TsukuBlog

Hope International is holding a charity auction until March 9. Get your bids in now for a luxury vacation!

Here is what the Japan Times has to say about this organization.

HOPE International was founded by three Canadians, including a housewife and a pilot, and now operates in 20 countries worldwide. It’s a very professional no-nonsense NGO with low overheads, using local people in offices and aiming globally to get 95 percent of donations to projects overseas.

“Profit and the nonprofit sectors are now interacting in very interesting and synergistic ways. ‘Do-gooders’ are operating in the for-profit sector as well as the nonprofit sector. There’s room for corporate entrepreneurs, and social entrepreneurs like myself,” says Canada-born Sheppard.

HOPE, for example, is engaging companies not only through providing an opportunity to donate to sustainable development that helps the poor, but also acting as advisers and coaches to firms and individuals who are seeking to develop effective CSR policies and practice.

Read the full story.

A group in Kyoto is trying to raise money to buy computers and support an internet connection for a local orphanage. If you have some spare change, please consider donating it to this worthy cause.

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On Sunday, December 9th, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. the students of FriendsWorld/Global College will be participating in a Clean Up Walk through Shimogamo Jinja and along the Kamogawa to help raise awareness about the environment as well as to raise money for the Karyo-en Orphanage in Kyoto.

Karyo-en is located in the Shimogamo area and houses 20 girls and 18 boys between the ages of 3 and 17 who have been abandoned by their parents, in most cases because they have remarried or somehow changed their lifestyles in a way that did not leave room for their children. Some children are of mixed blood and were abandoned when their mothers remarried into a Japanese family.

Karyo-en is subsidized by the Japanese government and its most basic needs, such as for food, clothing and adult supervision are minimally provided, but as you can imagine, the children’s lives are far from complete. In the past few years, some of the students at Friends World/Global College have brought food, clothing, books and toys to them as well as spent time playing with them and teaching them English.

This semester, one of our students who has been interning there, thought to raise money for computers and an internet connection for them. Although this will in no way come close to filling the gap left by the absence of family, on- line computers will give the children a way to connect to the rest of the world.

We are asking the children at Karyo-en to participate in this clean up walk with us to help empower them and demonstrate they can make a difference in their own lives as well as in the lives of others. We are hoping to raise money to purchase new and/or used computers that have a wireless internet connections, to buy equipment to set up the connection and to pay for it on a monthly basis. We are planning to continue this fundraising drive when necessary to buy additional computers or replace broken or out of date ones and to support the monthly internet connection charges.

We hope that you will help us by offering whatever donation you can. Any support, no matter how small, will be appreciated, so if your children would like to participate in their own name by contributing along with you- even just a few hundred yen- we will be grateful. This is not to say that we are not looking for larger donations- only that we hope that everyone can contribute an amount with which they are comfortable. We would also love to have you join with us in the cleanup, and ask your friends, family and colleagues to be sponsors too. The more money we can raise, the more computers we can buy and the longer we can support the internet connection.

Please contact me or anyone at Friends World/Global College and let us know if you can contribute to this drive in any way. We would like to buy the computers as soon as possible and start setting them up so please let us know how much you would like to pledge by Sunday, December 9. And please suggest to your family - especially your children and your friends - that they participate. Also, if you could help by forwarding this email to anyone who you think might be interested in helping, we would be much obliged.

Here are some of the different ways in which you can help:

Donate money (any amount would be appreciated) by sponsoring the students and children from the orphanage who will be picking up trash in Shimogamo Jinja and along the Kamogawa.

Participate in the cleanup walk and/or after-party with the children.

Donate any used computers you have that have wireless capability and are in good condition.

Forward this email to people on your mailing list who you think may contribute to this very worthy cause.

Start your own fundraising drive by telling your friends about this and asking for their help in any of the listed ways.

Donations can be sent either by mail to

Friends World/Global College
1-287 Akasaka Cho
Kinugasa, Kita-ku
Kyoto 603-8486

or can be deposited into our account at

Bank of Kyoto (Kyoto Ginko)
Kinkakuji Branch
Branch code: 165
Futsu Account number: 553079
Account name: Global College Japan Center
Barbara Stein

Overseas contributions can be sent to the above school address by an international postal order which can be obtained at any US post office.

For more information, contact Daniel Douglass (douglassdanielk[AT]yahoo.com).

