I know, I've been very silent on the matter of the disasters in Japan. I feel rather overwhelmed with sorrow whenever I think about it so I've fallen back on my usual coping method which is to just keep running around dealing with trivial matters. I have been happy to find out about Charity Navigator, which provides great detail on various charities and allows you to compare and make educated decisions about how to donate money. Stars, pie charts and bar graphs are highly appealing to me.
I think anyone would be affected by the prospect of such devastation, but we do have a more personal connection to Japan. Our dad came from Japan when he was in his mid-twenties, to attend graduate school. He rarely returned to his homeland and threw himself rather wholeheartedly into American culture. Most of his family is in the Tokyo area so is out of harm's way as far as the natural part of the disasters. He did attend school in Sendai, which is in the affected region, but that was so long ago and he has lost touch with everyone. Nonetheless, our thoughts have been with the people as they struggle with lost lives and livelihoods, as well as the ongoing threat of nuclear disaster.
Besides our own charitable giving, we are pleased to be working in partnership with the Japan Tsunami Relief group of students at the UW-Madison, who are raising money for relief via the Badger chapter of the American Red Cross, which then works with the Japanese Red Cross. They brought us several pairs of origami crane earrings which are for sale here at the shop for $8. 100% of the sales go to the Japan Tsunami Relief organization.
There is much of Japan that inspires us - an amazing quality of aesthetics and attention to detail, the care and reverence for Craft (efforts to preserve its cultural heritage via the living national tresaures, for example), the colors, the shapes, the forms. Our thoughts are with the nation as it works to recover and rebuild.
