I am happy to announce that our museum have been invited to hold a press conference at FCCJ, or the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
on June 15, 2022 at 14:00 Japan Starndard Time (JST)
Although our museum, since its opening in April 30th, has been covered by major TV-networks and newspapers domestically in Japan, we hoped that people from countries outside Japan would also have opportunities to encounter the living history of the Utoro area. We wonder if, by sharing the decades of experience of Utoro people, we might be able to inspire and empower people and communities suffering from discrimination, poverty, and isolation in various parts of the world. With these wishes in mind, we had applied for a press conference opportunity to send out internationally our message of peace and mutual understanding.
However, unlike a person or an organization based in Tokyo, there is a cost issue. Shinkansen bullet train tickets from Kyoto to Tokyo are not cheap, and we need to secure enough travel fees for the three speakers. This is in addition to the translator’s cost. We cannot compromise on the quality of the translators, which is the key to an effective English presentation for interested journalists and the live-streaming audience around the world.
As for the financial situation of the museum, amidst the rising cost of construction materials, more than 2.8 million yen collected through crowdfunding(CF) from Japanese residents has not yet been sufficient to cancel out the 5.0 million yen deficit in construction cost. This previous CF depended mainly on Japanese readers, solicited on publication in Japanese newspapers and on a webpage in Japanese. For this time, we thought it would be appropriate to extend an invitation for participating in crowdfunding to English-language readers, given this is our first serious endeavor to provide international live streaming in English language.
We have set a goal of USD1,000 and a deadline of June 13, hoping to cover the most of the following cost in advance.
A) 85,020yen transportation
↑ 14,170 yen (ticket price for one-way Shinkansen bullet train)
b/w Tokyo and Kyoto x 2 (round trip) x 3 people
B) about 30,000 – 50,000 yen (estimated)
↑ for a translator for one hour conference
For this ambitious goal, this crowdfunding admittedly runs with too short a notice and insufficient information, However, we thought simply being able to spread the word with such fund-raising effort would be meaningful, and any positive comments accompanying “SHARE”s on SNS would create a wonderful contribution. Such comments and scenes of spreading words around the world would be something we have never seen so far, and be very encouraging for both the residents who have suffered from discrimination for many years, as well as for our volunteers and staff members, for it will assure us of the global significance of the museum and its philosophy.
Even if we fall short on raising the full amount, please don’t worry, we will still manage to hold the conference for you ! (We shall cover the difference at our speakers’ own expense.) So, if you would like, you can wait until after watching the conference on the 15th, and see whether you actually want to support us in one way or others.
If you are residing in Japan and kind enough to make a donation, you can directly send the money to following account,
振替口座: 00900-8-271813
Bank name ゆうちょ銀行
Branch name 〇九九
Account number 271813
Accountholder’s name ウトロミンカンキキンザイダン
（ウトロ民間基金財団）
(if possible, please include “FCCJ CF” in the indication of your (SENDER’s) name so that we can distinguish it from other general donations)
or, PayPal or card payment may be more convenient for you, as in the case for those overseas. We would greatly appreciate it if you could click on the banner below and proceed to the payment procedure.
Your payment will be made through a PayPal account of attorney Shiki Tomimasu. He is a member of legal team representative victimized residents of the arson and hate crime case in the Utoro area.
Shiki Tomimasu, Volunteer, Utoro Peace Memorial Museum
For inquiry in English, please e-mail: utoro_crowdfunding@attorney-english.kyoto TEL: 075-585-5860
For inquiry in Japanese, please e-mail: info@utoro.jp TEL: 0774-26-9222