Cleanup effort enters new phase (JAPAN)

Providing relief: Volunteer workers move aid supplies last week in tsunami-hit Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. KYODO

As volunteers dwindle in Tohoku, companies and NPOs step in

By NATSUKO FUKUE
Staff writer/JapanTimes

Since the Golden Week holidays in early May, fewer volunteers have gone to the Tohoku region to help it clean up from the devastation caused by the March 11 quake and tsunami.

The American Chamber of Commerce hopes to rectify this deficit by dispatching employees and executives of American companies to Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, as volunteers beginning Thursday.

During the aid mission through Sunday, about 40 participants will help remove mud from homes in collaboration with the nongovernmental organization Peace Boat.

"Our goal is to allow these influential leaders to see the real situation in Tohoku," said David Slater, an associate professor of cultural anthropology at Sophia University and the initiator of the project.

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