May 29, 2014
Progress update on the project to translate Kenichi Hasegawa's book (Fukushima's Stolen Lives) into English
Dear Friends & Supporters,
As our first-phase of fundraising wraps up, I have been in consultation with the other core members of the project, Yukuo Yasuda and Kenichi Hasegawa.
Originally, our plan for this project was to seek donations from the overseas general public for a three-month period and then, at the end of that period, to assess our fundraising progress and make a decision about whether to continue or cancel the project. As of today, May 29, we are quite far from achieving our total fundraising goal of 1.8 million yen (approximately $18,000).
While this outcome perhaps suggests that overseas interest in the book is low, considering the many donors who have expressed interest and donated money, and in light of the strong interest in the book in Japan as well as the many people we've heard from who want the book to be translated, Yukuo Yasuda, Kenichi Hasegawa and I have decided to extend the fundraising period beyond the end of May, and to restart fundraising to also include plans to actively solicit donations within Japan.
Therefore we have decided to extend the fundraising phase of the project until the end of December 2014. Our Paypal fundraising portal will continue to be open, and we have also opened an bank account for the project for people living in Japan. The account details are as follows:
Abukuma Credit Union
Iitate branch
Regular account 0005596
Kenichi Hasegawa (Hasegawa Kenichi)
In addition, Hasegawa-san himself will be actively promoting the project during his lectures and activities around the country.
We hope that you will continue to support the project, but since our original anticipated publication date of Fall 2014 will now be changed to Spring 2015, we will offer donors the option of a refund of their donation. If you would like a refund, please send an email to [email protected] (or to [email protected]) and provide the following information in your email:
① Donation amount
② Date donated
③ Your name
④ Your address
⑤ The e-mail address associated with your donation
⑥ Phone number
[Note: If you do not have easy access to all of this information, please email Amy and I can help you out]
Please note that any personal information that we receive from you will not be used for any purposes other than those associated with this project.
Our websites:
[English version]
http://fukushima-diary.weebly.com/
[Japanese version]
http://www.rupoken.jp/project_jp.html
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your support of the project up to now, and we hope that you will continue to support our efforts to give Hasegawa-san and his book a worldwide audience.
Shojiro Akashi