NEWS

被災地のこども達が描く想いと心のメッセージを集めた【Global message relay】と知られざる被災地の姿を記録した【THE DAY & AFTER】の特設サイトが本日オープン致しました。左のメニューバーの「■Gallery」から特設サイトを見ることができます。是非こども達の絵とメッセージ、そして被災地に住む方々の想いをご覧ください。

hugjapan is a non-profit organization aiming to support the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake through activities related to art and design. We provide help to disaster areas by connecting the people who have the strength to continue living there with people around the world who want to show them their support. We also conduct activities in these areas to support the livelihoods of the disaster victims.
Through March 10th to March 16th at Espace Evolution, Paris, we will display an exhibition of “Global Message Relay,” one of hugjapan’s projects, and photographs and footage taken in the disaster areas. The objective of this exhibition is to accurately convey the reality of the affected areas, and to pass on words of support from around the world to disaster victims.
Through spreading the circle of support, we hope to connect victims with the world and ultimately promote the swift reconstruction of disaster areas.
We will be putting on display 400 messages and drawings by children with the themes “Words to convey and a future to picture” and “My dream.” We will also have visitors write messages to disaster areas, and deliver them to the children after the exhibition.
hugjapan has conducted exhibitions in New York and Taipei so far, and hopes to add more cities to the list.

●展示会について (Japanese)
●about Exhibition (English)
●au sujet d’EXHIBITION (French)
●關於展示會 (Chinese)

Hug Japan Project Chief Originator (CEO, Tripod Design Co.Ltd)

All members of Hug Japan originator have been working on the project with our hope of sharing a real situation of children in affected areas with people all over the world by delivering voices of children.

The numbers of children we met during the project was 446 in total. Considering the scale of the disaster attacked northern part of Japan broadly, this is just a limited group of them.
However in a future, as we continually assisting them in many ways, we will be deeply aware of the concept that we are living with the children together.

The reason we travelled to New York as the first city for our travelling exhibition was a result of coincidence in a sense brought by piled chances and good connection with people around us.

As visiting affected areas to meet children, we recognized the important fact that a lot of children have been suffered by stress caused by the most disastrous earthquake and tsunami, as well as anxiety and burden in long days in an evacuation facility.

We are hoping to reduce their burden as much as possible, at the same time to respect their own initiative for own expression.

With our motivation to assist children in affected areas for something we can be a help of, we started visiting various school and group of children in affected areas with cooperation by teachers in elementary schools, waiting the possible timing when school activity reopening after about 2 months from the disaster.

At the time in affected areas support network has not yet functioned and the site was in the middle of disorder. Inevitably, regional education service was gradually opening with unstable management.

A lot of school facilities or equipment has swept away by tsunami, moreover, infrastructure for school operation such as school meals was in a unbalanced situation in materials or labor, and also the site was under pressure to develop measures for continuous aftershock.

In spite of the circumstances, a lot of children we met in each district were comparatively fine, and some of them recovering original energy they had been with.

The original concept of Hug Japan activity is to assist and share our experience of together in the field of creation of Art and Design.
People originally have an instinct to image and create something. We believe the outburst of the motive for creation from our deepest part of our heart will nourish the happiness of life.

Even if our activity itself is calm and gentle, throughout conversation and activity in the field of Art and Design, we are hoping to spend time together with children continually.

Deputy President of Education Business Division of Benesse Corporation , General Manager of “Assist Children’s Future Project”

I feel it was significant to do the series of projects including visitting the three affected prefectures in Tohoku and Ibaraki prefecture, having children express their current feeling on papers, and sharing their artwork with people in New York City, all within two months after the earthquake.

While financial and material support temporarily help the children who went trhough the tragedy, I think that what they need in the mid and long-term is the emotional connection with people with whom they ccould share their distress.

We would like to continue sending information and manpower regardless of the scale of the suppoert. East Japan will eventually be rebuilt. In that sense, this project is a series of supports that will come to an end someday unlike continuous activities done by wolrd-class organizations such as Unicef and Unesco. Until the end comes, we shall try to overcome the catastrophie by looking forward and cooporating with each other. Lastly, I would like to thank all the organizations that are supporting us. We would appreciate your continung support on the future events.