Kasama-Yaki (Made in Kasama)

Some of you might remember this post, with which I tried to help Yuki Kokubo raise money for her parents in Japan after the devastating earthquake last year. Her parents lost their jobs after the disasters and had no money saved, so Yuki sold photographs to support them. She was able to raise enough money to support them until things picked back up. Her parents are back to doing pottery, and her dad is back at his part-time job doing excavation work. The business has been slower than before, but they can not complain as nobody died in their family. So many lives were lost.

Yuki and her parents have not been very close since they went back to Japan when she was 16, but the disasters really made her realize the fault in the way her family has been relating – or rather not relating to each other. So she went to visit them a couple of times last year and started filming them as they worked, and recorded her conversations as they reflected on topics like life after the disasters, family, death, and art. And then she decided to make a film. The film aims to dig deep into how people in Japan have been emotionally affected by the disasters, and her piece is supposed to honor creativity, and aims to highlight the importance of art in the world.

Yuki is now trying to raise $15,000 on Kickstarter to finish the documentary and her family and herself are offering many handmade goods for contributions. Touching.

Join me in backing this campaign.

4 Comments leave a comment below

  1. beautiful and moving!

  2. This project gave me chills. I love Kickstarter. I love how it gives creators a chance to make something happen.

    But there are some truly profound and important projects on there. Thank you for bringing this one to our attention.

  3. terrific. thank you

  4. That clip was understated in just the right way, sensitive and moving. I loved the comments on being creative and making things and I truly want to see more, so I backed the project.