Socks For Japan

My friend Satsuki sat down at my table yesterday afternoon while my husband and I were eating brunch at Amy's Thai.

She asked if I had seen the grassroots relief effort called Socks For Japan.

Of course, I hadn't, and thought maybe it was a joke....but she diligently send me the website as soon as she got home, and even though it seems slightly absurd in the face of Japan's magnificent difficulties, Socks For Japan is not only legitimate, but also, a very sweet and caring idea.

This is how it works:

Select the best, most comfy socks you can find at your local department store, socks for all sorts of people: babies, little girls and boys, adults and the elders.

Purchase what you can, bring them home, take all the tags and clips off and put each pair into a zip lock bag. In the bag, include whatever words of greeting you can imagine would be of benefit to someone who has lost just about everything, and maybe a photograph of yourself, along with your email (and someday you may have a thank you, though that's obviously not what this is about), then mark for whom the socks are intended--baby, girl, boy, woman, man.

Before zipping up the bag, fold it over a few times to get all the air out, then pack them up and send them off to the following address:

Jason Kelly

Plaza Kei 101

Wakamatsu-cho 615-6

Sano, Tochigi 327-0846

Japan

DANA FOR JAPAN!

Jason Kelly knows he's going to get a hell of a lot of socks, but that's the idea.

For more information about Socks For Japan, please visit the website at: jasonkelly.com/helpjapan

And if you've read this, and you are still wondering why socks, think about what it feels like every morning to have the privlege of slipping your feet into a pair of fresh, clean socks.

If we think about it, it's actually heavenly!

Namu Amida Butsu!