Black Love Below For Haiti

Kuchikomi continues...

2010-02-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

When I first started to blog for this event I knew that with no budget for advertising we'd have to be creative and versatile in our promotion tactics. I couldn't have imagined the kind of support and energy we've received, but in Tokyo there are never ending surprises when you need them the most.

Another example of one thing leading to another is when fellow blogger and Tokyo inhabitant of cityunderredsun.com blogged about Haiti. Not only did he make an emotional appeal to think of Haiti based on his own personal connection to the country, he mentioned the event that this blog is dedicated to. And then when it was posted to japundit.com

http://www.japundit.com/LivinginJapan/And_the_Earth_Moved

Taken from Japundit....

JAPUNDIT is a social bookmarking site that gives you an instant overview of the most popular English language articles about Japan and the other countries of East Asia. Basically, social bookmarking allows members to post links to articles or sites so others can view and evaluate them. In many ways, JAPUNDIT is similar to the popular Digg.com site.

Connect... Link... And keep the chain going...

Let Black Love Below for Haiti be a chain letter message that we do NOT ignore or delete.

Thank you to our sponsor Gye Nyame

2010-02-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

Tokyo is a great city filled with lots of wonderful stores, museums, attractions and of course people. One person in particular is not only a sponsor of Black Love Below for Haiti's raffle but also happens to be a wonderful friend, fellow female Tokyoite and female entrepreneur. She is the owner of a company that imports hand-crafted accessories from Ghana. I was of course honored that she'd think to approach BLB for Haiti about being a raffle sponsor. However, it shouldn't have been a surprise as she believes strongly in business with a heart and giving back to the community. A woman of great character and strength below you can find more information about her company and what she does.

http://gyenyamejapan.blogspot.com/2010/02/black-love-below-for-haiti-charity-club.html

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=gye+naame&init=quick#!/pages/Gye-Nyame/218858212849

Gye Nyame has given generously for the raffle. Expect to see several raffle prizes from them including a t-shirt that says 'Make Fufu Not War', neck ties, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and an iPod case. Female event producers Mariko Lochridge and Daisha Hunter will also be wearing earrings by Gye Nyame as well.

Thank you!

The Tokyo Metpod and Kamasami Kong talk about Black Love Below for Haiti

2010-02-10T17:38:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, February 9th I was invited down to Metropolis magazine's office to join the Metpod crew to talk about Black Love Below for Haiti with host Kamasami Kong.

For those of you who don't know about the Metpod here is a little blurb off of Facebook

Tokyo Metpod Japan's No.1 English Language Magazine Metropolis Podcast

メトロポリスマガジンポッドキャストのグループです。ハワイからのベテランレ

ジェンド DJ、Kamasami Kong（カマサミ・コング）がお送りする日本最大英雑誌『メトロポリス』presents 東京で一番ホットで旬なインターナショナルポッドキャストです。メトポドレギュラーをはじめ、その他スペシャルゲストが続々登場！メトロポリスの表紙ストーリーやニュースはもちろん、ポッドキャストならではの海外セレブとのスペシャルインタビュー等も満載。東京のインターナショナルコミュニティ#1 のポッドキャスト『...Metpod』です！！

The Tokyo Metpod is filled with English information you can't find on any radio station in Japan. There's just no other source with this much spoken information in English about life in Tokyo. Kamasami Kong brings you the best of Metropolis magazine, plus special celebrity interviews and behind-the-scenes peeks into the movers and shakers of the biggest metropolis in the world.

I had such a blast doing this. Sarah Cortina interviewed me about the charity benefit and was extremely intrigued by the 'Below' part of the title. We chatted about the charity benefit for Yele, And later they even let me stay on to chat about the Glitterball party: Magnetic Kiss with the music report host Kaleb James. I definitely hope that they'll have me back in the future.

Please check it out!

http://metropolis.co.jp/podcast/2010/02/10/the-tokyo-metpod-for-wednesday-february-10th-2010/

With Love from Tokyo

2010-02-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

Design by Aquiles Hadjis
aquiles.hadjis@gmail.com

A message from our designer,

"Some lost sleep for a great cause.
My first event flyer since I moved to Tokyo

away from Graphic Design!
Glad to be back to print work."

