As you all know, March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by a devastating 9.0 Magnitude Earthquake. Shortly after, a fire broke out in various districts. And to make matters worse, a 10 meter tsunami followed, which took everything in its path.

As of today the confirmed number of dead reached 2,478. The toll is expected to rise, as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas.

It is difficult to focus on finals and papers when people in our homeland, our country, are suffering. It brings tears to our eyes to watch news clips and read articles reporting the devastation and countless victims to Mother Nature's disaster.
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Many of you may be interested in helping the victims, but at the same time unsure of exactly how. As the Japanese Student Association of the University of California, Santa Cruz, we have thought up of three different ways you can help our people in Japan.

1) In Japanese culture, the crane is a symbol of hope, luck, and peace. A thousand paper cranes are said to make a wish come true.
At the beginning of next quarter, we will be making paper cranes at the Pandraiser, our quarterly Japanese Bake Sale, in the effort to reach a thousand paper cranes and wish for the successful reconstruction of Japan. If you could stop by- maybe even write your wish on a crane- and make one to support to our wish, that would help a lot.

Fundraising:

Next quarter, along with the paper cranes, we will be conducting a fundraiser through selling T-shirts. We will also be collecting any donations, and our goal is to reach $10,000.

2) T-Shirts: At our Pandraiser and various other events we will be hosting next quarter, we will be selling "Pray for Japan" T-shirts. They are currently in the process of designing, and hopefully we will have them ready by the beginning of Spring Quarter. Please keep and eye out for them! All profits made by the shirts will go towards our donation to the victims of the earthquake. More details/design will be posted up shortly.

+++If you are not part of the UCSC community but would still like to support us through purchasing a shirt, please contact us and we will do our best to work things out.

3) We have created an online donation page where you, or your friends/family from outside of UCSC, can contribute to the cause.

Any amount of donation can make a difference.
**Click this link to donate:

Additionally, if you feel like you don't necessarily need an extra shirt or want to do an online payment, stop by the bookstore next quarter at our Pandraiser and we will have a donation box set up.

Let's all take action and show how much we care.
More than 50 countries are offering their help to Japan.
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世界中の皆さんへ：

優しさを忘れないで下さい。あなたが不安な時、きっと周りの人も不安なはずです。

お互い頑張らなければ、乗り越えられない事だらけです。

人間は支え合って生きていかなければいけないのです。

こんな状況でも精一杯自分に出来る事をして周りの人のためになろう。

NOTE:

JSA apologizes for not knowing the exact place where this money will go. Currently, Japan is in a state of chaos, and while inside the country and prefectures there are certain stations where people can donate, they have not yet been made accessible to people outside of the country.

Manami (JSA President) is currently in contact with the Japanese consulate in San Francisco, CA and is in the process of finding the official word as to where we can send the money. We strongly believe that it would be best to send it directly to a certain prefecture or local organization so that we are aware of the exact placement of our donation.

However, if by any circumstance, this does not work out, we will be sending the donation to a third party non-profit organization, such as the Red Cross. We will remain transparent throughout this process and any further development on where the funds will be headed will be updated. Thank you.

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