The reaction to Then and Now has been nothing but positive. It´s been really encouraging and inspiring to see how much people are moved by the film, but it has also lead to more than just that - it has lead to action.

In Australia, a gallery owner from Melbourne - who specialises in Japanese art, old and new - decided to hold a fundraising event after seeing the film and are coming to Ishinomaki this week in order to hand deliver a generous donation to the Association for the Revitalisation of Ishinomaki.

I just a read comment under the film on vimeo from a few days ago:

"This video inspired my husband and I to begin to consider moving to Ishinomaki. We'd both lived in Japan for a number of years before getting married. We had been planning to move to Tohoku this July to live here long-term but weren't sure which area to choose. We came to Ishinomaki from Germany two weeks ago have loved getting to the know the people. OMG, the people of Ishinomaki are incredible!!! Last night we went to the bar and really enjoyed talking with Matsumura-san. I cannot ever thank you enough for this beautiful, inspiring video. I must have watched it more than 25 times by now!"

We happen to be going to Ishinomaki this week to accompany the Australian donors when they hand over their donation. We might also be able to meet this couple who recently moved to the town. And on Sunday, 22nd April, the film will screen in Switzerland (with Italian subtitles) at another charity event to help raise funds for the survivors of the tsunami and nuclear catastrophe.

The results so far seem to be more than ten-fold the amount of time, effort and expenses we put in to the film. I´ve never been that much of a business person, but so far this project has been the best investment I have ever made.

Today I spoke briefly by skype with Kehoe Galleries in Melbourne, Victoria, who were holding both an exhibition opening of Japanese artists as well as a fundraising event for Tohoku. Lesley Kehoe, the gallery owner, specifically wants to support Fujita San and his efforts to help districts of Ishinomaki in their revitilisation efforts.

Then and Now was screened at the event, and then I spoke directly to the audience whilst the following footage played. This footage shows the area of Minato, on the eastern side of the river in Ishinomaki where some people are still living in badly damaged houses. It was here that we visited for the anniversary, and it is here that Fujita San is doing a lot of his work.

It looks the donations will be significant and that the Minato Community Hall will be able to achieve their goal of reconnecting electricity and water.

 

Minato Streets, Ishinomaki, Japan - February 2012 from Paul Johannessen on Vimeo.

4:30 AM arrival at Ishinomaki. Drove down to the shore to see a string of lights from fishing boats out on the horizon. Industry is operating again to some degree in this part of Tohoku.

5:15 AM arrival at a live satellite feed point being used by news around the world. The backdrop is a well lit boat, brought to rest on land by the tsunami almost exactly year earlier. I set up camera to shoot a time lapse of the sunrise. Pockets of blue begin to appear in an otherwise grey sky. There's hope, even for the day's weather.

7:00 AM and I'm interviewed live by Channel 9 in Australia. They have footage from my docu but I don't know how they used it. I try to reduce the enormity and complexities of the recovery into a half minute answer or less. There is a long delay so not much hope for conversation. It seems to be over very quickly.

11:00 AM and preparations begin at Minato Bunkan - a small community hall in a heavily damaged but still used part of town - where friends and Then and Now recording artists will play a recital for the memorial service.

1:00 PM. Around 100 locals, volunteers, and other visitors attend the performance. I have never worked on a project where everything falls into place so easily. Everyone is happy to give up their time and even pay there way, as well as help organize and execute the job. This feels blessed - the concert was beautiful. The audience loved it. Smiles and happiness and an occasional tear all around.

5:00 PM. Head into town where there are so many people, and I realize that most of these extra people are probably ex-residents of the city who have returned from their new lives for this day. The streets feel buzzing. There are young people around - lots of them. It's not the ghost town it has deemed on the earlier trips I have made here. It feels good. A large display of candles are being lit, housed in jars with messages of hope and remembrance written on them. It's small in scale, simple, personal and real. And it's beautiful. Tears well up. Somebody wrote "pray for Japan" only falling for the classic "Engrish" mistake, they wrote "play for Japan". Today Kaoru and Yasu did just that, and it was one of the most magical events I've ever been part of.

8:00 PM The long drive home, where in Fukushima prefecture it was snowing.

A lot of local grass-roots organisations have formed in the past year and they would still be very grateful to receive donations in order to help them rebuild. This can be a better way to give as it is very targeted on small scale projects on the ground that will really make a difference to people´s lives.

The following links are to some local organisations in Ishinomaki that donations can be made to.

All sites are in English:

http://www.ishinomaki311.org/enindex.html

http://itsnotjustmud.com/

http://www.ganbatte365.jp/en/index.html

 

I´m looking forward to the anniversary. Just like I was happy to see 2011 finally come to a close, so it feels good to have another marker pass by since the events of last March. But this year I will also be taking part in something special.

In the first edit of Then and Now, I was fortunate enough to have two musicians give some time to the project. Kaoru Arai and Yasuyuki Yamazaki performed an original composition of mine that was used in the film. They were both very happy to take part as it felt like an opportunity to really use their skills for something worthwhile.

So, I asked them if they would also like to give a live concert for the locals of Ishinomaki at the newly opened Minato Bunkan community hall. They accepted without hesitation. So we will embark on a slightly crazy adventure. We´ll drive up to Ishinomaki on the night of March 10th, arriving in the morning on March 11th. After hopefully getting a little bit of kip, and I another cameraman will spend some time filming the performance and day´s activities at the bunkan. Then we´ll all head home again. I hope to get a few more interviews with some of the same characters in Then and Now, as well as observe them in their communities, amongst their friends and neighbours as they reflect on all that has happened and think of what is to come.

For the documentary, it may be but a small part of the final story, or it may end up being a significant turning point for some of the characters involved. It will be a privelege to bear witness to the day, regardless of how the filming goes.

Heading in to the Pink Cow tonight to screen Then and Now, followed by a short Q+A afterwards. Come down if can - and I´ll be uploading some snaps here later.

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Back in early February, a cancelled booking left me a few days spare so I jumped on a train up to Ishinomaki.

The guys at It's Not Just Mud let me stay at their place, and by a stroke of good fortune it turned out that volunteers from INJM would be helping Fujita San rebuild his house.

The 15 minute edit of the docu finishes on a shot of Fujita San's house, and now, after this latest trip, I also have a lot of footage of the rebuilding inside his house. I also managed to sit down with Fujita and conduct another interview which will all work nicely in combination with all my new footage.

I travelled alone this time, and it was more difficult to manage all the elements of the shoot, but it was a productive three days none the less.

I recently completed a single day round trip up and back to Kesennuma for a shoot. There, the wave reached enormous heights as the town is at the end of a long narrow bay, surrounded by high mountains.

 

And there in the middle of the now cleared town stands this ship. I believe it hasn´t been decided yet about whether to keep it or remove it, but I would vote for keeping it. Such a powerful reminder for future generations about the power of the ocean and the danger of building so low in such a highly seismically-active part of the world.