Slowly, all too slowly the emails show up in our in-boxes.

From Masakazu:  Thank you for worry. Isesaki city is OK.

Actually, we experienced pretty big earthquake. So, we were so scared. But fortunately, our damage is minimum.

Well, north Japan suffered huge damage by pretty big earthquake and TSUNAMI. Unfortunately, there are a lot of casualties in north Japan. I think , especially in north Japan, recovering from this disaster takes a lot of time.

But, many countries, eapecilally, respectable your country” THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA “ expressed help to Japan. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! WE REALLY APPRECIATE!

Anyway, I really appreciate your worry. Thank you so much!!  We are OK!!

From Masahiko:  Autocycle race track: water pipe busted. and ceiling collapsed but no injured.

From Sanae:  There were Some fire in Isesaki, and building damage was only chimney of city incinerator collapsed.

From these and other contacts we have had with friends in Isesaki, it appears that Isesaki, located northwest of Tokyo, was spared the more horrible effects of the major earthquake.

Being far enough inland and at a fortunate elevation, Isesaki did not suffer any damage from the tsunami.  However, Isesaki’s latitude and that of the earthquake epicenter are pretty much the same, so the city certainly got a severe and lengthy shaking.  With aftershocks of 6.1 on the Richter Scale following the 8.9 earthquake and more than 100 aftershocks rattling through, I would imagine everyone is really on edge right now.

I have not yet heard from my host family, the Nishimuras.  I have asked another friend to check on them to make sure they are ok.  Mr. Nishimura is in charge of facilities at a local college and I imagine he is extremely busy right now. Hopefully, he, his wife, and two beautiful daughters are all right. And, of course, their French bulldog!

Our mayor has already sent Mayor Igarashi of Isesaki an email asking how Springfield can help our Sister City during this time.  Of course, they are only into the second day of figuring out what all has happened, so it will probably be a week or so before we have any type of response from their Mayor.

Following our major ice storm of four years ago, the City of Isesaki sent 9 master gardeners over to Springfield and raised the bulk of $17,000 to help re-build our Japanese Stroll Garden.  In addition, they sent monetary assistance following the attack of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina with instructions for us to direct it where it would do the most good.

This is the beauty of the Sister Cities program.  People meet, get to know one another, play music together, eat together, and learn that there are far more similarities between us than there are differences.  There are far more things that unite us than separate us.

And we learn that appearance and language are the least of these separating factors.  Our friends in Isesaki (and also in Tlaquepaque, Mexico) are human beings, with careers, families, children, dreams, and issues just like us.

And right now, our friends and families (yes—to those ignorant commenters in the News-Leader—yes, these folks become like family) are hurting and we are hurting for them.  And we want to know how we can help.

Slowly, all too slowly the emails appear in our in-boxes.