Report on Invitation Program for JET Alumni to Disaster Stricken Areas in Tohoku
After the Great East Japan Earthquake that struck on March 11, 2011, JET alumni around the world were worried and saddened at the damage Japan had suffered, and many entered the disaster zone as volunteers in an individual capacity. In addition, JETAA Chapters in locations around the world conducted drives to collect monetary donations and held charity events. The U.S. JETAA Chapters collected relief funds reaching US$313,000 in total. Moreover, JETAA International, JETAA's global organization, met in Japan in October 2011, taking up the themes of 'contributions to Japan's reconstruction' and 'improving the JET Programme.' After the meeting in Tokyo finished, the committee members engaged in volunteer work in the city of Rikuzentakada.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, harmful rumors were spreading overseas that Japan was a dangerous place to be, and the number of overseas visitors to the local communities within the disaster-stricken areas and elsewhere plummeted. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been taking a variety of countermeasures to mitigate such reputational damage. Yet while a spectrum of means to counter reputational damage do exist, among these the disbursing of communication by non-Japanese themselves at a grass-roots level has the prospect to yield highly beneficial results.
Former JET Programme participants comprise an extremely suitable group for going to the disaster areas as reconstruction is underway and sending out messages on the state of affairs there, insofar as they enjoy a deep understanding of and strong feelings of affinity for Japan, they are able to engage in activities independently, including due to their Japanese capabilities, without burdening those in the disaster-stricken areas, they are able to compare objectively their former workplaces before and after the earthquake, and they have a high degree of competence in communicating through social media.
The Invitation Program for JET Alumni to Disaster Stricken Areas in Tohoku was implemented by inviting JET alumni to Japan for short periods as one type of operation related to the dispatching of information overseas and the development of assistance with regard to selling trips to visit Japan by local tour companies and others, with such operations to be implemented in an urgent manner by the Japan Tourism Agency in order to overcome as quickly as possible the adverse effects that had arisen in travel demand to visit Japan due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Below are some videos and articles created by the program participants:
Video about Miyagi by Michael Blodgett
Website about Fukushima by Amy Cameron
http://returntofukushima.tumblr.com/
Articles and Video on Sendai by Audrey Shiomi
Website about Iwate by Benjamin Erickson
www.tohokuben.com
Website about Iwate by Alan Mockridge
http://alanmockridge.com
JETAA USA Report on Tohoku Trip
http://www.jetaausa.com/tohoku-recovery/JET-alums-return-to-tohoku/