I looked into this at the Hakuba office and they said they were not asking or looking for that kind of stuff. Is this an official thing or just some one with a noble idea?

It is official. It was the red cross that asked us for warm clothing etc. I just gave them a full oakley bag's worth and they were very appeciative. Take your stuff to the red cross.

cool good to hear.

以下、レッドクロス抜粋: from the page of the red cross japan which ive been following..
<物資について> 日本赤十字社では、原則として個人の方からの物品の寄贈は受け付けておりませんので、ご了承ください。
Please take notice as a general rule, we do not accept donations of supplies from private individuals.
so, at this point, they only take monetary donation from individuals.

waiting for your post nm. how i could donate my old sleeping bags, sweaters, and some old fur coat i found. valued supplies need to be delivered to the right person at the right time in the most efficient way. our house lost power for about 2.5 hours everyday for the last three days and it gets cold at night. can only imagine what it is like in Tohoku...

my local shop is doing something with montbell.
link in japanese

If you are in Tokyo Ewok, I can take them as my company is organizing our donations. We just sent a van full yesterday. Of course, also donate money as that is what individuals can best do. As I am in Hakuba now, I may be able to take donations back in my car on monday (but I wanted to take the train due to the fuel situation, so we will see). We are doing another delivery on Thursday. Soprano has told me that some of the ski resorts have started organizing this so maybe check with them.

Hakuba Village website page on donating items for quake relief