The Yomiuri ShimbunOITA—A couple running a wood processing company in Oita Prefecture will continue to hold woodworking workshops for children at day care centers in disaster-hit Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, despite having a subsidy terminated.
Eiichi Watanabe, 49, president of Kyushu Daito in the city of Nakatsu, Oita Prefecture, and his wife Michiko, 44, are determined to carry on the program so as “not to forsake the disaster-hit areas.” Initially, they were given a subsidy from their prefecture for the workshop, but the funds were discontinued last year.
The couple participated in a project to provide benches made from Oita Prefecture wood to evacuees living in temporary housing in the disaster-hit areas in November 2011. Watanabe was assigned to create benches for Higashi-Matsushima, where more than 1,000 people were killed in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Watanabe visited all eight public day care centers in the city on his own to hold workshops to make wooden birdhouses with more than 100 children.
The Watanabes brought locally produced cedar and tools, such as hammers, from Nakatsu with them. Most of the children were using such tools for the first time, and they were very excited when they finished making their products, according to the couple. The children said they would decorate the birdhouses at their homes. Some of them even jumped up to hug the couple, the Watanabes said.
The couple, learning that many children lost their parents or relatives in the disaster, grew determined to develop bonds with the children in the city.
However, the subsidy provided by Oita Prefecture for the Watanabes’ workshops ended last year. The couple organized workshops at environment-related events in Oita Prefecture and elsewhere, for which they charged fees. Drawing many people, these events raised several hundred thousand yen for their workshops with the Higashi-Matsushima children.
In July last year, the couple loaded wooden materials and tools into a van and left their home for Higashi-Matsushima. Taking four days to visit day care centers in the city, they taught children how to make small tables. The couple economized by staying overnight in the van or in a tent.