Women usually love what they buy, yet hate two-thirds of what is in their closets.

It’s time for a change! Clean out your closets, under your bed, in the spare room, dump out the handbags and start spring afresh with a new look.

Who: You, your friends, and a gaggle of fun girls whom you haven’t met yet

What: A swap! Bring your clothes (maternity wear, handbags, ballgowns, fur coats - it’s all welcome) You can gently place it on the piles and then tear into the fashion, taking as much as you like.

When: Sunday, April 27th from 2-5 PM

Where: Pink Cow, Shibuya (it’s in the basement)

How much: 2500 yen, including one drink ticket

Why: The surplus money raised from the event goes to Habitat for Humanity. The remaining clothing is donated to the Salvation Army. To date, the swaps have generated over 400 bags of clothing in the 4 years that they have been running. You get to meet fun women, new clothes, cocktails, gossip and more!

A few points to remember: Please, no footwear - it has proved to be too difficult to swap. However, if you have a magazine addiction like myself, I am welcoming all magazines for swapping! No books, thank you, but any glossy mag is bound to find a new home.

Above all, remember: Never wear anything that panics the cat.

I hope many of you got a chance to read the latest issue of the Alien Times and read the article on Zaya, an international student from Mongolia who needs your help.

The supporters of Zaya are selling Mongolian meals at the Mongolian booth during まつりつくば(Matsuri Tsukuba or Tsukuba Festival). All the proceeds from the sale will go to the Save Zaya Fund. They are also collecting donations at the booth, but they have a long way to go before they raise the 30 million yen. Their booth is located in front of the Expo Center’s planetarium, and they’ll be there until the end of the festival tomorrow. If you are planning to go to Matsuri Tsukuba tomorrow, please stop by at their booth and support Zaya!

Many people will leave Tsukuba in the next couple of months, so I thought it might be a good time to remind everyone about the possibility of donating used items to various charities. The Tell and Sell Japan website has a list of some places that accept used items. One of the charities on that list is particularly in need of children’s things. I have included the information below.

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Give Kids a Chance
Will accept rehabilitative equipment for children with special needs, wheelchairs, adaptive chairs, foot braces, leg braces, hip supporters, Type A baby strollers (the big sturdy kind), strollers for twins (front and back style), buggy boards, bike toddler seats (with high back and harness). We are sending them to the Philippines to give to kids with special needs in orphanages and to the poor who can’t afford such things. We will pick up around Tokyo and Kanagawa area. Can’t pay cash-on-delivery (chakubarai) fees. We are concentrating our collection around Yokohama and can go as far as Chiba or Saitama. No deadline so please spread the word if you know someone who has any of these items. Give Kids A Chance. rshiroiwa[at]yahoo.com

See some items that have already been donated.

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Often these charities cannot afford the cost of having the item shipped, so you may incur some costs when you send your items. However, the idea that people who really need your used items — people who might not be able to have what you are trying to get rid of unless you make this small effort — are going to be able to make good use of them might help you justify the cost to yourself.

If you know of any charities or organizations that are not on the list, please let me know and I will add them.

This is a message from the Association of Chinese Students in the University of Tsukuba:

Given the recent unfortunate event in China (a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan area last Monday May 12), the Association of Chinese Students in the University of Tsukuba has organized a donation-collecting event within the Tsukuba area. This Saturday, they
are going to be in Ninomiya House room #3308 from 7 pm to 9 pm to collect donations. Those people who want to support the earthquake victims in China, please stop by. Any amount will be welcomed. Even with 100 yen, you are offering a bit of warmth for those who are in need. (Please check out the association website if you can read Chinese.)

If the schedule is inconvenient to you but you still want to help, please make your donation by depositing money to the Association of Chinese Students or the Red Cross Japan. Please find below the
information about both donation accounts:

1. Red Cross Japan (by the post office)
Account number: 00110-2-5606
Account name: 日本赤十字社 (Nihon Sekijyuujisha)
For more details please check this URL:
http://www.jrc.or.jp/sanka/help/news/1394.html

2. Association of Chinese Students in the University of Tsukuba (by Joyo Bank)
Branch: 研究学園都市 (kenkyugakuentoshi)
Account #: 2995843
Account name: Tsukuba daigaku chuugoku ryugakusei gakuyukai
After you make the deposit please notify the Association by email　(acssut[AT]gmail.com) with all the information about the deposit.

