Interim Report
CWS Japan Appeal Phase 2
Emergency Assistance to Victims of Earthquake and
Tsunami in Northeastern Japan
Submission Date: January 13th 2015
I. PROJECT OVERVIEW
Despite three and half years have passed since the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (EJET) in
2011, there are still 234,000 evacuees scattered in 1,154 municipalities in 47 prefectures (data of
December 2014 from Reconstruction Agency) across Japan who are still struggling to find ‘their
recovery’. Approximately 90,000 people still live in temporary housing in Iwate, Miyagi and
Fukushima prefectures and among these evacuees, 45,000 people from Fukushima prefecture still
choose to live outside the prefecture (data of December 2014 from Fukushima Prefectural
Government).
Radiation Impact Observed
Children are among those most affected by radiation threats from nuclear power plant accident.
There are over 13,308 children who have relocated to outside the prefecture, and for children
remaining in Fukushima, there are reports coming up of their deteriorating physical strength and
increase in obesity. The graph below shows physical strength examination conducted by all schools
in Japan (led by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) which takes place
every year in Japan. It has 8 basic test components (including 50 meter sprint, sit-ups, shuttle run,
etc.) and blue dotted line represents data from 2010 (prior to EJET) and red line represents data
from 2013 (2 years from EJET). The result indicates clearly deterioration of physical ability of
children in Fukushima, and media has started to pick up on this phenomenon
(http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/13/national/restricted-movement-taking-obesity-tollon-fukushima-kids/#.VLMkB1Jd7IU).
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Competitiveness as compared to National Average Fukushima Prefecture's 10 year old boys
Grip strength
1.05
Ball throw
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Sit-ups
0.95
0.9
0.85
Broad jump
0.8
50m sprint
Anteflexion
2010
2013
Repetitive jump
Shuttle run
Quality and Accountability Market in Japan
During three years of implementation of the phase 1 initiatives within its CWS emergency appeal
response, CWS Japan advocated strongly for awareness raising and application of globally-agreed
humanitarian accountability standards in Japan. As a result, there is now a Working Group on Quality
and Accountability in humanitarian action as well as cadres of qualified Japanese trainers on the
topic. Materials based on Sphere1 and Humanitarian Accountability Standards (HAP) have been
developed and field-tested in Japanese language, and training modules/materials using examples
from the Japanese context have been produced.
In the current phase, several strategic discussion forums have been held by this working group to
map out the way forward for this initiative in Japan. It takes into account global trend on Quality
and Accountability, such as Common Humanitarian Standards (CHS) and certification scheme being
led by Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR).
DRR Advocacy at its Height with Upcoming WCDRR
The 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) is going to be held in Sendai in
March 2015, and the advocacy efforts that CWS Japan led, along with other NGOs in Japan, are
coming to its last phase of its preparation.
Major achievements so far include the reversal of Japanese government’s stance on whether to
include nuclear issue at WCDRR or not. The advocacy efforts have enabled the topic to be among
those to be discussed at WCDRR, and the network is now considered organizing partner both from
Cabinet Office of Japan as well as Sendai City Government. This advocacy network, called Japan CSO
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The Sphere Project is a voluntary initiative that brings a wide range of humanitarian agencies together
around a common aim - to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance and the accountability of
humanitarian actors to their constituents, donors and affected populations.
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Coalition for 2015WCDRR (JCC2015), is planning on various events towards WCDRR and they can be
viewed from http://jcc2015.net/en/.
In this phase 2 of Emergency Assistance to Victims of Earthquake and Tsunami in Northeastern Japan
program, based on the lessons learned and achievements made in the previous phase, CWS Japan
has decided to provide continuous assistance in: 1) protection from radiation, 2) promotion of
Quality & Accountability for effective humanitarian responses, 3) advocacy and capacity building of
their implementing partner in order to meet the needs of affected people and Japanese society
towards their recovery. Under the above areas, there were four projects launched in May 2014. In
this interim report, the progresses in the last six months on the following projects are reported.
II. OBJECTIVES / ACHIEVEMENT
1. Objectives of phase 2 program
1.1 Protecting Children in Radiation Contaminated Areas through Retreat Programs
 To establish enabling environment for retreat programs, and to implement practical
programs to protect vulnerable long-term harm to children from radiation
exposure/accumulation.
