Plus One

Posted by on Dec 27, 2011 in Miyagi, Travel Volunteer Journey | 7 Comments
Plus One

Of course it was never just 100 days – always there was the +1. To fulfil this final duty in Miyagi, we decided to dodge the needless flying, skip the indirect trains, and drive a bus all the way from Kanazawa, straight to Ishinomaki. It wasn’t the quickest way to do things, but for Katy and ...

Six Months Later – Part Two

Posted by on Sep 29, 2011 in Miyagi, Travel Volunteer Journey | 5 Comments
Six Months Later – Part Two

At 2.46pm on 11th March, about half a minute into the earthquake, Yoko Matsumoto was evacuated from the third floor of her office block and into a public park with hundreds of other people in central Sendai. The world shook for another 90 seconds, glass cracking, pavements rupturing. Soon a tsunami warning would ring out. ...

Six Months Later – Part One

Posted by on Sep 28, 2011 in Miyagi, Travel Volunteer Journey | No Comments
Six Months Later – Part One

Six months ago, my friend, mentor and sometime drinking partner Stephen Phelan stood where I am standing now. That day in Onagawa the view was not pretty. “In the middle of town, near the seafront,a few buildings remained upright, though stripped down to red metal frames and loose hanging wires,” he wrote in a piece ...