My good friend Trip asked me to take part in a project she is working on.
Paint For Japan
Taken from her website:
“ #PAINT FOR JAPAN. by trip”
“ STAND UP, I AM JAPANESE. PRAY FOR JAPAN.”
I AM IN HERE, “ROCK ON TOKYO”
The Tohoku region Pacific Ocean coast earthquake M9.0
14:46 _ 11/03/2011
R.I.P.
peace.
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■Concept of “#PAINT FOR JAPAN” by trip_
周りにいてくれる大事な仲間、立ち上がり共に行動している仲間、
ボクを取り巻く様々な仲間の顔に、日の丸マスクをのせていくピース。
大震災は戦争を知らない僕らに壮絶なる衝撃を与えた。無知を恥じるきっかけを与えた。
その衝撃を行動に、その感覚を筆に。 「このプロジェクトはまだ、ただ一つの方法。」
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This project is I graphic of the rising-sun flag mask on your face of my important ppl who stand up.
The great earthquake gave a heroically impact to us who didn’t know the war.
It gave us the chance to be ashamed of ignorance.
Let’s change the impact into the action, the sense is expressed with the pen.
“This project is still only one method.”
Paint for Japan started with the artist BAKIBAKING calling out to all artists to share their art after the quake.
You can see other art sent in by searching #PAINTFORJAPAN on twitter.
Basically, TRIP’s concept as I understand it is something along the lines of:
We are a generation that only know stories of the war. This massive earthquake had a huge impact on us.
It gave us an opportunity to be ashamed of our ignorance. Let us change this impact into action.
Let us express this feeling through art.
She expresses this by putting the “rising sun” symbol on our faces like a mask…
Some may find this appalling and weird.
Some may find it cool and interesting.
Whatever the reaction may be, it STANDS OUT.
That was her main motive…to make it stand out, so people notice.
The rising sun symbolizes that our hearts are with this country.
So we can stand proud to be Japanese or to represent Japan.
To know that we can pull through this disaster.
With our friends beside us, we will rise again.
“Let the sun rise once again. Let it bring hope. Love has no boundaries. Let us come together. We are all ONE.”
Kenji Sato
“A new generation is starting right now for us, Japanese or not, “Kanto-jin”. All, TOGETHER.”
Sen Mitsuji
“in the land of the rising sun, it is time for the sons to rise, for the daughters to rise, to help our wonderful home rise again.”
Kenji Kohashi
“和 WA 輪 We are all connected ! ”
Norifumi Yoneda
“I LOVE YOU ! 言葉と祈りで心はつながる。さあ、邪念と縁を切り、素直な心のままに今を行動しよう。DO NOT WORRY, LET’S DO THE BEST OF YOU JUST NOW!”
Shing02
Takeru Amano
“今ここにあるその先へ 怖いものなんか何も無い 僕らの未来は七色だ”
Yuko Uchida
“Our wish is one. To regain the smile.”
Liv Lo
“The land is the people. The people are the land. We are Japan.”
Yasuyuki Tatsunaka
“we can do it!!”
We all wonder what each of us can do…
One might think that what little each person is able to do…won’t add up to much…
But I don’t think this is true…
Every little thing counts.
I’m currently working on a fundraiser that I will post up on Tuesday hopefully!!
Those of you who like jewelry stay tuned!
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I realize I haven’t posted since the earthquake..
Things have been so hectic since…
It’s still hard to imagine that such a massive earthquake hit us so close…
I was by myself when the earthquake hit on friday…
I seriously thought I was going to die.
Living in Japan, you get used to earthquakes.
A tremor here, a tremor there.
It’s not a big deal.
Sometimes we laugh about it, smiling perhaps out of relief that it wasn’t THE big one..
the one we’ve been told that will hit the Kanto (Tokyo) area and Tokai (Nagoya) area for years now.
I was on the train, when we pulled into a station, the doors opened,
and then it started shaking.
HARD.
People were shouting and screaming, and everyone ran out of the train onto the platform.
I couldn’t even stand up straight and had to crouch to the ground..
The station signs were swinging hard.
High school girls were crying.
People were holding onto each other.
It was the scariest day of my life…
Trains immediately stopped.
Phone lines went dead.
I couldn’t get a hold of my Dad who I thought was at his office
surrounded by lots of glass and chemicals.
(Thankfully he was safe, and the labs had minimal damage.)
I was about 20 minutes away from home by train…
But nothing was around me.
No one I knew.
Thank god twitter worked.
I found out there was a massive tsunami warning.
I was right by water.
I walked fast inland to a different station…hoping to find a bus or a taxi
or even the subway to be running in the direction of home…
Roads were split. Water was leaking onto the ground…
There was a car smashed into a wall…
People were everywhere on the streets looking lost and shocked…
The grounds still shook hard with big aftershocks…
I felt like crying…but I told myself I can’t fall apart now.
I ended up walking 3 and a half hours before I finally found an empty taxi.
It took me another hour and half to get home from there because of traffic.
It was bizarre, looking at the streets filled with people silently making their way home…
Convenience stores were a mess with products scattered on the floor that had fallen from the shelves.
Yet, people just picked these up, lined up at the register and quietly waited their turn.
It’s amazing how calm everyone was…
I got home 5 hours after the quake… tired… but safe…
I slept with my clothes on, on the living room floor that night. (and that weekend actually)
My mind was so uptight, I couldn’t loosen up.
I was too scared to sleep in my bed, in case another one hit closer.
My fear of a big earthquake hitting us here in Tokyo have subsided since, but the constant aftershocks
still keep me on edge. I didn’t realize how much stress it was causing me until I went back to Aichi
for a weekend. There were zero tremors there, and it was heavenly.
After the initial shock of the quake wore off a little, came the panic about the nuclear power plant.
Following the news constantly, hearing about the damages up north, seeing the destruction and the
number of people missing or those found dead…
It’s all a bit much to take….
People all over Japan are buying out all the bottled water because they’re scared of radiation.
I wonder if they know that we’re constantly being exposed to natural radiation.
From outer space, from the ground, from breathing, from eating, or those that like to go to radon hotsprings…
I also wonder if those that flew out of the country to get farther away from all this know that they’re
exposed to far more radiation from flying in a plane…than staying here in Japan…
People are freaking out here, not doing their laundry, scared to shower….
Makes me want to shake my head and say you’ve got to be kidding me.
The Japanese standard is set at 1/10 of the International standards.
The amount currently found in the water isn’t significant enough to cause harm.
The only ones who should worry are infants under the age of 1.
So please give the water to the people up north.
Please give it to families that have children under 12 months old.
Please stop hoarding.
It’s totally unnecessary.
Share.
We’re much better off with minimal damage here in Tokyo….
Why are the people who have lost EVERYTHING up north
sharing what little they are given… and the people here
who have our life lines and our cozy homes, buying out all the groceries and water?
I feel like I’m holding together with a thin thread…
ever since the quake…
I haven’t been able to unwind…
I just want to thank Yumeko for constantly being a chat mate
and keeping me sane.
It’ll definitely be a long road to recovery for the people up north.
My heart breaks every time I see the news and hear the voices of
the people that are going through this nightmare..
I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a loved one through this…
To lose everything…
Japan is depressed. Maybe not down south.
But Tokyo and up…definitely feels different.
I guess we have to do what we can do,
to get back to leading a normal life.
Go out and eat, meet up with friends,
try to get the economy running again.
We all just have to do
what little or lot we’re each capable of doing…
Pray for Japan.
Let the sun rise once again.
Let it bring hope.
Love has no boundaries.
Let us come together.
We are all ONE.