As far as I checked over the internet there are some other donation methods in Japan such as Yahoo Wallet. Please check them out to find the most convenient method for you.

The Association of Chinese Students and Scholars in University of Tsukuba are collecting donations to help victims of the snowstorm in China. Please see the details below and forward this message to others who might be able to help.

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As you have already heard, the unexpected snow, the heaviest in five decades in many places, has been falling in China’s eastern, central and southern regions for almost three weeks. It has caused deaths, building collapses, blackouts, traffic accidents and livestock and crop losses. About 100 million people have been affected, about 150,000 houses collapsed, power lines are damaged, many provinces and cities do not have electricity supply, and parts of the country have ground to a halt as the weather causes widespread chaos to railways, roads and airports.

Association of Chinese Students and Scholars in University of Tsukuba proposes the donation from the whole society to help the snowstorm victims in China.

As we are living in Tsukuba, we might not be able to offer direct aids, but there are many alternative things we can do, as long as we care for victims.

1. Please forward the message to your friends, your community or group email lists, post this message on your own blog, post it on the BBS forums you go to. Try to let everybody around you know, no matter they are Chinese or not.

2. Donate : Bank account as follows:
銀行名称：常陽銀行 (Joyo bank)
支 店 名：研究学園都市支店 (Kenkyu Gakuen Toshi Branch)
口座番号：2995843
受取人（カタカナ）：ツクバダイガクチュウゴクリュウガクセイガクユウカイ
受取人（漢字）:筑波大学中国留学生学友会

After donation, please send your information such as names, affiliation, phone number, donated time and amount to this e-mail address: acssut[AT]gmail.com.

Donation Usage:We will remit the donation to The China Charity Federation (CCF) by Chinese Students and Scholars Association in Japan and Chinese Embassy in Japan. All the information about this donation will be published on the official site of Association of Chinese Students and Scholars in University of Tsukuba.

Contact: acssut[AT]gmail.com, 080-6669-2388 (Jiajun Gu)

Xuejun Liu
Chairman
Association of Chinese Students and Scholars in University of Tsukuba

There will be a Kasumigaura Bird Rescue meeting on Thursday, February 28 from 8:45pm at Hot Stuff. Avi and Maurice will both be there to discuss this problem and look for solutions.

To find out more about the Kasumigaura Bird Rescue operation, please click on the following links.

• Save the Birds

href=”http://blog.alientimes.org/2007/12/bird-rescue-underway-six-saved-thousands-to-go/”>Bird Rescue Underway: Six Saved Thousands To Go

• Kasumigaura Bird Rescue

Second Harvest Japan, a non-profit organization that distributes food to soup kitchens, orphanages, the elderly, emergency shelters, single mothers, the homeless, migrant workers, and many others, is hosting a charity concert this weekend.

For those interested in classical music, the concert will feature Kumiko Oguro (Soprano), Yuko Shinmyo (Alto), Yoshiyuki Sakaguchi (Tenor), Kou Kanazawa (Bass), and Naoko Mizutani (Organ). The program will include Ave Maria, Jesus bleibet meine Freude BWV 147 (J.S. Bach), “Messiah” Hallelujah! (Handel), and Christmas songs.

Date: December 15, 2007 (Saturday)
Venue: St. Alban’s Church, Tokyo (across from Tokyo Tower, near Kamiyacho Station)
Time: 18:00 Open 18:30 Start
Price: 2,000 yen in advance, 2,500 yen at the door
Contact 03-3838-3827 / info[AT]2hj.org for tickets

For more information about volunteer opportunities throughout the year, visit the Second Harvest Japan website.

Tatsuro Yokawa, a graduate of the University of Tsukuba’s physical education program, is spending two years as a “teacher of gym teachers” in Mozambique. He is a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He arrived in Mozambique in June 2006 and he will be there until June 2008.

Tatsuro in Ulongue

I visited Tatsuro in July 2007 and got to learn about the town where he is living, Ulongue. Ulongue is located in the north west of Mozambique, just south of the border with Malawi. It is about one hour away by car from Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. The town is very poor, but it has a lively market and Tatsuro’s school helps many of the inhabitants gain employment.

