Rainbow for Japan Kids is a project that was started by volunteers from Hawaii with the idea of wanting to give support to the hearts of the children who were devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake as well as to the children who are forced to live in refuge shelters due to the effects of the Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station incident.
In Hawaii in 2011, with the Japan-America Society of Hawaii at the center, the Rainbow for Japan Kids executive committee was formed by the Japan Airlines Hawaii branch, First Hawaiian Bank, and Studio Rim Hawaii, upon which plans and operations for this project and travels had begun.
As the executive committee invited the children of Japan, they searched for groups that would collaborate with them on this project. It was decided that Miyagi bikki Organization would be their project partner. This partnership came about thanks to the long-standing friendship between Kaori Kano, a member of Miyagi bikki Organization, and Raiko Tokushige of Studio Rim Hawaii. Miyagi bikki Organization will be in charge of the care in electing children in Japan as well as in participating in their travels.
Hawaii is a place with abundant nature that provides for great therapeutic healing, and it also overflows with kindness that is the Aloha spirit. By inviting those children who bear our future to Hawaii to experience its nature and culture as well as to interact with the local children, we hope that they will have hopes and dreams with which to boldly step up and face the world as well as the future.
Currently, the Hawaii Senior Life Enrichment Association has taken over the funds from the Japan-American Society of Hawaii and is managing all of the costs for the free experience learning trips for the children from the disaster-stricken areas. These trips are also supported by and continue on through the courtesy of and collaboration with the people from various local businesses in Hawaii.