Ishinomaki Citizens Hoping to See Early Return of Happy Cherry Blossom Season

Ishinomaki Citizens Hoping to See Early Return of Happy Cherry Blossom Season

March 12, 2012

Mt. Hiyoriyama commands a good view of the central part of Ishinomaki City, with the Pacific seen to the south beyond fishery-related and residential zones on the seaside. Areas around the top of the 56-meter mountain have flowering cherry trees. That is why the hill-like mountain has been loved by Ishinomaki citizens as a nice location for their pleasure in early spring. But one can now see flattened and deserted areas and a few damaged buildings from an observatory at the top of the mountain.
Last year’s cherry blossom season passed with people coming to enjoy the cherry trees limited as it came a month after the tsunami disaster. But citizens hope that a happy cherry blossom viewing season will return this year.
Ishinomaki Municipal Hospital, located near the mouth of Old Kitakami River flowing into the Pacific, is one of the damaged buildings in the seaside area. The hospital was inundated and severely damaged by the tsunami waves. It could not perform its desired role of taking care of people when big disasters occurred. Hospital staff built a makeshift clinic at a different place and started receiving affected people there a few weeks later.
Mt. Hiyoriyama can be seen from many places in the heart of Ishinomaki City. The mountain was a good view to see for a 94-year-old woman, whose son runs a small Japanese-style “ryokan” hotel near JR (Japan Railways) Ishinomaki Station. The woman escaped the tsunami damage, but her son's hotel, on an ally leading to the station square, was flooded by the tide.
The hotel could not resume its business until May. The first floor of the hotel, with a dining room and a bathroom for customers and a living quarter for the family, was completely flooded. The old woman and her family escaped to the second floor when the tsunami waves came, and they spent the first night there. “We had not expected tsunami waves would come this close to our area,” the woman said. Her daughter, who lives in a different city, “came to us and took me to her home a few days later,” she said. Some ryokan owners are considering discontinuing their business because it is difficult to rebuild hotels at the previous places, her son said.
The damaged structures in the affected seaside area also include the charred building of Kadonowaki Elementary School. A big fire occurred after the attack of the tsunami waves and gutted the Kadonowaki district, including the school. The neighboring Minamihama district was also flattened by a separate fire following the tsunami waves. Across Old Kitakami River was another damaged school building, the building that had housed No. 2 Minato Elementary School. (The photo at the top shows the flattened Kadonowaki district with the sea lying ahead. The second photo from the top shows Kadonowaki Elementary School. Ishinomaki Municipal Hospital is seen in the third photo and No. 2 Minato Elementary School in the fourth photo. The remaining two photos are remote views of the damaged seaside and riverside areas from the top of Mt. Hiyoriyama.)
Fires in the two districts were not extinguished until a few days later. Fire fighters were initially unable to reach the areas because the fires were very strong. "Over 1,000 people were dead in the seaside area beyond Mt. Hiyoriyama. The mountain is right up there," said a fish shop employee said.
Main roads in the heart of the city are open for traffic with the debris like broken pieces of houses and buildings and damaged vehicles removed. But some buildings remain deserted. These damaged buildings cannot be demolished partly because their owners have died or become missing. “A sticker, reading ‘Please call the phone number below if you know the owner of this property,’ had been placed on the wall of this shop until a few weeks ago,” a local man said in front of a building once used as a marine product shop.
Some bright signs are emerging in the city, among them the reopening of a fish market at a temporary facility built at one of the raised land tracts near the previous market. Fish dealers at the new market were busy processing the day's catches from early morning. Many shops on main streets near Ishinomaki Station were washed away or damaged, but some shopowners are reopening their business as customers hope to help support local shops by buying their products.

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This series of seven stories is a product of a week-long swing (from February 24 to March 1) through the three prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, whose coastal areas were extensively damaged by the earthquake-triggered tsunami waves in March 2011. The series has become possible with cooperation extended by nearly 100 people, not just those who were interviewed but also ordinary people like hotel and restaurant employees, bus and taxi drivers and citizens who provided many pieces of important information about what is going on in the tsunami-damaged areas right now. The names of these people do not appear in the stories, but special thanks go to all the people, mentioned and not mentioned.