There was an Oriental atmosphere at The Forum this afternoon as Norwich's Japanese community came together to raise money for their disaster-hit homeland.

The Pray For Japan: Norwich group put on four hours of Japanese-themed arts, crafts and entertainment between 10am and 2pm to raise funds for the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.

One of the organisers, Taeko Ruston, who has lived in Norwich for two years, said: 'It has been really good and we were very fortunate that the weather was so nice.

'My family is from an area in western Japan so weren't too affected at all but some of our members had family in the Tokyo area that felt the earthquake, so we are raising money for the tsunami appeal.'

Ikuko Baiocchi was running an origami crafts stall on the day. She lives in the Golden Triangle area of the city but was at her family home in Yokohama - 200 miles south of Japan's worst hit city of Sendai - when the earthquake and tsunami caused such huge damage last month.

She said: 'We were not affected too much, but we felt the earthquake and were quite shocked and worried. It has been nice to try and raise some money to help.'

For more about the group, log on to www.prayforjapannorwich.org.uk