Day 9 - 1st Relief 2.0 Mission to Ishinomaki

Waking up at Tokyo Hakerspace feels so good compared to City Hall at Ishinomaki.

After breakfast, the experience of Ishinomaki somehow felt like a dream as everything around us feels so normal. We had electricity, Internet, running water. It was hard to relate to our experience before, and we were very thankful for the luxuries we are bestowed and prayed for those who were still in peril. Our meeting today was with some volunteers at Cue702 in Tokyo. We had an information sharing secession to tell them what we saw at Ishinomaki, and shared about Relief 2.0 and Relief Enterprise. This was also the place to get speakers to participate in TEDxEarthquake9.0

After some talks, there was a brainstorming secession on "Send Books", a project that was going to send books to the survivors of the Earthquake.

There was a few groups working on the same project, and in the end, we shared our results. I was surprised that every table had a different idea, and all of them were very creative and distinct. The Japanese people are indeed creative and think differently.

The building Cue702 was in was a little strange. There were thick walls, thick metal doors, window grills and padded doors. It was like a mental asylum, holding the most dangerous criminals or mutants. But alas, it was simply, a residential building, converted to an office. I was shocked.

After the meeting, we proceeded to a charity event at Clover at Ebisu. Clover was a private club, and it was sort of a pot luck event, and people donate and get alcohol.

When we were leaving halfway, the event had already received more than 100,000 yen in donations!

It was a great fun event, and everyone was very friendly.

-- Robin Low