After a long bus ride from Shinchi Town, we arrived at a Hawaiian themed resort located in Iwaki. We quickly settled into the empty ballroom that was reserved for us and had a mini lip sync battle and dance party over the PA system while we waited. The 6 RFJK participants for this year along with 3 former participants trickled in and we began with a few ice breakers. About 45 minutes and lots of laughs later, we had dinner. This year's participants were quite shy as Bridge Club members tried their best to coax smiles out of them during their conversations. When it was time to leave, they suddenly started becoming more talkative giving me hope that this would continue once they come to Hawaii. We now have a 2+ hour bus ride back to Sendai.
We started our long day with an hour and a half long bus ride to Shinchi Town, a small fishing town at the edge of Fukushima prefecture many miles from the nuclear plant. It was sad to hear that although many of the fishermen bravely headed towards the tsunami to save their boats (and therefore their livelihoods) many of them still cannot make a living because of the stigma attached to anything they catch. We were treated to a traditional kamishibai (paper theater) presentation and toured one of the elementary schools (Nagahama) that is now in a state of disrepair. We need the lieutenant mayor and went to the nearby temporary housing complex. We conversed with the dozen residents and had fun eating with them and performing for them.
