On April 10th, I had gone to the “Tamaya Boat” in Ushiku-numa, Japan to help out with the charity tournament for the earthquake disaster of Japan.

Since it was a charity event, I was a little worried to how many anglers would participate in this tournament. But it had exceeded my expectation of 52 participants and I was so thankful for their love for Ushiku-numa and their kind hearts.

As for the result, my not-so-good apprentice and my very good apprentice had won 1st and 2nd place!… So it came out to be a bit embarrassing result, but it also meant that the fishing pattern I had build and used at the pre-spawn Ushiku-numa was a very strong one and my apprentices had proved it for me.

The donations from this charity event will be handed to all the children who had lost their parents from the disaster!

A week ago, on April 3rd, a boy came to visit me at my shop. He had told me he came from Minami Souma, Fukushima prefecture where it was actually one of the major areas that was affected by the earthquake and tsunami! Where I live in Toride, Ibaraki and the Minami Souma District in Fukushima prefecture formally has alliance for time of disaster. So the day after the earthquake on March 12th, the firefighters drove a large-scale bus to the Minami Souma district to take everyone who lost their homes to the Toride city high school gymnasiums and welfare halls. And for the people who were less than 20km close to the nuclear power plant also had to evacuate to the athlete lodging in Toride velodrome.

The boy who visited me was one of the many disaster victims and his house was destroyed by the earthquake and his grandmother’s house was washed away by the tsunami. He had time to grab only his very important Bass tackles to evacuate. At last year’s Yokohama fishing show, he received a lure and DVD at my training session/presentation and he had become my fan ever since! He asked around a lot to find out where my shop was and came all the way here with his grandmother just to visit me.
Instead of cheering him up, I felt like a 3rd grade boy had given me strength.
This hardship will still continue, but please stay strong!