Developing Compassion

2010-02-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Recently I exchanged emails with a journalist who was interested in the charity benefit for Haiti that I'm working on, in the end her last e-mail ended like this:

I pitched this to my editor and she was not interested. So sorry! But I am so glad to know there is someone like you who contributes much time and effort to things like this. I've been wondering why there are very few benefit events for Haiti in Japan, while in US there are many, whether big or small. I really hope you get many people attend your event. Good luck!

Sometimes I wonder if Mother Teresa got tired of everyone calling her a 'saint'.

Sometimes I wonder if having people tell you how great you are just got a bit old.

Sometimes I wonder if she didn't feel like telling people 'It's work, but anyone can do it. I ain't really all that special of a thing, I just saw a need that I could meet. It's just that simple'.

In the English language Mother Teresa has become a figure of speech; you can criticize God, but you cannot criticize Mother Teresa. Her name implores images of patience, kindness and compassion and yet what she did was simple, she helped people because she was in a position to do so. There should be nothing particularly amazing or spectacular about what she's done, the logistics may be tricky, there may be some obstacles, but it's always, always, ALWAYS worth it. There are people around us are in need everyday that if we think hard enough about where our skills lie, then we can cooperate to help them and in turn help ourselves.

I ran across an article by the Dalai Llama entitled The Medicine of Altruism and a line stuck out in my mind:

When I consider the lack of cooperation in human society, I can only conclude that it stems from ignorance of our interdependent nature. I am often moved by the example of small insects, such as bees. The laws of nature dictate that bees work together in order to survive. As a result, they possess an instinctive sense of social responsibility. They have no constitution, laws, police, religion or moral training, but because of their nature they labour faithfully together. Occasionally they may fight, but in general the whole colony survives on the basis of cooperation.....

While this may seem to be common sense thinking, it also leads to the next question, then why don't we cooperate? Why don't we help? The Dalai Llama continues:

.....If we do not know someone or find another reason for not feeling connected with a particular individual or group, we simply ignore them. But the development of human society is based entirely on people helping each other. Once we have lost the essential humanity that is our foundation, what is the point of pursuing only material improvement.

To me, it is clear: a genuine sense of responsibility can result only if we develop compassion. Only a spontaneous feeling of empathy for others can really motivate us to act on their behalf.

To me these words mean... if it feels right to help, then find a way to help. If you see an image or hear a story that concerns, touches or worries you--- REACH OUT! Charity may have become a loaded word, but compassion is not. In today's society CHARITY is compassion with a better PR agent, but it is still a part of our humanity.

"Black Love Below for Haiti" Event Details

2010-01-31T10:21:00.000-08:00

"Black Love Below for Haiti"
A Black History Month Love Music Celebration
Benefit for Haiti's Earthquake Relief Effort
Sunday, February 21st, 2010 from 6:00p.m.-10:00p.m. at Midas in Roppongi

ENTokyo, in collaboration with Midas Lounge, is producing a charity benefit to support the Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort. The theme is a celebration of Black love music for Black History Month, benefiting Haiti's earthquake relief efforts titled, "Black Love Below for Haiti." This is a non-smoking event. The door charge is 2000 yen/1 drink, 500 yen discount with an all black dress code. DJ C. Geez (UCC) & DJ Ronin will be spinning black genre "love & happiness" music throughout the night. Raffles will be held with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. In addition to this love celebration, free condoms and chocolates will be provided for all attendees to encourage safety and awareness during this Valentine season.

BLACK LOVE BELOW FOR HAITI presented by ENTokyo
ハイチ地震救援活動支援チャリティーパーティー

Date: 2/21 Sun 1800-2200
Place: Midas (www.midascafe.com)

ハイチ地震による震災地の救援活動支援を目的に
Mariko Lochridge-Pretty Kobe Oppong-Daisha Hunterの呼びかけでチャリティーパーティー
が開催されます。
収益金とイベントで集ったその他の募金は、Yele.orgに寄付されます

テーマは黒人の歴史月間（BLACK HISTORY MONTH）
ロマンチック*ミュージック*セレブレーション。
是非ドレスアップしておいで下さい。
こちらのイベントは禁煙になります。

Admission: 2000円with 1drink
(黒いドレスでご来場の方は500円ディスカウントになります）

DJs: C. Geez (UCC) & Ronin

ご来場者様全員にコンドームとチョコレートをプレゼント♪

Wyclef On-Air

2010-01-31T09:56:00.000-08:00

Direct from the source of Yele.org, Wyclef speaks on Haiti.
http://yele.org/blog/2010/1/31/wyclef-discusses-haiti-on-the-air-with-dj-whoo-kid.html

