Messages from Fukushima Kids to all supporter and everyone in Cairns

Day13 Refresh Camp

Fukushima kids went to back to Fukushima and they did final speech in Fukushima.

　

All students did very well.

During their staying in Cairns, Fukushima kids really felt people's warm support.

These are message from children.

Thank you very much for your great support.

________________

Ayaka Fujii

To everyone in Cairns

Through this project, I was given courage. Everyone in Cairns welcomed us warmly and encouraged us. It made me so happy. I really enjoyed my time in Cairns. At first, I was worried, but people in Cairns welcomed us in very kindly. Thank you so much.
8 years ago, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. Tsunamis and the nuclear power plant accident had a big impact on the hearts of many people. Due to this disaster, food in Fukushima became not safe to eat. Now, we've made some recovery, but there are still many foods with restrictions on shipment. Moreover, children in Fukushima need to take thyroid check up every year.
Through this project, we were able to experience many things that we could not have done in Fukushima. They were all very enjoyable.
Thank you so much for your support to this project. I'll keep on taking steps towards my dreams.
THANK YOU!!

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Karin Hirakuri

Karin Hirakuri

To everyone in Cairns

Thank you so much to Maki san and so many people who helped us greatly. 

Thank you so much.

I was able to come here and spend time freely.

There was nothing to worry about and no restrictions holding us back. It was very enjoyable.

We will go back to Japan. Now that we have learnt so many things, I feel that we have a duty to share our experiences with people in Japan.

I will not forget the time in Cairns.

I will come back ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Please give me a place to stay when that happens lol

Finally, thank you so much.

Please come to Japan ♡

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Yuhi Watanabe

Yuuhi Watanabe 

To everyone in Cairns

Thank you for your support for people of Fukushima. Thanks to your help, I made many great memories. On the first day, we took part in the event. It was then that I experienced for the first time hosting a stall. It was a hot day and it was tiring. It was only a few hours but I became very tired, and that was something I never experienced before. However, I'm aware that you've spent many more countless hours doing things like hosting stalls for us. I thought it was really tough. If it were me, I couldn't have done it.
For others. Not yourselves, but for others. I was so exhausted just for that few hours. I can't even begin to imagine what it would've been like for you.
I thought that I'd like to work for others in the future. The people that I encountered in Cairns were all very kind and smiley. The fact that I was able to spend an ordinary life is a precious treasure. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, there are many children who evacuated from Fukushima. Some of them have been treated badly at their new schools, being called germs. I saw such news often.
After seeing that, I became afraid of going outside the prefecture, even when travelling to Tokyo with my family. Thoughts such as "what would happen to us if people saw the car plate and found out we were from Fukushima?" went through my head.
Amidst these experiences, I participated in this project. The people I encountered through this project talked to me with smiles on their faces. My worried disappeared at once. I felt strongly that Japan would be a better place if people like you were around more. Thanks to everyone in Cairns, I became more cheerful. I can't say it enough. At the same time, I felt that true goal of disaster recovery is change in people.
If people could look at the children of Fukushima without the lens of discrimination, like the people in Cairns did, I thought that Japan would become better. That's what I learnt.
In Cairns, I had so many experiences, like playing outside with heart abandoned, and communicating with so many people... Everything is a treasure, and a memory for life. This is all thanks to your help. There are not enough words to express my thanks. I can't wait to come back to Cairns.
One day, I will repay your kindness. One day, everyone will like Fukushima.
One day, people of Fukushima will be smiling.
One day, we'll return to the Fukushima that was before the disaster.
With much thanks.

______________________________

Yushi Ito

Yuushi Ito 

To everyone in Cairns

The people in Cairns were cheerful, friendly and considerate. Brent and Olivia, who were my host family, and everyone in Cairns, welcomed us warmly. 
While spending time being refreshed in the grand nature of Cairns, I learnt many things with my friends.
The 11 days here have become an irreplaceable experience. I also made many friends. I talked to many people and laughed. So I'm sad to say goodbye. However, I'll definitely come back.
To everyone in Cairns, to all who supported us, to all the friends I shared laughter with, and to Brent and Olivia, I look forward to seeing you again!
Thank you so much!

____________________________________________

Taisei Kanno

To everyone in Cairns

Thank you for your help the last 11 days. At the BBQ on 30th, I was reminded how we were able to come to Cairns thanks to your support. Thanks to you, we could come to Cairns and go on the plane to go back to Japan. Fukushima has made good progress with disaster recovery. However, the main problem of radiation has not improved at all and requires ongoing assistance. Once this problem settles, I will definitely repay your kindness.
Thank you very much.

