When the tsunami struck Japan on March 11, Tuttle Publishing, in Rutland, Vt., and Tokyo wanted to help. Not only are many of the press’ authors and publishing colleagues in Japan, but the history of the company is interconnected with the revival of Japanese publishing by founder Charles E. Tuttle, Jr. at the end of World War II.
“None of the Tuttle Tokyo staff suffered from the direct effects of the disaster, but this unfolding tragedy is on the hearts and minds of all employees, both in the U.S. and overseas,” says Tuttle publicist Rowan Muelling-Auer.
In addition to matching employee donations to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief, Tuttle has been running an online “tsunami” promotion, which ends in mid-May. Origami paper is discounted 50% on tuttlepublishing.com to encourage young people to participate in the Students Rebuild (studentsrebuild.org) paper crane project. The organization donated $500,000, for 700,000 cranes submitted by April 15 from around the countr, and the world. Although the deadline has passed, cranes continue to pour in, and Students Rebuild now has more than a million cranes.
Tuttle’s parent company, Periplus Publishing in Singapore, is also making a corporate donation to the Red Cross. It will be supplemented by a portion of the sales of every origami boxed kit sold in Asia Pacific between April 1 and June 30.
