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From the Editors
This is sort of a special edition of Hokkaido Today. I also wanted to encourage you to check out our friends at Hokkaido Insider, Ken and Neil Hartman. They have a great mailing list where you can get all the support info for international people living in northern Japan.
Hokkaido Watch
ASK AROUND AND HELP A FRIEND
SEEKING INFORMATION FOR A STORY ABOUT INTERNATIONAL FOOD AID SENT TO HOKKAIDO IN 1956
Dear Hokkaido Today Readers,
Just before Christmas 1956, The Japan Times launched one of the country’s first major post-World War II international charity projects here in Hokkaido. It had been a cold summer that year, leading to poor autumn harvest. The prefecture faced severe food shortages as winter approached.
Learning of the plight of Hokkaido residents, The Japan Times organized the “Rice Trains for Hokkaido” project. Tokyo-based international charities, religious organizations, business groups, embassies, the U.S. military and individual readers all donated money that was used to purchase and transport rice to help families, many of them poor farmers who had been repatriated to Hokkaido from Manchuria at the end of the war, get through the winter.
The effort succeeded far beyond anyone’s expectations, raising 10 million yen in a matter of weeks. More than 1.4 million pounds of rice was delivered to14 parts of Hokkaido.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the “Rice Trains for Hokkaido” project. I am trying to make contact with anyone in Hokkaido who was either a child at the time and remembers receiving the rice, or someone who wasn’t born then but whose parents or older siblings, relatives, friends, or acquaintances told them about receiving rice or food aid from The Japan Times.
If any of you know or know of anyone who might be able to help with what I hope will be a nice Christmas story about Hokkaido, please let me know. I can be reached at <[email protected]>
(All photographs and images are the property of The Japan Times and may not be used for commercial purposes.)
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