_________________________

Hirotaka Kuchiki

Hirotaka Kuchiki

To everyone in Cairns

Thank you for helping me in so many various places throughout the last 10 days.
Thanks to you, I was able to have a great time. I was really moved that you have such big heart for children on Fukushima.
It was good to be able to share about Fukushima now and about the disaster.

_____________________________

Yua Kanno

Yua Kanno

To everyone in Cairns

I applied to take part in this project with the intent to share what happened on the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake with my own voice, and to experience intercultural exchange. I am not very good at English. Therefore, I was concerned whether I could convey the situation. However, many people in Cairns have been so kind to me. If I say, "hi", I'll get a "hi" back. People would try to understand me even if I used broken English, and talk to me using simple English, so I found it very helpful. I was also worried whether I would be able to communicate well with the host family, but thanks to various people's help, I was able to communicate with them.
Each day, or rather, each second with my host family has been enjoyable. I'm so thankful! Now that I think about it, in the first three days, I was thinking: "Omar is so good at Japanese! So if English doesn't work out, I'll just wait for him to speak in Japanese." If I could, I would speak some sense into myself back then!

I met various people who cared for the earth and its environment, such as (Frank at) eco banana farm, Taka and his organic farm, and Nick who leads a self-sustained lifestyle. I'd like to apply what I learnt to my own life. Other than this, I was really surprised to hear stories from Masa (on history) and also about the stories around uranium. What I learnt from Masa, I want to share it with everyone. With the stories on uranium, I was really touched that there was so much care (from the aboriginal people) towards us, as if people of Fukushima were their grandchildren. The white people were not that good... is what I feel honestly.
When I shared about the current situation in Fukushima, Australian people were kind and sincere, nodding to what we were saying and at times uttering "oh no".
Then there were the aboriginal people, Paronella Park, tropical rainforest, the sea... There is so much to write about but that will take forever so I'll need to wrap it up lol.
Finally, I want to say thank you to Smile with Kids and Mr Kodama for running this project!! Please call me if you need anyone to share anything. I'll go all over Japan, or even the world!! (Illustration of a map of Japan with an arrow pointing towards African continent). Please keep up your good work!!
Thank you so much.

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Miko Kambayashi

Miko Kanbayashi

To everyone in Cairns

Thank you so much for all your support. It was my first time to go overseas and I was worried whether my English would be understood. However, everyone was kind, and they could speak Japanese fluently, so although I was exhausted on my first day, I felt good.
A big thank you to: Peace Boat, Wa Band, Botanic Garden, Sushi Train, Eco Banana Farm, Paronella Park, organic farm, Rainforest Station, Nick;s house, Frankland Islands, OK Gift Shop, the all boys school.
There are so many others who supported us - thank you so much!
Your support and generous donations enabled us to go to many different places and make wonderful memories.
It was so fun I almost didn't want to go back to Japan. I was that happy. But I have to go back, so I will return to Japan. I will share my experiences with my friends, teachers and family in Japan, and I want them to come to Cairns. I would like to come back some day. I want to improve my English and put in some effort! Thank you very much!!

Day8 History and Fukushima Kids Talking Session

Refresh Camp Day8

27th July (Sat)

Fukushima kids learned History in the morning.

And There is talking session in the afternoon.

All kids did speech very well.

This is Karin Hirakuri.

https://www.facebook.com/smilewithkids/videos/351726319073811/

〈English〉
This time I have you make a splendid opportunity that you come to Australia for rest from Fukushima, and thank you very much. This camping was very important to me who spent it being always conscious of radioactivity. And I advocated two aims on coming to Australia. The first is to have you know that Fukushima revives. Fukushima suffered heavy damage of a tsunami and the radioactivity by East Japan great earthquake disaster of March 11, 2011. Most of buildings along the shore were drained by a tsunami, and radioactivity was scattered in an accident of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Much food was not eaten by the result that radioactivity was scattered, and various places became the entrance limit area. Meanwhile, you could buy food without it being a supermarket to come to Australia, and minding a production center and meant that outside freely could play. It was able to do anything in Australia the few thing that I could do it in Fukushima. However, Fukushima goes to the revival
, too. I think that rice and the vegetables cooked in Fukushima are delicious. Many buildings were built in Saraji strolled around for a tsunami. Fukushima goes to the revival still more. Fukushima is separated from Australia, but thinks that I have you learn that it revives. In closing, much contribution and support, thank you very much. I value that I learned in Australia and want to do my best in Fukushima. Thank you again for the present.

