Ishinomaki is a city in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture, and is one of the areas that suffered severe damage due to the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Exactly one year later, the children of Ishinomaki published Ishinomaki Hibi Kodomo Shinbun; a newspaper created by the children that reports the current activities in their city.

On the 10th of March 2013, over 40 intermediate to advanced speakers of Japanese, and Japanese people living in the UK, gathered at the Japan Foundation London to speak directly to the people of Ishinomaki over the internet. Attendees learnt more about how Ishinomaki was affected by the March 11 disaster, its current effort towards recovery, and the activities of the young journalists. After speaking to Ishinomaki’s children, attendees worked together in groups to translate selected articles into English. You can read a little more about the event here.

Now, the children are ready to tell Ishinomaki’s story to people all over the world. All the translated articles are available on the Ishinomaki Kodomo Shinbun website (click here to read more in English, or here for the Japanese website.) They also have a twitter feed, which you can follow here. We hope you will enjoy their articles in English. The Japanese versions of these article are not published online, however if you are interested in reading the latest copy of the Ishinomaki Hibi Kodomo Shinbun, there are some copies available at the Japan Foundation London, just outside the library.