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Bullock, Eastwood and Others Donate to Japan

By Ayako Mie and Yoree Koh

As Japan struggles to help to more than 360,000 people displaced by Japan’s strongest-ever earthquake, individuals and relief organizations alike are donating money to support efforts.

Celebs, Execs Donate to Japan

View Slideshow

 

As Japan struggles to help to more than 360,000 people displaced by Japan’s strongest-ever earthquake, individuals and relief organizations alike are donating money to support efforts.

Also stepping up are an array of Japanese and international celebrities, from baseball star Ichiro Suzuki to Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood. Local and global corporations have also pitched in: Most have offered fixed sums, but some, like the Japanese arm of Groupon, previously hit by a New Year’s meal deal scandal, have been matching donations made by site users. As of March 14, Groupon had collected more than 180 million yen, or $22.6 million.

Local social-networking-service provider Gree is offering a similar donation system, matching the amount of money paid by a user to buy a Gree “volunteer avatar.” So far, more than 885,000 people have purchased the avatar, with the donation exceeding 174 million yen.

Twitter posts by Japanese celebrities with thousands of followers, such as singer Ayumi Hamasaki and entrepreneur Takafumi Horie of Livedoor, helped get messages out in the immediate aftermath of the quake, when phone services were disrupted. Ms. Hamasaki has more than 455,000 followers, and more than 643,000 people follow Mr. Horie. Elsewhere, Japanese actor Yusuke Iseya has been sending rice to the devastated zones through his company, Rebirth Project, since last Tuesday.

Here’s a tally of some of the notable donations to have been made public, though many more millions are likely to have been donated anonymously. Missed someone? Please let Japan Real Time know in the comments.

(Some companies have also donated supplies in addition to cash. Those donations are not noted in the list below. The donations are also listed in the original currency in which they were made.)

Individuals

AKB48: 500 million yen ($6.2 million)
Namie Amuro, Japanese pop singer: 50 million yen
Bae Yong-jon, Korean actor: 1 billion won ($889,000)
Sandra Bullock: $1 million
Chen Guangbiao, Jiangsu Huangpu Renewable Resources CEO: 13 million yen
Choi Ji Woo, South Korean actress: 200 million won
Yu Darvish, baseball player with the Nippon Fighters: 50 million yen
Clint Eastwood, American actor and director: $1 million
Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese pop singer: 35 million yen
Ichiro Suzuki: 100 million yen
Kim Hyung-joong, South Korean actor: 100 million won
Hiroshi Kume, Japanese TV anchor: 200 million yen
Li Ka Shing, Hong Kong investor: $1 million
Elaine Low, affiliated with Singaporean company PT Bayan Resources: $783,000 (S$1 million)
Hideki Matsui: 50 million yen
Park Chon-ho, South Korean baseball player on Orix: 10 million yen
Ryu Si-won, Korean actor and singer: $180,000
Song Seung-hun, Korean actor: $180,000
Tadashi Yanai, Fast Retailing CEO: 1 billion yen

Companies

Canon: 300 million yen
Casio Computer: 10 million yen
Fast Retailing: 400 million yen
Fujifilm Corp: 300 million yen
Credit Suisse: $1 million
Goldman Sachs: 500 million yen
Honda Motor: 300 million yen
Kirin Holdings: 300 million yen
Eli Lilly: 100 million yen
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.: 100 million yen
Japan Sumo Association: 50 million yen
Jefferies: $5.25 million
Konica Minolta: 50 million yen
Michelin: $1 million
Mitsubishi Electric: 500 million yen
Morgan Stanley: 500 million yen
Nikon: 100 million yen
Nissan Motor: 430 million yen
Panasonic Corp: 300 million yen
Ricoh Co. Ltd.: 300 million yen
Seiko Epson: 100 million yen
Sony: 300 million yen
Suntory: 300 million yen
Tokyo Apache and Evolution Capital, Japanese professional basketball team.: $1 million
Toyota Motor Corp.: 300 million yen
UBS: 100 million yen
Wal-Mart: $5 million

UPDATE: This post was updated at 6:25 GMT to include new donor information.

