An officer and his wife at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, have launched a program to send unclaimed bicycles from the base to people in the Tohoku region who lost their cars and other means of transportation in the quake and tsunami disaster.
Peter Rush, 52, and his wife, Lydia, 55, spent two years at the Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture starting in 2006. The couple said they have fond memories of Tohoku and made many friends there.
Since the March 11 disasters, the couple have visited Tohoku four times to deliver carloads of relief supplies. The once-familiar landscape has totally changed, with many cars submerged in fishing ports.
The couple started to think about the many bicycles left unclaimed at the Yokosuka base.