ICEPN COVERS JAPAN RELIEF MEMBERS AT 19TH ANNUAL WFWP ASSEMBLY

ICEPN: Today we are in New York again with this conference, the Women's Federation for World Peace 19th anniversary.

Here's a booth that is one of the amazing projects that the people have done for the Japan Relief Project. And here are the two ladies, and you tell me what has been going on through this project? What has been your involvement in this project? Teresa.

Teresa: Hi. Yeah, just quickly, we were chosen to go to Japan, selected and sponsored by WFWP, Women's Federation for World Peace. Our basic schedule was as you can see here.

ICEPN: So this was sometime back in March?

Teresa: We actually went to Japan on July 1st to...

ICEPN: So it was only about two weeks ago, well a month ago! Well, ok, so how was it since that big problem happened?

Teresa: We stayed on a campsite at a university in Ichinowaki, which is about seven hours north of Tokyo, and we drove a little bit through the destructive area. It's the most destruction I've ever seen. There's just so much. The Japanese self-defense and a lot of people have been working really hard to clean the streets.

ICEPN: So you have been seeing the unity in Japan.

Teresa: Yeah, people from Australia and all over Japan have been coming up and really working together. It's really inspiring.

ICEPN: So how about you. You went there as well. Tell me what kind of experience you had.

Chunmi: Well, it was really incredible actually. I'd never been to a disaster site before, and this tsunami was in the news media for about two weeks, and then it disappeared. So, I think a lot of people's concept is that, "Okay, great. The disaster happened, and now the Japanese have taken care of it, and it's all gone." But, driving through Ishinomaki city, all you can hear are the flies and the crows. Parts of the city are a ghost town, and it is just so incredible how much destruction there really is and how much work really needs to be done. It's not at all finished. People are saying it might take a year or two to clean up. Going there, we could see that, and at the same time, the people of the city are all really coming together.

In Tokyo, they are having rolling blackouts, so they've all lowered their air conditioning so they could send energy up north. All the local people have really teamed up to together to clean up the neighborhoods. People have lost everything, and it is really incredible to see the strength of the human spirit and how much they persevere through. To have all this international support coming really warms their hearts. So for me, it was just so incredible to go.

ICEPN: So Women's Federation for World Peace is a great thing for you guys to do?

Chunmi: Oh definitely. This is what some would consider to be men's work, but definitely women play a major role in the healing of hearts of the people. Because we have the ability to listen to their stories and through them sharing their stories, it really heals their hearts. So women can go, even if maybe you don't have the strength to pull that wheelbarel or shovel off the muck, you can volunteer at the food lines, volunteer at the local relief centers. There is so much you can do, so for Women's Federation, I think this is really such a wonderful thing that we can do.

ICEPN: So do you think that Japan had, since then in March to now, there has been a lot of improvement there already?

Chunmi: There's been some incredible improvements. Definitely, the first day of the project, I was surprised at how clean the streets were. In some areas, the rubble was all shoveled up into one little pile. However, if you look at the entire city, there's so much work that needs to be done. Whenever they do something in Japan, it's done well, so the areas that have been cleaned up, they're doing a thorough job. Step by step, everyone's been working everyday to clean, so there's been a tremendous improvement. At the same time, there's so much that needs to be done.

ICEPN: Well, I'm glad that you guys went there and experienced all the lives in Japan and helps appreciate more what we have here in America. Thank you for speaking to us.

Chunmi: Thank you so much.

ICEPN: Well Luke, you've been there and you came from Japan. How has the disaster made an impact on the lives of those in Japan?

Luke Higuchi: Well, this disaster itself is in the lower part of Japan, so many people are amazed that so much are damaged at one time. Huge damage. I went right after the disaster in April, and at that time, there are broken cars like this all over. They didn't clean them up yet. It was so damaged, I could see. This time I went there, and it was a little bit cleaned up in the streets, but the houses and main buildings were empty.

ICEPN: There was still a lot of work to do.

Luke Higuchi: There was still a lot of work to do. And then, at that time, Women's Federation asked me to take some women with me, so I brought them, escorted them. I know more than them, because I'm Japanese. I have connections with a volunteer team that had been working there for three months, so we joined in and cooperated together. It was an incredible experience for those women. There was a language barrier, a little bit, but it wasn't a huge problem. They could communicate with heart to heart. I saw that amazing international cooperation was done with this particular project. The world became one as really like one family under God, something like that. So this is a beautiful thing that they did.

ICEPN: Well I'm glad that they made so much progress, and I want to thank you for your time.