1.2 Promoting Quality and Accountability in Humanitarian Operations in Japan (CWS)
 To strengthen humanitarian response quality and accountability in Japan with continued
capacity building / strengthening initiatives that build on those created in phase one of the
CWS-ACT Alliance response
1.3 Empowering Civil Society Advocacy at Both Policy Level and On-the-ground to Advocate
for Disaster Prevention and Risk Reduction Related to Nuclear Power (JANIC, PBV, CWS)
 To influence the Japanese government, and other governments, to include nuclear disaster
in a updated global DRR framework
 To strengthen civil society platform for effective advocacy utilizing lessons learnt from EJET
1.4 The Fukushima Global Awareness Initiative
 To raise national and global awareness of the impact and lessons learnt from the
Fukushima disaster
 To provide a platform for Fukushima citizens to engage and interact with governmental,
private and civil sector representatives from around the world.
 To advocate for the inclusion of nuclear risks and appropriate risk management measures
for communities living in nuclear risk areas in global DRR policy
 To build an informed community of supporters for Fukushima who can advocate for the
survivors, both nationally and internationally
2. Activity progress
1.1 Protecting Children in Radiation Contaminated Areas through Retreat Programs
The implementing partner, Mimiwosumasu Project (Mimisuma) specializing in coordinating
retreat programs called Tsubasa (‘wing’ in literal translation in English) Program for
Fukushima’s school children who are affected by wide-spread radiation contamination. The
purpose of this program is to temporarily relocate the affected children to outside Fukushima
in order to limit the exposure and risks as well as their anxiety and stress from their current
environment of restricted outside activities. Mimisuma organized a retreat tour for seven
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high school students who were the former participants of Tsubasa Program back in 2012.
Mimisuma organized a special tour under community initiative for these students to
participate in an international symposium called ‘Citizen-Scientist on Radiation Protection’
held in Tokyo in November 2014.
Apart from the symposium, there were lectures given by academics and specialists, followed
by discussion sessions, on environmental issues, mental care and career education for the
students during the symposium. On top of that, one of the highlights was that one of the
male students gave a speech on behalf of the delegates in front of the international audience
sharing his experiences after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Below is an excerpt from his
speech made at this international conference.
Suguru Yokota (17 years old)
I should have enjoyed my high-school student life as a sophomore in Kooriyama City, Fukushima
with my fellow students, but I am now living in a dorm at a high school in Hokkaido as a freshman.
When I graduated from my junior high school, I left my home in Fukushima for Sapporo, Hokkaido
alone to prepare for entering a high school for a year.
All these have happened to me due to the nuclear accident in Fukushima in March 2011. This
incident has altered the course of my whole life pretty much. Of course, it was very tough decision
for me to leave my dear hometown, my friends and my family. However, there were two
experiences which made me decide to relocate.
One was my participation in the retreat programs in Hokkaido in summer 2011 and 2012. I became
so eager to have a ‘normal’ life during my stay in Hokkaido as I had been fighting against radiation
threats every day after the nuclear accident.
Secondly, my knowledge on radiation and its danger I had gained from my study in my first year at
the junior high school also motivated me to evacuate from Fukushima. Accidentally, I had learned
about nuclear power generation and its risk for a whole year just before the accident occurred.
When viewed from outside, the situation in Fukushima appears to be inhumane. Just imagine that
you live in Fukushima being concerned with radiation threats every day. It’s impossible for
someone to physically and mentally stay fit. I think this is not the issue of only me or Fukushima,
but also of this country and the global world that we live in.
What shall we do about our future? What do we need to do now if we don’t want to repeat the
same mistake? I feel even greater responsibility to find the answer and take action as those who
experienced this incident.
I want to tackle this issue and take action as one of the storytellers to not to make the same
mistake. I also want many people to gain accurate knowledge about radiation and health hazard
from constant low-level internal radiation exposure.
Mimisuma, in partnership with CWS Japan and YMCA, is organizing further retreat programs
for children in Fukushima.
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1.2 Promoting Quality and Accountability in Humanitarian Operations in Japan
Promotion of quality & accountability is implemented with Japan NGO Center for International
Cooperation (JANIC) which is the largest NGO network in Japan.
