We have all seen the terrible videos from Japan. Black sludge colored water enveloping the Japanese countryside is a sickening sight to see. The before and after pictures from towns like Sendai and Ishinomaki are startling.
I visited Japan in April of 2005. A soft rain fell as I entered the town of Kyoto. The rain initiated the annual cherry blossom bloom and for the next week the trees were on fire with beautiful pink. My memories of the country are in stark contrast to the videos and pictures circulated on CNN and twitter of the horrifying current reality. Pictures from the cherry blossoms are posted below to remind readers of the usual beautiful glory of the country.
Thanks to a post by the Downtown Traveler, I found an easy way to donate to help the victims of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Text REDCROSS to 90999. You will get a confirmation text which will ask you to reply YES. Reply YES and $10.00 will be billed to your phone and go to Redcross. Japan is a country known for its technology. What a fitting way to contribute to the Japanese plight than with a mobile phone.
Click here to find others way to donate provided by the Downtown Travelers. The country of the Rising Sun needs our help. Please support this beautiful country by giving today.
Stay tuned,
TT
The goal of Traveling Ted TV is to inspire people to outdoor adventure travel and then provide tips on where and how to go. If you liked this post then enter your email in the box to get email notifications for each new entry. Daily travel photos are excluded from your email in order to not flood you with posts. There is no spam and email information will not be shared. Other e-follow options include Facebook (click on the like box to the right) or twitter (click on the pretty bird on the rainbow above).
Sad to think that places in those beautiful photos may be gone or radically different after the earthquake.
santafetraveler recently posted..Santa Fe tidbits- the New York Times likes us- art music and more