Fukushima Kids with Yumi Kikuchi

About This Podcast

On today's podcast, Maggie and Nat interview our very inspiring friend Yumi Kikuchi.  Fairewinds has been working with Yumi for more than a year now. She encouraged us to send material to the Tokyo Peace Film Festival, which she organized, and we sent our film "You are not alone." Yumi also co-sponsored Arnie's trip to Japan in 2012, where he gave the presentation "Japan at a Crossroads: Two Futures." Yumi left Japan with her family after the Fukushima Daiichi accident, and currently lives in Hawaii. She founded the Fukushima Kids Hawaii Project (FKHP), usually shortened to Fukushima Kids, and has just returned to Japan where she will be spreading awareness about the project and fundraising.  Fukushima Kids aims to host children from Fukushima in Hawaii during school vacations, where they can play outdoors safe from high radiation levels. Children are more vulnerable to the effects of radiation than adults, and we are already seeing signs of thyroid cancer and cysts among children in Fukushima. There are about 300,000 kids living in the Fukushima prefecture, and Yumi is hoping to host 15 kids this first summer.

How can you help

Spread the word about the project, and about the health crisis in Japan. Those in Hawaii can contact Yumi about hosting children or volunteering. Gathering financial support is most crucial to the project right now, with airfare for the kids being the biggest expense.

UPDATED 6/21/13: To make a tax-deductible donation in the USA, you can donate online through IAM-CED.org, and write Fukushima Kids in the comment space. Or, you can send a check payable to IAM-CED.org to: 

P.O.Box 692 Pacifica, CA 94044

*please write "For Fukushima Kids" on the check to indicate that the donation is specifically for this project.

In Japan, you can make a donation by Yubin-Furikae at any post office to the Harmonics Life Center:  00110-1-144224

Listen

Transcript