Tatsuro played soccer at university, so he is also using his soccer skills as a volunteer in Mozambique. He belongs to the local soccer team and has become a bit of a celebrity in his area, with people calling out his name and asking if he will be playing in the next game when he walks by. It is really cute to see the kids get all starstruck when they see him. They shout “taTSUru” as he walks past and then run around giggling. (Actually, there is another Japanese volunteer in Tatsuro’s town named Akiko and sometimes the kids shout “Akiko” instead. Japanese names are hard to remember!)

Tatsuro (bottom right) and his team

Anyway, Tatsuro’s community loves soccer, and all the kids spend hours playing it. Unfortunately, soccer balls are extremely scarce, so the kids have to bundle up shopping bags tied together with rope in order to play. Tatsuro would like to do something to remedy this situation with the aid of JICA’s “For the World’s Smiles” program. He would like to ask people in Japan to send soccer balls to one of his professors at the University of Tsukuba, who will then deliver them to JICA, and JICA will then deliver them to Tatsuro in Mozambique. (The postal system is not very reliable where Tatsuro lives, so it is better to get JICA to take care of the delivery rather than sending things directly to Tatsuro’s town.)

Soccer ball made of bags

So, if you have any new or used (but still usable) soccer balls, please send them to the following address by December 5, 2007.

Soccer Balls to Mozambique
c/o Mr. Kunio Yamanaka
Physical Education Building B208
University of Tsukuba
Tennodai 1-1-1
Tsukuba, Ibaraki
305-8574

In Japanese:

〒305-8574 茨城県つくば市天王台1-1-1
筑波大学体育科学系棟B208 山中邦夫
「モザンビークへのサッカーボール」

Tatsuro would like to limit his request to soccer balls, so please do not send any other items (cleats, uniforms, etc.). Also, please make sure that the balls are deflated so that they can be shipped more easily.

As Tatsuro is a personal friend of mine, and since I have visited Ulongue myself and seen what an impact he is having on the community, I can assure you that the soccer balls that you send will be put to good use. The smiles on the kids’ faces when they realize that they get to play with real soccer balls (just like the grown ups) will be absolutely priceless. I hope the Tsukuba international community can help Tatsuro make a small town in southern Africa extremely happy!

Kids playing with their homemade soccer ball

The HOPE International Development Agency is looking for flat screen monitors for its office. If you are looking for a way to get rid of a flat screen monitor, please consider donating to this group.

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From Erin Sakakibara
Chair, Board of Directors
HOPE International Development Agency, Japan

I work for a NGO here in Nagoya who does development projects in impoverished countries. We are moving offices and space will be limited. Our archaic computers with the big bulky monitors will take up too much space. If anyone has a flat screen monitor they’d like to get rid of, we’d take them! We need five all together. Thanks for reading!

This is from Elvie G. Suto, a member of the TCC Bazaar Committee.

I would like to invite you all to come to our Annual Bazaar at the Tsukuba Catholic Church (TCC) (near Hanamasa in Matsushiro) on October 21, 2007, from 10:00 to 13:00.

A variety of articles including clothes, bags, shoes, household items, handicrafts, books, plants, small-sized electrical appliances and many more will be sold at cheap prices. You will also enjoy delicious dishes and delicacies from Brazil, Nigeria and the Philippines. The proceeds of this
year’s bazaar will go to “Bahay Tuluyan”, an orphanage in the Philippines, “Abandoned Babies’ Home”, an orphanage in Nigeria, a seminary in Indonesia and a Catholic Church being built for the Brazilian community in Ishige, Ibaraki.

We are soliciting donations for the bazaar, so if you have articles that you do not need anymore or are no longer using but are still in good shape and functional, you may want to consider donating them to our bazaar.

If you wish to donate for the bazaar, you can bring your donation(s) directly to our church at your convenient time until October 20 (Saturday) or you can give me a call at Cell: 090-6544-4140; Tel/Fax: 029-874-4765 or email me at suto[at]sam.hi.ho.ne.jp so we could arrange to pick-up your donations. You may also contact TCC: 029-836-1723 and leave your contact information. Due to the limited space in our church, however, we can not accept large/medium sized furnitures, large-sized electrical appliances such as desktop PC, refrigerator, washing machine and TV as well as ski and golf goods, wet suits and others.

Thank you very much in advance for your generous donations.

Here is a message from Elvira Suto, the organizer of the Tsukuba Catholic Church Bazaar.