(Sourced from Yele.org)

The Power of Kuchikomi

2010-01-28T10:27:00.000-08:00

'Kuchikomi' which in Japanese translates as 'person to person communication' through information technology such as mobile devices, hyperlinks, blogs, and social networks. In English we don't quite have a word for it...we say 'networking' or 'updating' to describe the high-speed way our world now communicates through online news, social networking sites, and texts. But in Japanese, the variety of communications we use for business and social purposes is simply called "kuchikomi". And though we have these seemingly disparate sources of info, from hard news to Facebook to party circles to business networking socials, we CAN connect all of them. For me I officially put it all into play recently.　

　
Now, I don't have a TV, but every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to sleep - and quite a few times in between - I check my Facebook on my mobile phone. That's how I learned about the news from Haiti. Probably within the first few hours of the disaster twitter and Facebook had more diverse coverage, and definitely more human interest stories than anything I could find on the major networks. My friends in Japan, my family in the US, acquaintances in Europe, everyone was talking about it. The 'kuchikomi' - person to person contact or grapevine - was pushing, informing and shaping what I knew about Haiti and the relief effort, and/or lack thereof. And then there was a comment on Facebook that stood out:

Japan pledged 5 million USD to help Haiti, and is sending aid to the nation. I wish I could text yele.org to send money directly...as I don't have a credit card, only a bank account. I wish there was a way to send a bank transfer or something of that nature...

When I read that on my Facebook newsfeed I wondered, 'What could I do?' So I began to search for solutions. I wanted to be a part of helping rather than just watching it all unfold on my Facebook newsfeed and CNN.com updates. I looked for information in Japanese that might help, only to find a lot of questionable organizations that couldn't specify where the money was going. Then there were charities with complete transparency, but they didn't have any way to donate other than with a credit card.

Despite these barriers to helping, I still couldn’t give up. I suddenly realized I had a way to make a difference – kuchikomi. Since the success of my joint birthday bash/graduation in which 134 people showed up/crashed through (and all thanks to kuchikomi and Facebook), I had already been approached to host another event. But I didn't see myself as just 'promoting' parties. I reached out to people who I thought maybe could help, updated my status asking my Facebook community to get me contact info, and I met with friends who had experience promoting (and partying); little by little, we started piecing together a respectable event.

One of the first people I contacted was my friend Daisha Hunter (www.DaiTime.com), who had just started her own agency for emerging urban talent and brands of entertainment, ENTokyo , and we decided to approach our friends at Midas Lounge (www.midascafe.com). Step 1- get the venue and set the date. Okay Sunday, February 21st, 6-10pm at Midas in Roppongi. Step 2- find a charity to work with, and after a few misses we finally made a great contact at Yele.org to be our middle-man to get donations to the people who needed them most in Haiti. Step 3- getting sponsorship, a headache in the beginning but starting with Bikini Saketen we got a start.

Sunday, February 21st 2010, 6-10p.m. at Midas in Roppongi: ENTokyo, in collaboration with Midas Lounge, is producing a charity benefit to support the Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort. The theme of the event is a Black History Month love music celebration benefiting Haiti's earthquake relief efforts titled, "Black Love Below for Haiti." and is a *non-smoking event. Door charge is 2000 yen/1 drink, 500 yen discount for all black dress code. Raffle to be held with full proceeds going to charity.

As I write this article it hasn't even been a week since we set the date, but I already know that it's going to be a success. Not just because years of partying and networking are paying off, but because people talk and people react and people WANT to do something. It is just a question of providing the occasion to rise up and be a part of it. In today's digital world, not only is this 'kuchikomi' cost effective but it is an extremely powerful marketing tool as well. A sponsor for something as small as a 300 attendee event will be acknowledged on every print and digital media avenue such as fliers, social network updates, and websites that will cover our benefit, not to mention photo tagging on Facebook, Flickr, Mixi, Myspace and Photobucket. Numbers wise this means that for projected viewership, if 10 websites reach 100 people a day, then 10,000 people will be exposed to your logo in association with this charitable event. And in a society that still pays thousands of dollars to athletes to be the face of a new sneaker and musicians to promote a drink, it's nice to know that the new kids on the block just trying to do a little good in the world can still get noticed too.

EnTokyo and Event Coordinator Mariko are still seeking financial support and raffle donations. If you're interested please contact MarikoLochridge@gmail.com