Japan

A team of Tokyo Scientology Volunteer Ministers provided Scientology assists to runners at the finish line of the Ichikawa Marathon.

Runners who competed in the October 2013 Ichikawa Marathon benefited from a simple technique that eased the physical stress of the 26-mile race.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers from the Church of Scientology of Tokyo set up “recovery stations” at the finish line and helped runners with a special Scientology technique that speeds healing and recovery.

A Volunteer Ministers loads his cart with cut rice plants that have been bound into small bales at the Shinteigai Farm in Northeastern Japan.

Those who survived the earthquake and tsunami in Northeast Japan last March face many challenges.  One family of farmers needed help with their rice harvest.

A team of Volunteer Ministers pitched in to cut the rice and hang it on “rice walls” to dry.

Once dry, the plants will be threshed, which separates the grains of rice from their stalks.

After a day of hard work, the job was done, and the year’s rice harvest, which might otherwise have gone to waste, was salvaged.

A Volunteer Minister helped a 102-year-old grandmother with a Scientology assist at a facility for the elderly in Ishinomaki, Japan.

In Ishinomaki, Japan, where 29,000 lost their homes last March from the earthquake and tsunami, the Scientology Disaster Response Team continues its work providing any service needed to make life a bit easier for those affected.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers visited a home for the elderly to provide companionship and Scientology assists—techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard that address the spiritual and emotional factors in stress and trauma.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Tagajo City and the Yanoh Temporary Housing where they trained staff in Scientology Assists

Nearly eight months since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake the Scientology  Volunteer Ministers Japan Disaster Response Team continues its work in the region.

Peter Dunn (right) with a man he helped in a school gymnasium converted to a shelter for those displaced by the March 2011 earthquake

Australian Scientologist Peter Dunn has served as a Scientology Volunteer Minister in Haiti, Queensland, and Japan. 

At 4 a.m. on March 11, 2011, the shock wave from the magnitude 9 earthquake that triggered a 30-foot tsunami off the northeast coast of Japan reached Australia—not as a physical blast but rather as a summons for Scientologist Peter Dunn to return to Japan and help in her time of need.

Many Volunteer Ministers of various backgrounds came to the disaster area—it was a team of unique and dynamic people.

One volunteer speaks of her experience on the Ishinomaki Volunteer Ministers Team and the effect it has had on her life.

It has been six months since I came to the disaster area. I have been working in the Ishinomaki team ever since.

Christchurch, New Zealand — February 2011: Volunteer Ministers distributed 14 tons of food and supplies and helped more than 21,000 after the earthquake.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers who served at Ground Zero in the months following 9/11 set a standard for disaster response and inspired a movement that carried forward for the past decade.  Here is an overview of the work of Scientology Volunteer Ministers so far in 2011.

TRANSLATION:  Ishinomaki Kahoku news of May 1, 2011 Tokyo group donates 225 bicycles to Ishinomaki area disaster victims for their transportation needsOn April 23, the International Scientology Volunteer Disaster Relief Team (from Tokyo), which has been doing volunteer works for disaster recovery in Ishinomaki area, arranged the donation of 125 bicycles to Ishinomaki City and Higashi-Matsushima City to provide transportation for disaster victims.