Read this post in Japanese/日本語訳はこちら≫

Filed under  //  celebrities   celebs   donate   earthquake   japan   tsunami  
Posted by Bryan Hays 
 

Boy continues lonely search for family members

)photo

 "I will come again tomorrow," reads one of the messages Toshihito Aisawa, 9, wrote to his family and cousins who have been missing since the tsunami hit Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. (Kuniaki Nishio)

photo

 Toshihito Aisawa holds up signs with the names of his family and cousins at an evacuation center in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on Tuesday. (Kuniaki Nishio)

 

    ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--Quake evacuees give sympathetic looks to a boy who has become a familiar face at evacuation centers in this city ravaged by last Friday's quake and tsunami.

But sadly, they cannot offer any information about the names on the handwritten signs he holds up at each center.

The names are of the father, mother, grandmother and two cousins of 9-year-old Toshihito Aisawa. The last time he saw his family members, they were trying to escape from a car being swept away by the massive wall of water.

On Tuesday, Toshihito visited Kadowaki Junior High School, home to about 2,000 evacuees, for the fourth time since last Friday.

He also visited another junior high school and a high school. But no one could provide information to Toshihito that day.

According to the third-year elementary school student, his father, Kazuyuki, picked him up at his school soon after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake hit.

Packed in a minicar, Toshihito, Kazuyuki, grandmother Kyoko, mother Noriko, and two cousins, Yuto and Yuna Shima, headed for Kadowaki Junior High School located on a hill in central Ishinomaki.

As they sped down a trunk road along the port that would take them to the hill, his mother noticed the tsunami bearing down on them.

"A tsunami's coming. Head left, left!" Toshihito recalled his mother screaming, as the wave that seemed much taller than the car loomed outside.

His father tried to escape the roaring water, but the car became stuck in a parking lot. Then the seawater swallowed the vehicle.

Toshihito recalled hearing all sorts of things smashing against the car. The window cracked, and on the spur of the moment, he broke the glass with his bare hands. Grabbing the hand of Yuto, a first-year junior high school student, Toshihito managed to crawl out of the window.

"But then something, probably a tree, came crashing through, and I had to let go," Toshihito said.

He said the voices of Yuto calling to him and his grandmother pleading for help gradually became distant.

The boy soon lost consciousness. When he came to about 30 minutes later, his body was strewn on a piece of wood and parts of his clothes were caught on a bamboo branch.

A man fished him out of the water and gave the boy some clothes.

Toshihito was taken to the family of Mitsunari Kitahara, 64, a barbershop owner with whom Toshihito's family was acquainted.

"Stop worrying so much. Come back home as soon as you can," Kitahara repeatedly told the boy.

"Yes, I'll do as you say. I won't worry about it," Toshihito said, although his face betrayed his show of bravery.

Much of the city center remains under water. But Toshihito is determined to find his family.

"When the roads clear up, I'm going to check our home," he said. 

 

Please Donate to the Red Cross Relief Efforts in Japan at: http://www.RedCross.org

Filed under  //  9   boy   buy and hold   cross   donate   earthquake   japan   miyagi   parents   red   save   year  
Posted by Bryan Hays 
 

2 Parents cannot find their children

I was watching a video on this website in Japan

 

http://www.fnn-news.com/

Save_japan

2 Parents were searching for their 2 missing children after a tsunami had hit in Japan.

They had been searching for 2 days.

They saw the school  their children attended.

It had been engulfed by water.

They continued their search for their children.

Please donate to the redcross to assist those in need at:

http://www.redcross.org

Filed under  //  children   cross   death   donate   earthquake   help   japan   parents   red   red cross   save   tsunami  
Posted by Bryan Hays