Bareilles Volunteers

As extensively reported, most of the musicians originally slated for Japan tours during the months following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami canceled their engagements, mainly out of fears of radiation from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 reactor.

Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles not only bucked this trend by going ahead with her Japan Tour, she volunteered to go to the disaster area and participate in relief efforts.

Surprisingly, Bareilles’ activities weren’t widely covered in Japan. But as she told the Charleston Gazette, “The problems with the nuclear reactor overshadowed everything happening over there,” which means people forgot about the devastation.

After meeting with fans following her performances in Osaka and Tokyo, she and seven other Americans volunteered to dig ditches and clear debris in the town of Ofunato.

She told the newspaper that she was extremely impressed with the way Japanese people cared for each other and for strangers.
She related how she and her fellow volunteers got to the relief area.

“We were just a pack of Americans who didn’t look like we knew what we were doing,” she said. They paid their own way and bought tickets for the train.

However, after purchasing the tickets the woman in the booth suggested they refund so that she could get them cheaper tickets.

Bareilles was so impressed by the experience that she got several tattoos: “Some birds on my neck, behind my ear, to commemorate my being in Japan.”