A New to me bit of kit......

As some of you may know, my lovely wife Emiko and I have been doing our level best to help out a humanitarian relief agency, called >> CMAT << when they needed logistical support getting around Tokyo on their way to the devastated areas North of Tokyo to help with the earthquake and tsunami relief. We also provided some items that they could not come by easily, like gasoline cans (they are sold out STILL everywhere). Emiko also did a LOT of work getting the two high volume water purification units through customs, and working with DHL (who also stepped up, waived or reduced some fees) to get the WPU into our hands to send up north for use. We burned up a lot of minutes on cell phones, and drove a lot of miles and I even swallowed a few mouthfuls of gasoline siphoning gas out of my van, when they desperately needed gas to head north to run their generator, but could not get any gas here in Tokyo. Let me tell you it was a lot of work, and we could not have been happier to help these people out. They are an all volunteer group, no one is getting paid, they all took unpaid leave from their jobs and they purchased their own plane tickets (JAL stepped up and gave them a good discount, but they still paid out of their own pockets).

Today we went to see some of them off, they were heading to the airport. We had a nice gift to give them, a few bottles of some good sake, but they had a wonderful gift to give us.....





Well the two gas cans are mine, I was very pleased to see them again, as I said, they are almost impossible to get right now!

They brought this generator over with them, but once it has had gasoline in it, they cannot take it back, so they gave it to us. We were not expecting this at all, so it was a very nice surprise!

The generator is a "Steele" unit, 6.5Hp, 3500W peak, 3000W constant use. It had 240V/120V and DC 12V. The AC power is at 60Hz, which is not the same as here, it is 50Hz in Tokyo, but for running tools and such it will not make a difference.

I hope to be able to use this soon, I want to get involved in a work party that heads north to help in some way rebuilding the shattered communities there, dunno exactly how that will happen, but I hope it does.

I just wanted to share this with you all.

Cheers!

It would seem this story is a revolving one...they came, you helped, when they left they helped you...now you are going to help someone again!

Thanks Stu!

That's great Stu!

Very nice job helping those guys out

Great story, great effort, great cause, great people.

As tragic as the disaster was/is, the aftermath is different than it would be in most other countries. All too often we see disaster victim countries just wait until the U.S. comes in an provides rescue and rebuild manpower, materials and money. The Japanese people and Government just buckled down and got to work on what needed to be done. Outside help was welcomed and accepted but it is still a Japanese effort.
So, good on you and your friends. I can't imagine what the people in Japan are experiencing but, personally, I am not comfortable in the fact it wasn't us. It could be us next. Anything can happen to anyone at anytime.

Stu, good work gets rewards from time to time. Been praying for you and all of Japan. Cannot imagine, but work ethics such as yours make the disaster more bearable for many.
Been wondering, how did the dungeon fare?

Good on them and Good on you Stu.............

Funny how disasters bring out the best in everyone and everything! From experience, I can tell you that they were glad to find someone like you Stu. Well done

Great work Stu, and a nice bonus.
Wish I could go up there with you for a few days.
Take care
Peter

Pay it forward...always works out for the best

Well-deserved gift.

Great stuff and sore muscles after giving of yourself always feel good.

Well done on all involved

Great effort on your part is rewarded--and you are continuing to give.

Bob Gibson said:

Well done on all involved

Click to expand...

What he said +1

Nice little addition to the shop Stu, good luck on the work crew.

Thanks everyone, we were not alone in helping a very nice fellow named Yasushi Sato also went way far out of his way to help out. His daughter lives in Seattle and has a connection to the CMAT teams somehow, she called her dad and said "Help them" and boy did he ever. He even made a trip into the devastated area to pick up three team members and some gear as the bus they rented was not big enough to take everyone back. He was also very helpful in the connections front, he seemed to know someone who could help with whatever problem came along. Also a guy named Tim on my cycling forum here in Tokyo found out we needed another van for transporting people and gear, Tim heard about it at maybe midnight and was good to go for the next morning to head out to the airport and transport people and gear to Tokyo. The Tokyo international airport is a good two hour drive from Tokyo

Lots of people stepped up, the people at DHL worked very hard to get the WPU through, the staff at the hostel the team used in Tokyo went well out of their way to help out, even giving them unused rooms for free to store their gear, and I must mention my lovely wife, she worked her behind off on the phone, with DHL and various government bureaucrats, as well as driving out and back to Narita to pick people up twice. It really was a team effort, and I am just happy we could help.

Oh yeah, Jonathan asked how the Dungeon is, it is just fine, I guess it helps to be underground sometimes

Cheers!

Well done, Stu. In a lot of cases, a generator is one of those things you hope to never need to use, but sure appreciate when you do use it. I've got one on my "really need to get when I can afford it" list.

Stu, you have been a great help for these folks. I know that they appreciated it.