Unleash the Potential of Young Changemakers

Thank you for your kind support and donations for the Tohoku Youth Venture program by Ashoka Japan. 

Tohoku is the area where tsunami hit in 2011. 4 and a half year has passed from that huge earthquake. Now many young powers are needed and many youth's activities encourage local adults.

Tohoku is the "disaster area" but young people are creating new Tohoku.

We have 48 Tohoku Youth Venturers until now. Some are victims of tsunami and some lost their schools or houses. But they all take actions for their hometown and next generation as high school students. Their activities also have made new venturers around them.  

I would like to introduce to you a Youth Venturers who live in Tohoku.

Yuki (Kamaishi High School)

I live in temporary housing in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture for 4 years.

One day, I had one question;

"Why do people at temporary housings call their houses as "KASETSU"(temporary) not "IE"(home)?" 

I asked my friend. The answer was so simple.

"I can't call "IE" such a gray box!"

I wondered what could help them to call the houses "IE".

People feel a sense of familiarity and ownership towards hand-made things.

So I started a project where I and the residents work together to turn gray temporary housings colorful using colored magnets. (Because the housings made by steel.)

I hope to brighten the town through this project.

Dear GlobalGivers,

This is Hiroaki Yabe, Ashoka Japan’s Tohoku Youth Venture Programmatic Leader.

I am very thankful for the support we have received in the past. It has been two years and half since we started this project and we are delightful to inform you that now we have 41 Tohoku Youth Venture teams and individuals who are working for the revival of the Tohoku area that was hit by massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

I would like to introduce Makoto Sasaki, one of our Tohoku Youth Ventures who joined our community in May 2014.

My town suffered terribly from the Great East Japan Earthquake. But what made me wonder was, despite our town having experienced multiple tsunamis in the past, why were there so many deaths? We had prevention classes ever since elementary school. However, they were too complex for me at that time. It's the same today. So I decided to take action by teaching children about disaster prevention through fun, illustrated picture books and story cards. During my story-time programs, children never have to sit still quietly - instead, they get to be physically active and use their entire bodies and loud voices. 

I teach in other cities, like Nagoya, Kobe and Sendai. I am always surprised by how much the children actually know.

I: "What will come after earthquake?"

Children: "Tsunami!"

I: "Is it good to go back after running away?"

Children: "NO, NO, NO!!!"

I: "Why?"

Children: "Tsunami is coming! You will be washed away!"

I: "I wanna go back to take my lovely game."

Children: "NO!!!!! NEVER!!!"

I hope to speak to more children. And I learn more and more together.

Ashoka Japan will continue to provide a network to support young entrepreneurs. Your kind support and donations enable them to keep moving forward for the future of the Tohoku, and thus Japan. Thank you again for your support and please look forward to hear more about our work with aspiring young generations in Japan.