AJET Connect MAY 2014

Boney James riding his route, picture by David WebbLET’S RIDE FOR THEPHILIPPINES!AN INTERVIEW WITHTHE OITA JETCHARITY ORGANISERSOn November 8, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan tore through thePhilippines, killing at least 6,286 people on the archipelagoand devastating the lives of many others. For many in thePhilippines and other areas affected by the storm, theirreality was a daily nightmare.The disaster moved Oita JET, Michelle Lee, to fundraise forrelief efforts. This also inspired the primary organizers ofthis year’s Oita Charity Bike Ride, Martyn Jasinski, PennyFox, James Shoesmith, and K.J. Hansen, to raise moneyfor children affected by the disaster and donate it, via thisevent, to the International Children’s Action Network.The riders and volunteers from Japan, Canada, Ireland,Japan, the United States, Philippines, and New Zealandembarked on a journey of approximately 160 kilometres.The cyclists came from many prefectures, and they werewelcomed by JETs living in Beppu, the start and endingplace for the ride. Five JETs—Kane Mercer, Rieko Sasaki,Scott McLellan, Bridget Makol, and Jillian Engel—openedtheir homes for riders coming from different areas of Japan.James Shoesmith, a 2nd-year ALT living in Tsukumi, Oita,was the route planner for this year’s ride. As he’s been crazyabout cycling since he can remember, James jumped at thechance to be able to create the route for this year’s charityWhy did you choose the InternationalChildren’s Action Network?We were mainly inspired by the efforts of an ALT in Oita, MichelleLee, who had been doing a tremendous job organising fundraisingactivities for disaster relief in the Philippines in our area at thetime we began planning the event. The disaster had struck onlya few weeks before, so at that time it was still very fresh andurgent. We knew that the funds raised by the event would bedonated several months in the future, but with a catastrophelike this, help is needed for way longer than just the initialemergency. Initially we had planned to donate the proceedingsto the Red Cross, but in the end it turned out that by the time theevent was over they were no longer accepting donations for theTyphoon Haiyan disaster aid! The organisers and participants putour heads together and decided to donate the funds instead tothe International Children’s Action Network.72that we could even get started. A thorough excavation of theride. Another one of the primary organizers, K.J. Hansen, is73mountains of planning materials left by our forerunners and morea 2nd-year ALT in Bungo Ono, Oita. He helped with thethan a few facepalms on my part—upon realising the amount ofdriving preparations for the trip, such as scouting out thework before us—was quickly followed by an enormous sense ofride and transporting all the food from Fukuoka.gratitude for everyone who paved the way for us.A great day to ride!Josh Grover, OitaPenny Fox is a 5th-year ALT living in Shiroishi, Saga, and thecurrent National AJET Block 10 representative. Penny participatedin the Oita Charity Bike Ride as a support-team volunteer lastyear and was super keen to get involved again on a larger scale.She was unable to make the day of the event, but did plan adelicious dinner and breakfast to satisfy the hungry riders.The event’s main volunteer coordinator is Martyn Jasinski,an ALT in Usuki, Oita. He organized the flow of automobilesbetween checkpoints and ensured riders were safe and onroute. He went into his role with the knowledge gainedby observing previous organizers during the years heparticipated in the charity ride.Having ridden myself, I was grateful for the encouragementfrom drivers, sign holders, and supply vehicles. They madethe weekend as enjoyable as it was physically exhilarating.The following interview is with Martyn, in which we learn what’sneeded for a successful charity event, some considerationsregarding event organization, and the rewards from it. This yearthe Oita Charity Bicycle Ride raised 738,505 yen.Day 2 was a great day to ride for a great cause, by Emma HalawiWhat is the first step in organizing an eventlike this?I guess first of all, it was that fateful night way back at the OitaJET bounenkai last summer, where, like the historical pressgangsof the Royal Navy, last year’s organisers jumped me inmy drunken stupor, pinned me down and forced me to sign upto take over against my will! I kid, of course—I was delightedto take the reins—but that initial “Sure, how hard could it be?”was nonetheless a way bigger decision than I knew at the time!Where did the route travel this year?In an effort to make it easier for folks from other prefecturesto join in, we chose the easily accessible onsen city of Beppuas our start point. The rest of the route was then pretty muchdecided by the location of the campsite; some Google searchingled us to a campsite at the very north of the prefecture in Kakaji,which meant that unless we were going to make everyone rideright over a huge mountain range, we had to follow the coastall around the peninsula. A beautiful course, but those oceanwinds proved quite a struggle for our poor riders, who facedsome pretty crazy headwinds on the first day! The second daytook us back down to Beppu via a more inland route, past theSanrio-themed amusement park Harmony Land and over somewicked hills.EVENTSCONNECTCONNECTEVENTSMay Issue 2014 May Issue 2014Hill climbing can be fun when your spirits are high,by David WebbWhen did you start organizing this charitycycling event?To give a rather flowery answer, the organising started years agoas it was thanks to the legacy left to us by our predecessorsMore realistically speaking though, James, KJ, and I startedplanning in November. In previous years, the event has beenorganised solely by the Oita chapter of AJET, but this year wewere reached out to by Penny Fox, the block rep for the wholeof AJET Block 10 in northern Kyushu. She proposed expanding itto a block-wide jam, an idea which we instantly jumped on, andultimately this turned out to be an extraordinarily wise decisionas Penny was the catalyst that really got us out of our officechairs and kicked us into gear! Thanks to her we started to planin earnest sometime in early December. I can honestly say thatwithout Penny’s event-organising chops the event would neverhave been such a success as it was!How about the decisions on food for such alarge physically grueling event?Once again Penny came to the rescue and planned a great mealof tacos for the evening of the first day, which was devoured byour hungry riders in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, it cameto pass that she couldn’t actually attend the event and had tohand over all the food to KJ the weekend before after what musthave been a very long trip to Costco in Fukuoka! Combined withmy (very British) total inexperience with anything involving salsa