The primary achievements in this reporting period are as follows:
Trainings
 Conducted Q&A trainings for Beginners to train 48 participants from NGOs, medical
institutions, local governments, and JICA (Japanese governmental aid agency).
 Conducted PFA (Psychological First Aid) training to train 17 participants from NGOs,
medical institutions, local governments.
Meetings
 Held two Q&A working group strategic and sharing meetings with 18 participants attended.
Details of strategy side of the meeting is indicated below.
Materials
 The HAP video with Japanese subtitles was produced and reported in the HAP newsletter
(Issue No. 39, July 2014):
http://www.hapinternational.org/who-we-are/hap-newsletter/issue-39-july-2014.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtD0j41mgQQ&feature=youtu.be
 The Sphere video with Japanese subtitles was produced and uploaded on the Sphere
Project website:
http://www.sphereproject.org/blog/humanitarian-standards-in-context-now-in-japanese/
 The training modules developed by Japanese working group were compiled and uploaded
to the Q&A website:
http://www.janic.org/activ/ngoability/system/training-module.pdf
 The new educational material on Istanbul Principles was distributed.
 Special training modules were prepared for Q&A seminar for medical and health workers
and NGO staffs in East Japan.
Q & A Working Group Strategy Meeting
In December, the working team members held a meeting to develop a strategy by identifying
the needs for the next 2 years. It was started with brainstorming the vision of Q & A by
sharing members’ aspirations. Some of these aspirations shared were:
 Mainstreaming Q&A into schools in Japan.
 Take leadership in Q&A’s global movement.
 Share lessons from Japan as ‘urban disaster preparedness’ with global audience.
 Integration of Q&A into local government’s emergency response plan.
 Q&A standards to be utilized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other concerned Ministries
who are related with disbursement of Official Development Assistance (ODA).
 Take leadership in promoting good lessons towards World Humanitarian Summit (WHS)in
2016.
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1.3 Empowering civil society advocacy at both policy level and on-the-ground to advocate for
disaster prevention and risk reduction related to nuclear power (JANIC, PBV, CWS)
In collaboration with JANIC and Peace Boat Disaster Volunteer Center (PBV), CWS Japan takes
the lead in coordinating JCC2015 as a member of secretariat team in order to participate
actively in the establishment of the Post-2015 Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (HFA2)
and towards WCDRR.
The primary achievements in this reporting period are as follows:
Membership of JCC2015
 The network has grown to have 101 members (as of January 2015) including NGOs,
religious entities, cooperatives, and private sector corporations.
Representations
 Participated in government led 2nd preparatory meeting for WCDRR among Japanese
Ministries in Tokyo on 29th of May, and recommended to take into consideration nuclear
issues at WCDRR.
 Became among organizing partner of Sendai city for public forum events with JCC2015
specific events confirmed (civil society workshops, global conference by citizens, people’s
pavilion, etc.).
 Sent two representatives to the 1st Prep Comm held in July 2014 in Geneva, and held a
meeting with GNDR (Global Network for Disaster Reduction) and other related NGO
networks to prepare such CSO conferences in Sendai.
 JCC2015 released a position paper "Joint Statement: Toward the UN Climate Summit – for
a world without a climate change crisis and nuclear power" on 22nd September 2014 to
oppose the consideration of including nuclear power as a solution to climate change.
Events
 Organized joint event with Cabinet Office was held on December 5th 2014 to raise
awareness on WCDRR among Japanese public.
 In collaboration with GNDR, study tour planned and organized during Third World
Conference on Disasters to comprehensively understand the realities of disaster struck
areas in Japan (including Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures).
1.4 The Fukushima Global Awareness Initiative
 JCC2015 has undertaken rigorous stakeholder consultation on lessons from nuclear
emergency in Fukushima, and these lessons have been translated into actionable
recommendations, which are formed into a tool kit to reduce similar disaster risks in the
future,
 Above tool, called ‘Fukushima Booklet’ will be translated into English, French, Korean,
Chinese until WCDRR.
III. ISSUES/CHALLENGES

Sensitivity around radiation issue is significant in Fukushima. Some parents in Fukushima
indicate that thinking about radiation threat on daily basis is too stressful. Any initiatives
in Fukushima should take into consideration of such ‘fatigue’ faced by such parents.