Ayaka Fujii

When I experienced the disaster, I was in first grade of elementary school.

In the area where I live, the impact of the earthquake was small, but due to the nuclear power plant, the city was contaminated with radioactivity.  I saw shelters being built for people who have escaped from earthquake and radioactive contamination. I also saw radioactive monitoring posts being installed in street corners, schools and kindergarten playgrounds. Local foods that I had been eating confidently until then could not be eaten unless being passed through a radioactivity measuring instrument. It is recovering little by little, but we still have to do voluntary inspection of most ingredients. And there are lots of ingredients that have shipping restrictions.

I would like to live a life that is free from worries as soon as possible. However, the population of Fukushima is declining significantly and I feel there are a lot of sad news.

But I do not want to leave Fukushima prefecture where I was born and raised. I have a dream of bringing smiles to people who suffer from earthquakes and disasters. I think that making people smile will make Fukushima more lively.

Thank you.

Well Done everyone!

 Thank you very much Jeff from AJS for continous support! 

We really appreciate it!

 Mr Kodama's talking session.

Kid's Report

Ayaka Fujii

Ayaka Fujii

KUMON in Cairns is a bit different from one in Japan though, I heard that they did the addition and subtraction in the same way of Japan, and I was surprised. We learned more deeply about the Pacific War, which was good. It gave us deeper understanding about Australia.

The highlight today was Kangaroo meat. I couldn't believe that I was eating Kangaroo, which was jumping and hopping on the ground, even though I was told it was that meat. It was delicious. I had some melon for dessert, it was good too.

In the talking session of Mr. Masanori Harada, I was surprised that Japan and Australia battled each other during the Pacific War. For me, the Pacific War had meant Japan versus America or Philippines only. It was a good opportunity to know about Australia.
I thought that we couldn't say that we had fully understood about history until we saw it from various aspects. When we learn about the war, we need to think not only the Japan side but also the relationship between countries. It was really good chance to know it.
I was relieved that I could finished my talking session successfully. There were a lot of audiences, I was nervous but I could manage it. The lunch from Subway was nice. I had to pronounce English clearly otherwise the shop person was confused. I need to correct my pronunciation.
Today, I became nervous several times but I had a very good experience.

I want to say thank you to all the people involving this camp. Thank you so much.

Yushi Ito

Yuushi Ito

I didn’t know that there is a road that people under 18 cannot go through until mr. Kodama told us. I determined that I’d like to do something for recovery in Fukushima to solve this kind of issues. 
The most memorable thing today was the speech. I was happy that my host family included brant and other people listened seriously. I won’t say who, but my friend cried during his/her speech and it reminded me the hardships. And I felt thankful for the support from people in Cairns, in other prefectures, mr. Kodama and Maki.

Yuhi Watanabe

Yuuhi Watanabe

Today, Mr Harada taught us about history between Japan and Australia. To be honest, I did not know that Japan and Australia fought at war. This is because I had a mindset that all that is in textbooks is all there is to learn. For example, if A and B fought at war, and A had won, the historical facts from A’s perspective is what would become available for study, and what would go in to textbooks. Mr Harada mentioned three important points when studying history. The first aspect is the fact about an event, such as the event of A and B being at war, and the event of A winning it. The second point is considering why A won and B lost. For example, A was equipped with novel weaponry and large manpower, whereas B had less weapons and less people. The final consideration is what could be learnt from it. For example, in order to win, it is necessary to have certain amount of both weapon and people. B would need these things from now on. These three aspects constitute the Harada method. 
Until today, for historical understanding, I had been accepting what was only available from textbooks. However, today, I got to approach the same historical event from two different perspectives. I thought that history is very interesting. I thought that what I learnt today can be applied to relationships. In this world, there are so many different kinds of people. There is no one that is the same. Therefore, there would be people who’d think my viewpoints are good, and there would also be those who would disagree. When that happens, I thought it is important for me to reflect on why some people would agree and why others might disagree, and to consider both perspectives. If I could do this, I thought I could cultivate better relationships. I learnt many things from Mr Harada. I would like to keep remembering these things.

I also did my speech today. Host families and others gathered together. We made speech in both English and Japanese. Many people nodded to what we said and listened to us, and it made me feel happy. I was nervous but it was good that I was able to convey my thoughts. After the speech, I was surprised to hear Mr Kodama’s presentation. There were so many things I did not know about. When it comes to disaster reconstruction, it is people that must change. That’s what I thought. In the first instance, I pray that prejudice and discrimination against people of Fukushima would go away. 

