It’s kind of a miracle that we almost always have fine weather for our meeting. Today was also fine with some clouds, no rain, no heat, nor cold. There were about fifty partcipants: Sagami Women’s University group, Vietnamese group, Tama Technial High School group, and regular volunteers. To read more,

  Yamashita(His official site), one of our voluntary members, has been hosting BIKE & CAMP for years. It was held three times in Mie, but this time it is to be held in Kasumigaura, Ibaragi. The title, BIKE & CAMP KANTOU, also appeals that it is the event in the Kanto area.
  You can enjoy both bike and camp during the two-day event. There is lending of bikes and helmets, but you need to prepare a camping tent by yourself.

  We are going to set up a booth of our NGO to introduce our activity and raise fund for it. We will also help lending helmets there. All the rental fee is to be donated to our NGO. We’d like everyone to join the event.

－－－－－－－－－－－－　BIKE & CAMP KANTOU　－－－－－－－－－－－

Title: BIKE & CAMP KANTOU
Sub Title: Bicycle & Camping Touring Festa
Theme: Fire and Craft Beer
Participant: From teens to seventies, and/or families.
Time:November 23, Sat. and 24, Sun.
        23, Sat: 10:00~16:00
        24, Sun: 9:00~14:00 (Test riding ends at 13:00)

Place:Ayusaki Park, Kasumigaura, Ibaragi. (4784 Saka, Kasumigaura, Ibaragi.)
Access: An hour and a half from Tokyo by car. The park has a parking lot
      for 250 cars.
      Or, take a JR Joban line for Mito at Ueno, get off at Kandatsu, next to
      Tsuchiura. Take a bus for Ayusaki Park at the west gate of Kandatsu station.
      It’s about a forty-minute bus ride. For the bus information is from here.
      You can also rent a pay bicycle at Tsuchiura station.
      It takes about an hour to get to Ayusaki Park.

Admission fee: Free. (You can also park your bicycle for free.)
Camping fee: 2,000 yen for a night.
Website for this event: https://www.bikeandcamp.net

  The 14th Fussa Blues Festival is to be held on Nov. 3, 2019. We’d like everyone to come and enjoy the professional blues. The festival is a charity concert and part of the event’s proceeds are to be donated to our NGO. The details are as follows.

〇The 14th Fussa Blues Festival(from Fussa Blues Festival page)
November 3rd (Sun), 2019
Time : 11:00 ~ 16:00
Place: Parking lot of MARUFUJI, in front of Higashi Fussa station
Fee : Advance ticket 3,000 yen
        Same day ticket 3,500 yen
        *Advance tickets are available by e-mail.

[For advance tickets]
  ken@f-bf.com
  ↑↑↑↑↑↑
  Fill in your name and the number of the tickets you need and send it to the above address. You can get your tickets at the reception at the entrance of the festival on the day. Pay for the tickets after we check your name and the number of the tickets you ordered.
  *There is no parking space for the event. Please refrain from coming by car.

  If you have any questions, please contact us:Fussa Blues Festival Executive Committee
TEL.070-6574―7755

The latest information about the festival is available on the facebook page.

  We made a visit to APL Yokohama Container Terminal for the second time. The members were Sagami Women’s University students, fifteen in total, and two emplyees of NTS Corporations, to which we entrust our export business, and one of our directors.

  Like in July, Mr. Uchida, Japan representative of APL, and Mr. Shirai, who is in charge of the Terminal, explained to us about American President Lines(APL), the present state of shipping business, and what it’s like to ship after the container is transported into the terminal. After that, we went up to the roof of the office and listened to the explanation about the cargo handling work of CMA CGM TIGRIS, which was at the terminal on that day, and the operation of the whole terminal. The full length of the ship is 300 meters and its maximum loading capacity is equal to 10,622 twenty-foot containers.This is the biggest container ship in APL and it was handling bananas from South and Central America.

  Mr. Takeshi Higashino, a former employee of APL, visited the Terminal to fit our visit. He is the father of Mr. Taro Higashino, a sales director of APL, and also the grandfather of Momoka Higashino, Sagami Women’s University student , who was a member of our visiting group this time. Three generations of a family got together at APL and seemed to be enjoying this opportunity.

  Visiting the Terminal was the first experience for the university students, and it was also a rare chance for the employees of NTS. It happened to be a good opportunity for three parties, the owner of goods(our NPO), the export company, and the transport company, to meet at the same place.

  We’d like to express our gratitude to the APL staff for receiving us twice with great hospitality.
Thank you very much.

＜Comments of the visiting students＞
  Until this visit, I didn’t even know the term ‘container terminal’ or couldn’t make a picture of our refurbished wheelchairs being transported. Now that I visited the real terminal, I have a clear image of transport.(Sugihara:senior)

  I was surprised to learn that 90% of the world’s transport is done by ship. I didn’t know that Japan is a bit behind in shipping record though our rank in GPO is third in the world. Now I fully understand the fact that without container ships we could not send our wheelchairs to overseas children. I’m glad that visiting the container terminal gave me such important knowledge and changed my view.
(Ishii:junior)

  I learned about the procedure of distribution and how wheelchairs are transported. I also got some knowledge about the shipping industry, which I hadn’t even noticed. It was a valuable experience for me. I’d like to make use of this visit in our activity from now on.
(Omura:sophomore)

  My knowledge about wheelchair activity was just refurbish and pack them until now, but through the visit to the container terminal I learned about after packing the wheelchairs. For example, containers do not always go straight to the destination, but stop off at another country and transship cargo there. In addition to learning new things, watching the APL staff working gave me a clear image of our activity. Now I have a strong intention to keep on working.
(Sekikawa:freshman)

＜Visiting members＞

(Left)With the container ship handling cargo.
(Right)Listening to the explanation.

(Left)Plenty of containers arranged in order.
(Right)Higashino family’s three generations.

  More than two hundred paintings showing ‘Thank you!’ were sent to us in August last year from the overseas children who had been donated wheelchairs. There were thirteen from Paraguay among them, and now we have received phohos of the recipient children in that country. The photos are on Kids Art Gallery. The paintings last year are titled Paraguay1, and the photos this time are Paraguay2. Enjoy all the paintings and photos!
　

Sep. 2019 Secretariat

  It was cloudy, but pleasant for our activity, after the long, summer heat. We had about 50 participants:Sagami Women’s University group, Vietnamese group, Yokota Air Force Base group, regular Ethiopian, Tama Technical High School group, voluntary members, and American President Lines,LLC(APL) group. To read more,

 The ship loaded with 70 wheelchairs left Tokyo Port for Ethiopia at the end of July. The donation this time was supported by three parties, the NGO Adeyabeba Ethiopia Association, presided by Mr. Abebe, one of our voluntary members, the Embassy of Ethiopia, and Ethiopian Shipping Lines Ltd. Those wheelchairs are to be delivered to Cheshire Foundation in the middle of September. The total number of the wheelchairs sent to Ethiopia will be 592. The donation record graph is from here.