The RESMILE PROJECT provides aid for reconstruction and is carried out by entertainers called “smile performers” who try and bring back the smiles and laughter in areas directly affected by the Tohoku earthquake. In this post, we caught up with the entertainers to show you their recent activities since last year’s report.

The smile performers are volunteers who collect donations by offering street performances. Not only do they take these donations to the disaster areas themselves, but also perform. Giving energy and laughter is another important way of offering support. Without energy, people may not be able to gain the strength to start again.

The place where they were heading is Haragama in Soma, Fukushima, 5km away from Soma Port. It is 4-50km away from Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant. The coastal areas of Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi were destroyed by the tsunami and Soma, also on the receiving end of the disaster, was also often seen on the news.

As this was an early-morning market, everyone was gathered in the early hours of the morning.

The performers also helped to put up tents.

The performers from Sanin who helped on the first day of the Haragama morning market were: hacto with his distinct vocals, the rock n’ roller Ondo Seishin, a singing philosopher Magum Hiroki and the talented improviser Nozawa Sansetsukon Kazuaki.

Supplies arrived at the market and together, the locals and performers helped to unload them from the trucks.

It was also the spring season in Tohoku.

Ondo Seishin singing Rock n’ Roll in Soma, creating an intense atmosphere with his performance.

Magnum Hiroki, crying straight from his soul. Working hard with only a pair of trunks, a generous member of the audience gave him a scarf as a persent.

Nozawa Sansetsukon Kazuaki, who calmed the people with his warm and pleasant tunes.

hacto had already performed at this market several times and was extremely popular. The soft, clear singing voice pierced through everyone’s hearts, the reason for his popularity.

People continued to laugh and smile with the performers.

In the afternoon, people went to the Fureai Hana Matsuri or friendship flower festival in Oshio, Higashimatsushima, Miyagi.

This is the 18 year old performer JIWON from Korea, who sang Japanese enka. His smile and vocals were sweet and everyone was excited by his performance.

The people on the left are Hagemashiya (encouragers) who performed energetic songs in harmony. The people on the right were the dance group Ginza Honten, who made people laugh with their comical moves.

People danced together at the festival and it felt as though the stage and crowds were joined together. Other performers such as Harada Kenji made an appearance and the performances continued long into the night.

The following day started off once more at the Haragama morning market.

On top of the previous day’s performers, Ginza Honten, JIWON and Harada Kenji also joined in, regardless of the fact it was early morning, and many people came to watch.

Here is a photo with hacto, Magnum, JIWON, Onda Seishin and Nozawa Sensetsukon Kazuaki. We hope that the performances will help spread those smiles.

On the way back from Soma, the aftermath of the tsunami could be seen. Realisation of the extensive damages and how problems still remained made everyone think how they must be solved as soon as possible.

However, after spending time with many of the locals and seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces as they tried to look to the future, opening new stores in order to recover from the disaster, shed light onto the powerful hope of recovery. It has been over a year since the earthquake there are still issues that need to be addressed.
The most important thing is not to forget the reality of the Tohoku earthquake.
Now is the most important time to act, so we can start the road to recovery.