On behalf of the members of the Tsukuba Catholic Church (TCC), I would like to invite you all to come to our annual bazaar at the TCC (near Hanamasa in Matsushiro) on October 19, 2008, from 10:00 to 13:00.

A variety of articles including bags, shoes, household items, handicrafts, books, plants, small-sized electrical appliances and many more will be sold at very low prices. You will also enjoy dishes and delicacies from participating countries: Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The proceeds of this year’s bazaar will go to (1) a Seminary in the Philippines, (2) Davao (Philippines) School and Rehabilitation Center for the Visually Impaired, (3) Myanmar’s cyclone and China’s earthquake victims.

If you have articles that you do not need anymore or are no longer using but are still in good shape and functional, you may want to consider donating them to our bazaar. Due to the limited space in our church, however, we can not accept large/medium sized furniture, large-sized electrical appliances such as desktop PC, refrigerator, washing machine and TV as well as ski and golf goods, wet suits and others. Also, we are not selling used clothing this year. You can bring your donations directly to the TCC or you can contact me (090-6544-4140; 029-874-4765 suto@sam.hi.ho.ne.jp) for pick up arrangements. Donations will be accepted until Friday, October 17.

Thank you very much in advance for your generous donations.

Sincerely yours,
Elvira G. Suto
TCC Bazaar Committee

It’s been very difficult for me to watch the news lately, and I’d like to extend my sympathy to the disaster victims and their families. I am sure there are many of you who feel very frustrated for not being able to offer help to the cyclone/earthquake victims, but there are some things you can do…, even in your living room!

TV Asahi Doraemon Fund
For Sichuan Earthquake and Myanmar Cyclone Victims

Japanese TV station, TV Asahi(テレビ朝日) is currently raising money to help the victims of the earthquake and cyclone. All you need to do is to call 0990-513-006, and listen to the message. 105yen will be donated to the Fund when you listen to the message until the end. Unfortunately, this donation system is only available to NTT landline users and donation cannot be made from cell phones, internet phones or public phones.

For details, visit TV Asahi Doraemon Fund webpage:
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/doraemonbokin/

Japan YMCA Collecting Donations for Myanmar Cyclone Victims
Kumamoto YMCA collected donations for the Cyclone victims in the local shopping district in Kumamoto City on May 11, and Tokyo YMCA collected donations in front of JR Tokyo Station on May 12. YMCAs in Japan will be accepting donations until May 31. The donations will be sent to Asia Pacific YMCA, then will be delivered to Myanmar YMCA.

Japan YMCA: http://www.ymcajapan.org/

You can also make a donation via bank transfer
from May 9 to May 31.
Send donations to:
みずほ銀行(mizuho bank) 神田支店(kanda branch)
口座番号(account number) 普通(futsuu) 1123669
名義(account name) 財団法人東京キリスト教青年会(zaidan houjin Tokyo kirisutokyo seinenkai)

Make sure to enter “Myanmar(ミャンマー)” before your name.
Contact Tokyo YMCA after you made the donation.
Learn more on Tokyo YMCA website:
http://tokyo.ymca.or.jp/pdf/bokin_20080509_02.pdf

Or you can go to a YMCA in your area to donate.
Ibaraki YMCA
24-7 Higashi Arai, Tsukuba City
Phone: 029-852-4128
E-mail: ibaraki@ymcajapan.org

TBS Kangaroo Fund
For Sichuan Earthquake Victims
Japanese TV station TBS is also collecting donations for the earthquake victims through their disaster relief fund.
http://www.tbs.co.jp/kangol/07saigai_2008shisen-mm.html
Call ０９９０‐５１‐６０００ to donate 105yen. Please see how this works above.
or
you can send donations to:
Postal account
口座番号(account number):　00150‐8‐445618
加入者(受取人)名(name):　TBSカンガルー災害募金事務局 (TBS Kangaroo Saigai Bokin Jimukyoku)

Make sure to enter 「中国・四川省大地震(China Sichuan Earthquake)」

NTV 24Hour Televison Fund
For Sichuan Earthquake Victims
http://www.ntv.co.jp/24h/contents/china.html
Send donations to:
Postal account
口座番号(account number):　00160-5-2400
口座名(name):　２４時間テレビ (24jikan terebi)

Make sure to enter 「中国・四川省地震(China Sichuan Earthquake)」