On March 11, ten years ago, the largest earthquake in modern Japanese history shook the Tohoku region. The tsunami that followed devastated many areas in the region; and was the cause of the Fukushima nuclear accident. Keizai Silicon Valley invites the community and its members to observe a minute of silence for the victims, before we hear from two speakers who witnessed the aftermath of 3.11 and bravely took the initiative to respond to the disaster.
Mr. John Kakinuki spent four months helping with the recovery effort in Suma, close to Fukushima. Ms. Caroline Pover, raised awareness in England, collected donations, and delivered them to the Oshika Peninsula. Since her visit, Ms. Pover fell in love with the place and the people from Oshika. Compelled to help her adopted village, she went back every year to help with the recovery effort and to see her Oshika family.
Entrepreneur Caroline Pover lived in Tokyo for fifteen years and Japan occupies a very special place in her heart.
Now living in her native UK, since 2011 she has managed to return to her beloved Japan every year (before COVID). She spends at least a month of each trip living and working in a remote village on the fishing peninsula of Oshika that was devastated in the tsunami. In the past ten years she has raised ¥25 million and managed over thirty projects to assist the community with their recovery, and has been embraced by the people there along the way. She has a unique insight into their lives, and a commitment to spread the word about the long-term impact of the world’s costliest disaster.
Caroline has written an uplifting memoir to mark the ten-year anniversary of the disaster — a book that unexpectedly makes readers cry tears of laughter as well as sorrow. “One Month in Tohoku” gives readers a refreshing new perspective on the challenges that life inevitably throws at us all; it reassures us that there is love and laughter in the midst of chaos and uncertainty; and restores our faith in humanity during these difficult times.
Caroline’s website is at www.carolinepover.com.
John Kakinuki is a former Partner with Baker & McKenzie (22 years), then General Counsel to GE Japan and AXA Life Japan (3 years each). He now has his own law firm in San Rafael, focusing on assisting Japanese companies in the US. Mr. Kakinuki also has a long history of public service. He has received recognition within the Bar in both Japan and the US for his contributions to the profession and the judicial system, as well as among government officials in Japan and the US for his efforts to promote and advance free trade. He is a recipient of the Certificates of Appreciation from the President of the Tokyo Bar Association and the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan for numerous contributions to each organization; also a recipient of the Certificate of Appreciation for Participation in Volunteer Activities from Soma City Hall, Fukushima Prefecture, for relief activities carried out after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. He also received the United States Army Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service for relief activities carried out after the disaster in Japan in 2011, the California National Guard Medal of Merit for exceptionally meritorious service, and the California National Guard Commendation Medal for meritorious service.
Scott Bump is a US Navy Veteran, and energy industry operations and general manager with extensive experience in nuclear plant services, in addition to industrial scale distributed generation and green energy solutions. Scott’s passionate about leading teams in high paced conduct of operations, and enjoys the satisfaction of providing rapid response to customer’s urgent operational and technical needs.
Scott has a unique set of risk management, language, and radiological operations leadership experiences, and applied them as volunteer emergency response team lead in the weeks immediately following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Leading a team of fellow volunteer drone pilots and radiation safety engineers, Scott oversaw the safe performance of multiple on-site missions at the 1F Site performing drone based radiological and visual surveys of the stricken nuclear plants.
While in the Navy, Scott was a qualified nuclear electric plant operator. After six years of Naval service, he received his BS in Civil Engineering and a BA in Japanese Language from San Jose State University. Scott has a Black Belt in Judo from the Kodokan Judo Institute and is a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
US: Thursday, March 11th, 2021
Panel: 12:00 – 1:00 PM (PST)
UK: Thursday, March 11th, 2021
Panel: 7:00 – 8:00 PM (GMT)
Free
