is time for the “Fukushima Kids” project to move onto the next step for the children’s growth while responding to occasional changes in society.

At these times, we remember something very important, which is that we have managed to come this far together with the families that shared our, the executive committee’s, goal to “bring back the smiles and cheer to the children”. Thanks to this, we have been able to sense the growth of these children, and we believe that in the future they will be able to create a new, reborn version of our home, Fukushima, for us.

These wonderful results are also down to all of the people that have lent us assistance in the past 5 years, so we feel that we must notify them of these achievements and express our deepest gratitude. To this end, in October we will hold a reception in front of the UN Headquarters in New York for the “Japan Society”, who have helped us enormously, as well as all of the many other international groups that have aided us in the past. We also plan to hold a farewell party in Bandai-Atami in November and hope for your understanding and cooperation.

As we prepare for these events, this March will see the start of the 12^th “Fukushima Kids Spring Program”. This time we will hold this program in Onuma and Yubari (Hokkaido), Hida-Takayama, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, the base of Kanazawa’s Mt. Haku, Nagasaki, and 8 locations within the prefecture, with many activity courses for the participants on offer. As we are continue our preparations in each of these areas, we have confidence that this cooperation can spread to each part of Japan and become a set of spring activities that the children can all learn very much from.

In regards to you all, we would very much like your participation, and as you look over these important participation points and gear up you preparations, to also never forget that there are people all over Japan and all over the world who share the same feelings towards the Fukushima Kids activities as we do.