In the evening, we went to a nearby park. There were many people there. It was a movie night at a park. Big screen and beautiful stars. My host family, Yua’s host family and Miko’s host family went together.

Karin Hirakuri

Karin H.
I leaned a lot of new things about Japan and Australia over pacific war. Also by listening other’s speech, I absorbed a lot of their experiences and various ways of thinking.
Today, I listened about the history of the war between Japan and Australia, and heartwarming episode during and after the war. Japanese people have an impression that we fought against USA in pacific war but Australian people think that they fought against Japan. I learned this kind of fact that our textbooks don’t tell. Also in afternoon talking session, I think I portrayed current Fukushima as well as what I learnt, felt and appreciated in cairns. It was not perfectly smooth but I felt good because many local Japanese people and host families listened to me. At home, we had some meat for dinner, then watched Spider-Man. I ate popcorn, skittles and snakes, and had fun. I really felt that they are trying so hard to make me happy, so I thought I should try my best, too.

Taisei Kanno

Taisei Kanno

There were so many things that I have learned for the first time. I thought it's horrible that many facts are not publicly known including the facts about the war between Japan and Australia and hidden scars (on Fukushima) after the nuclear disaster.
I was shocked with every new facts that I learned today.
During Mr.Harada's history lesson, I heard that Japan dropped tens of bombs in Darwin and that was most shocking. I never knew about the war between Australia and Japan, but now I do.
Also I was shocked at Mr.Kodama's talk. I've learned about the fact that there are so much contaminated soil bagsnear my house, and that there are 2 national roads in Fukushima where under 18 are not allowed to pass. I thought it's scary that these facts are not informed publicly.

Miko Kambayashi

Miko Kanbayashi
First impressions:
- Approach history from various perspectives!
- There are two roads in Fukushima that children under 18 cannot enter.
- Lots of barefoot people here.

Reflections:
Today, we learnt about history between Japan and Australia. I did not know that Japan had fought war against Australia so I was very surprised. I had an impression that history was boring because it was all about memorising year, event and people, but thanks to Masa's lesson, it was very interesting and insightful.
At the talk session, I got to talk to Australian people about Fukushima. 
At night, I watched a film with Yua's and Yuuhi's host families. Of course the film was in English so I didn't understand a lot of the script, but it was good just to enjoy the moving images.

HIrotaka Kuchiki

Hirotaka Kuchiki

History of Australia.
Miscommunication Between media, people and countries cause the war. 
Australian corned beef was delicious. 

At Kumon, we saw the video about WW2 from Australian point of view. 
Nice to hear something school doesn't teach. It was dangerous for Japan during the war. 
I think I did my speech well. I realised that how badly Fukushima affected from Mr Kodama's speech.

Yua Kanno

Yua Kanno
First impressions:
- Today, I learnt about history between Japan and Australia. 
- I was surprised that in Australia, you could watch a movie for free.
- There were many things that Kodama san talked about (Fukushima) that I did not know about before.

Reflections:
Today, it was study time from the morning! By study time, I mean it was a fun (?) one. We studied about the World War II. What crossed my mind was:
"The Second World War? I haven't learnt about it, but isn't it where we fought with the US and lost?"
However, I soon realised that such thinking is merely from Japanese standpoint, and all I had in my mind was about Japan's defeat. I did know that prior to defeat, Japan had been participating in war successfully. Yet, I didn't know that Japan attacked Australia. We do not learn about this fact at our school, and it made me wonder why. I want to research about it more so we can move forward from it. I also want to tell people about the fact that Japan attacked Australia, as it is unknown widely. Taking this study session made me realise that I had been looking at events from only one perspective. Therefore, I would like to be able to see it from different viewpoints!
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Before lunch, we were interviewed by ABC Radio. I think I was able to say about (Fukushima's) current circumstances using my own voice!!
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For lunch, we ate Subway sandwiches. It was my first time to order food in English. I had to ask advice from Sanae san many times, and I was able to place an order finally. It was a good experience! Thank you so much!! 

After lunch, we each made a speech about our reflections on Cairns.
As children from Fukushima, I think that we were able to talk about Fukushima just as it is.
Other than that, I didn't grasp 90% of what Kodama san was talking about. 
Today was a very fruitful day! Thank you everyone for listening.

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After going back, I played with soccer and jumped on trampoline with local children. It was really fun!

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At night, we went to watch a movie with Miko's and Yuuhi's host families. It was in English so I had no idea what was spoken in the film...lol. But it was a great experience. 
Note: The movie was screened in the park for free. "Surprising".