"Why do you do this?"

This questions, phrased differently from many people has been asked over and over in the past year.

"Why are you helping us?"

Why did I go to a region of Japan I was completely unfamiliar with last March? What made me do something I was so profoundly uncomfortable doing?  I've tried several answers.
"Japan was home to me for many years."
"I thought I could help."
"I was in a position where I could.  My family was supportive, and I had the freedom in my professional life to take time off."

None of these responses have really convinced anyone.  The explanations I've offered are incomplete to those in Tohoku who simply don't understand why a gaijin would drop everything and do something, to them, so odd and yet meaningful.

I now have two answers, both of which (to me, at least) speak volumes.

Here's one answer.

This was given to me by a boy at a day care center back in December when I made the trip up as Mrs. Claus, handing out candy to kids.  After the kids had opened their stockings filled with bits of chocolate and candy canes, one boy came up to me from behind, tugging at my Mrs. Claus skirt.

"Give this to Santa," and he hands me these two sheets.
"What is it?"
"Money.  I want Santa to have it."  I look at the two "bills" and fight tears.
"Okay," I manage, and then "Thank you."
One of the men with me, seeing I'm about to lose it, asks, "How much are you giving Santa?" pointing to the amounts written on the origami paper.
"One hundred thousand million billion."  Or, it could just have easily been "a bajillion."
I laugh.  The boy laughs.  I thank him again.  He smiles and runs away.

Then there are the women.  Those who did not lose their homes in the tsunami have reached out to the women now living in temporary housing quarters.
"Let's knit together," is the invitation extended as they try to rebuild the sense of community and neighborhood lost to the women who don't know their new neighbors in the temporary housing complexes.

They need yarn.  They don't care what kind, color, amount, or quality.  I set up a site on Amazon.com (the Japanese site: amazon.co.jp) where people can send yarn to them.

Here's the link.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/registry/wishlist/ref=wish_list

In sharing this story about women coming together, news spread to women in Fukushima who also now want to start their own knitting group.  I reached out to the "knitting teacher" in Ofunato, asking if her group would host the women from Fukushima.  Now women in Iwate are helping women in Fukushima.

This is why I do what I do.