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
Fukushima Booklet project is an initiative to disseminate lessons learnt from Japan to
contribute to reducing risks in other countries. As the booklet is just a tool, it will require
additional resources for further dissemination of the tool regionally/globally, and to
establish regional/global relationship with civil society networks to implement nuclear risk
reduction initiatives with this tool.
IV. FINANCIAL SUMMARY
The program is financed by kind contribution by following donors/partners.
Development and Peace
Trull Foundation
Quail Roost Foundation
United Church of Christ
American Baptist Churches
Disciples of Christ
United Church of Christ
Presbyterian Church Of Canada
United Church of Christ
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Total
$
220,222
$
10,000
$
5,000
$
100,000
$
25,000
$
50,431
$
36,000
$
4,456
$
100,000
$
398,400
$
949,509
For more details on expenditures, please see the Annex for financial report.
V. IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES
CWS Japan
CWS Japan program, together with local partners, assisted more than 230,000 individuals through an
emergency response in phase 1 that included food distribution, mobile health services, debris
clearance, and psychosocial support. Later, efforts were placed on enhancing knowledge and
protection for radiation issues, supporting farmers on land regeneration, and developing local
communities’ response capacities to future disasters. CWS Japan continues to work in partnership
with Japanese local partners to implement objectives of this phase 2 program.
Mimiwosumasu Project (Mimisuma)/YMCA
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The Mimiwosumasu Project specializes on provision of retreat opportunities for Fukushima’s school
children to locations outside of Fukushima so that exposure and risks of radiation is decreased along
with anxiety and stress. The organization also played a central role in establishing 3.11 Ukeire
Zenkoku Council which links people of Fukushima with those municipalities who accommodate
Fukushima children. This has helped to encourage more retreat program opportunities for the
children of Fukushima.
In this phase, Mimisuma has initiated new partnership with National Council of YMCAs of Japan
which is a well-known worldwide organization. Mimisuma organizes retreat tours by liaising with
children’s nursing homes or other educational institutions in Fukushima while YMCA provides quality
activities for children by using their own accommodations.
Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC)
JANIC is a non-profit, non-partisan networking NGO founded in 1987 by a group of NGO leaders.
JANIC’s members are the NGOs who are working abroad for international cooperation. JANIC’s main
activities are: 1) To promote Partnership among NGOs 2) To strengthen capacity and social
responsibility of NGOs 3)Policy advocacy and campaign 4) To promote support and participation by
citizens with NGOs’ activities 5) To promote dialogue and networking between NGOs and other
sectors in the society. After 3.11, about 40 out of 98 member organizations of JANIC has been
operating relief and rehabilitation work in the Earthquake and Tsunami affected area to support
survivors. JANIC set up Taskforce for Disaster Response and provides information and various
services to support these organization’s effective operation and smooth handover of their activities
to the local partners.
Peace Boat
Peace Boat is a Japan-based international non-governmental and non-profit organization that works
to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development and respect for the
environment. Peace Boat seeks to create awareness and action based on effecting positive social
and political change in the world. Peace Boat pursues this through the organization of global
educational programs, responsible travel, cooperative projects and advocacy activities. These
activities are carried out on a partnership basis with other civil society organizations and
communities in Japan, Northeast Asia, and around the world. In this emergency, Peace Boat has
been mobilizing their extensive network of volunteers for relief efforts in Ishinomaki City of Miyagi
Prefecture.
National Christian Council in Japan (NCCJ)
NCCJ is made up of 33 member and associate member churches and organizations. NCCJ member
organizations include those related to international networks such as the YMCA and the Fellowship
of Reconciliation, as well as others that are uniquely Japanese, such as the Christian Political League
and the Japan Christian Medical Association. The networks to which NCCJ relates include the
Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), enabling Christians in
Japan to stand in solidarity with people and partner churches throughout Asia and other parts of the
world. Consultations between the NCCJ and other councils of churches in other countries have
emphasized issues of minority discrimination, human rights, peace, and justice. NCCJ continues to
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work ecumenically as well as with NGOs, citizens' groups, and people of other faiths in the area of
peace. NCCJ is currently coordinating the emergency response on behalf of its members through the
Japan Ecumenical Disaster Response Office (JEDRO), which it leads.
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