New faces that showed up this morning: Daniel R. (Abigail’s father) from Osaka, Joel’s mother Lynn from Ikoma, John from Kyoto, Howard from Tokyo, Eric and Fumie from Kyushu, Ban from CRASH/Singapore, and the Yamaras (family of 3 barbers).
So today we divided into three teams. Ian, Abi, Dan, and I went to sensei’s other dojo that had earthquake damage and needed cleaning. Ian and I put on the full rainsuits, hoods and masks; looked like tall skinny martians, even completing the picture with a “ray gun” (the pressure washer). After cleaning the ceiling (a little too well—one tile fell down), Daniel and Abi mopped the floor, and the sensei showed us some broken glass that could wait until next time. Before we knew it, sensei and his wife brought out a boxed lunch and snacks and we sat on rubber karate mats in the parking lot and talked about the earthquake and about his favorite hot springs resort—well, they talked—everyone there spoke nihongo (Japanese) except me. Abigail was nice enough to translate the gist of the conversation.
Did I mention that coffee flavored ice cream is actually good on a hot day?
Ban and the Yamaras went to the Watana Ho (Yasuhiro’s) neighborhood to provide free haircuts to tsunami victims.
The rest of today’s group (about 10) descended on the neighborhood (near the tunnel exit and the danchi) where Be One’s new rental house is located. They finished shoveling contaminated mud out of the deep gutters opposite the house and fanned out to offer assistance to any neighbors that needed help.
After our lunch we joined that group just in time to tackle our specialty—ripping out floor boards and shoveling mud out from under a floor into sand bags. About three blocks away lives a lady named Kubo San, and she had started ripping up the floor, apparently by herself. Ian shows his ability to lift whole buildings (well, floors). Maya makes us all look bad, actually crawling under the front floor. While we are working, Kubo San tells Dan that she had been visiting her 91-year-old mother in the hospital when the tsunami hit; fortunately, her 92-year-old father was on the second floor of the house so he was ok. She tells us that neighbors in 2 houses nearby did not survive—the single story houses were death traps.
This time when we pray for Kubo and her family in a circle in her front yard, something special happens. Daniel starts and then Abi, and though I can’t really understand a word, the conviction and feeling is so strong that all of our eyes are watering. . . Chad shows up after all the work is done and we find a stump in the yard to rip out and we throw all of our random tools at it and sure enough it finally comes out, so we say goodbye and carry off our trophy. And as we drive away I see the playground they cleaned while I was gone and all across the front of the playground along the curb are boxes and boxes of flowers.
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