Alum shares experiences about JET program, disaster relief in Japan

BVU alum Luke Harwath, shown with wife Lindsey, helped with disaster relief following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last March. He shared his experience during a Scholarly ACES event Tuesday night.

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"It was really interesting watching those ceremonies and performances," he said. "We don't really do these things in the U.S., but in Japan, I saw these every week."

Harwath graduated from BVU in 2008 with a dual degree in theatre and language, and later taught English in Japan through the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET).

During his JET placement, Harwath lived in village in northern Japan, population 5,000.

Since it was typical for homes in Japan to have no heat, Harwath would keep warm by sleeping under a very thick blanket. Toothpaste was kept in the refrigerator to keep it from freezing, and it was common for him to find ice on the floor of his shower in the morning.

Transportation was either walking or biking, even during icy winter months. Even if he wiped out on his bike in front of students, they would not laugh or even acknowledge that he had fallen.

"Japanese kids are very polite, and very respectful towards teachers and elders," Harwath said.

During class, it was difficult to encourage his students to ask questions, because it would make them look like they were not paying attention the first time, Harwath explained.

"They're super smart, but also super shy. They're just super awesome," he said, regarding his students.

Upon hearing of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan this past March, Harwath was determined to return and provide aid.

"For me, it was bigger than the 9/11 moment," he said. "Those people you saw on TV? Those were people I knew. The airport I had flown out of was flooded."

He continued, "I used to ride my bike there; I used to walk there."

Due to connections with local government, Harwath was able to join Global Disaster Immediate Relief Team and provided nuclear fallout data, which helped to save countless towns.

The combination of earthquake and tsunami caused three of Fukushima's Dai-ichi nuclear plant's reactors to fully melt down. At first, the Japanese government was hesitant to disclose that a full meltdown had occurred.

"Information was not released to the public," Harwath said. "At that time, we were the only ones who knew, because no one else knew what was going on."

Preliminary estimates detail the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere was one-tenth of Chernobyl, with significant soil and water contamination also occurring.

While nuclear-contaminated areas remain barren, clean-up efforts in other areas have been remarkable.

Looting was rare, and neighbors worked together to clean up homes.

"There were places that looked like they could never be cleaned up in 25 years," he said. "Now, they have thriving businesses."

As he neared the end of his speech, Harwath said, "Coming from BV with a theatre and language background---it's amazing how much impact you can have on the world."