For over eighteen months the children of Minamisoma were not allowed to play outside. Several indoor play spaces were built but the amount of time kids were allowed to be outside was kept to a minimum. By July 2013 the Takami Park had been thoroughly decontaminated and had become one of the only locations that […]
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The Kid’s Room Ohisama school was built to replace a daycare center destroyed in the 3/11 tsunami. We first met the principle of the school during our Playground of Hope #3 installation in Kesennuma. We learned about their wonderful new school built entirely from a single donation from a local construction company. Great story, but
Kamaishi is a very hilly city. Flat, developable land outside the tsunami zone is in great demand and expensive. As a result, suitable “park”, locations were extremely difficult to find. Thankfully, a Shinto priest, Fuji-san ,and his wife, have turned their farm land into a community space called Cosmos. Here both children and elderly residents
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Minamisakai was a milestone for the Playground of Hope for a number of reasons. first, it was the first time we realized our goal of helping build community at a temporary housing location. Also, because it was Tohoku’s largest temporary housing community it gave us the opportuntiy to build our largest set, the massive Design
The town of Otsuchi was devastated by the March 11 tsunami. Approximately 10% of its residents have been confirmed dead or missing, including nearly all municipal workers. All but 30 of the town’s 650 fishing boats were destroyed as well as several schools. The Otsuchi Elementary School is a massive temporary structure built to replace
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The Orikasa Hoikuen was in the direct path of the tsunami but undamaged due to its location (pictured below) high on a hill. For many months it served as an evacuation shelter for residents who lost their homes. Today it operates as a day care and community center for families living in nearby temporary housing
The Midori Kindergarten was completely destroyed in the 3/11 tsunami, two children lost their live, several were orphaned and more than half of the 52 remaining children living in temporary housing. The kindergarten was rebuilt as a temporary structure seen in the picture below. When the school reopened enough funds were raised to purchase a
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The Shishiori neighborhood in Kesen-numa city, Iwate prefecture, suffered enormous damage from not only the tsunami but also a terrible fire that burned for four days caused by spilled fuel from the town’s fishing fleet. The fire destroyed many houses that were not in the path of the tsunami. The picture on the left is
A Message from the Director of Sakura Koen: One of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Ishinomaki on 3/11 was Watanoha. Many homes, business and community parks were completely destroyed. I was fortunate to be able to rent a 570sqm plot of land from the owner of a tsunami damaged house who no longer wished to
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A Message from the Owner of Pinocchio Day Care “In 1995 we began daycare operations as a registered Japanese NPO. Our facilities operated independently until 2011, providing daycare services to both healthy children as well as children with disabilities, sometimes severe ones, whose families were unable to find daycare elsewhere in Miyagi prefecture. As an
