Earthquake survivors in northeastern Japan shifting to new phase with refined memories (3)

Earthquake survivors in northeastern Japan shifting to new phase with refined memories (3)

<Dim, quiet corridor leads visitor to think over memories in hard days>

Up on the third floor, the visitor finds a dimly lit corridor linking the main building to an annex. Poems, essays and sketches that depict occurrences after the disaster are displayed on the walls on both sides, along with a curator's message.

The "weaving our memories" corridor is designed to enable the visitor to think about his or her own respective earthquake memories, while laying them on the scenes described in the pieces. 

"We have displayed the pieces so that anyone can imagine the scene of the disaster," said Hiroko Takahashi, the curator, in a recent interview at her office in downtown Ishinomaki. 

Among the pieces, a poem, entitled "a cat," says, "Shortly after the disaster, a cat began to appear in our garden from time to time. The cat was named 'cha-cha.' My children so named. I wondered if the cat, amiable, quiet and adorable, is kept by someone. / After the disaster, many pets had been departed from their owners. / The cat was playing with my kids innocently, and the scene made me feel the brightness of life."

The curator herself experienced the strong tremor, when she was at the city office, and quickly evacuated with her colleagues. 

An essay, titled "rain boots and a song," says in part, "That day, I put on rain boots. It was not raining, but I went to the nursery school with the light green rain boots. / A big earthquake came. We were taking a nap at that time. The dust came down from the ceiling and so, I tightly closed my eyelids. My younger brother was sleeping beside me. 'Pains in my eyes,' he said. / When we were about to evacuate, my mother came up. After confirming we are all right, she told the staff, 'Evacuate to a higher place. I'll see you later.' Then, she left to return to her work near the sea. /  We got into a car together and evacuated to a high school on the hill. / Next day, my mother, covered with mud, came for us. I learned later that she nearly got engulfed with the wave. / We had planned to sing a certain song at our graduation ceremony, and when we sang the song, my mother was shedding tears. So were other mothers. / A few days later, we went home on foot. I realized that the green rain boots which I put on that day had helped me. / 'Mysterious, wasn't it. Just a wonder why you put on the rain boots that day,' my mother said smilingly."                

The curator's message, put on the corridor's wall, says, "We live in the natural world that is woven with beautiful curves, and each of us feels in a different way what is important and what is pleasant. Likewise, the shape of our happiness and pains is different. Those who experienced the disaster each have different stories to tell." The display is hoped to help provide a chance for the people concerned to think about "what our living is," says the message. 

<Disaster sheds light on small local newspaper's struggle>

Disastrous incidents lead people to think about how their society functions and who or which sector are more in support of social activities.

The covid-19 pandemic gave light to the roles played by essential workers, not just medical staffers but also public-sector workers like garbage collectors. The devastating earthquake also reminded the Japanese of the roles performed by each social sector every day. 

Just after the mishap, Ishinomaki people's eyes were drawn to a small local newspaper, Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun, which kept sending necessary information to affected people seamlessly amid the difficult situation. 

The company's printing presses had been destroyed by the tsunami wave, but Ishinomaki Hibi reporters and editors used pens and paper at hand. They came up with handwritten extra editions and put them on the walls at six of the makeshift shelters set up in the city. 

The evening newspaper publisher made the handwritten editions for six days from March 12, one day after the disaster, until the restart of its business. The video images of the wrinkled newspapers can be seen at an information site on the compounds of the seaside memorial park.

The March 12 edition, issued on the first day, called the evacuees to "act with correct information." An attached edition, released the following day, listed 80 or so shelters opened in the city, citing the names of the places and the number of evacuees accommodated there, for convenience for those who were looking for the whereabouts of their families and others. 

Ishinomaki's population at present comes to approximately 141,400, about 20,000 short of the figure before the disaster.

Since the mishap, 12 years have passed, but the years have not passed uselessly. The period was necessary for  the survivors and other people concerned to digest and refine their experience and memories as lessons for the generation to come. 

The forthcoming era is expected to be a period for Japanese as a whole to work together and come up with a truly effective anti-disaster system, hard and soft. 

With the damaged areas in Ishinomaki almost rehabilitated, bright signs are emerging. giving added hopes for many citizens.   

Trees around the entrance to the Kadonowaki Elementary School building had been damaged by the tsunami fire. They had been left unattended for a while, but as the time goes by, new branches started growing from the roots of three trees. 

On the top of the Hiyori hill, the place where Kadonowaki Elementary pupils evacuated, Kashima Miko Shrine, a Shinto shrine, attracts worshipers not just on ritual days but also on weekends today.

Earthquake survivors in northeastern Japan shifting to new phase with refined memories (2)

 

Earthquake survivors in northeastern Japan shifting to new phase with refined memories (2)

<Pupils evacuated safely, kindergarten kids found dead in charred vehicle>

The three-story building of Kadonowaki Elementary School, located about 500 meters from the sea, once looked dignified, something like a landmark that could be seen from everywhere in the area. 

On the doomed day, the building was in a sea of fire. The fire continued for a few days, as lots of burning vehicles were brought one after another to the school grounds. 

Pupils, led by teachers, evacuated in groups quickly according to evacuation manuals toward the top of Mt. Hiyori, located behind the school. Local residents who had gathered at the school grounds also evacuated to safer locations. 

When they were moving to higher ground on foot, a tragedy had occurred near the school.  

The monument in memory for the dead kindergarten children has been erected by a group of bereaved families on the roadside near a new housing complex. So, it may be missed, if not carefully searched. 

The victims were attending a kindergarten near the top of Mt. Hiyori, actually a hill with a height of 56 meters. After a major tsunami warning was issued for the city, a bus with children on aboard left the kindergarten down the hill to bring them back to each of their families.

Part of them were handed to their families near their homes, but after that, as the remaining kids were unable to be carried home due to road congestion, the bus had to return to the kindergarten, and then, it was caught up by the tsunami before reaching the hill. 

The five children, aged four to six, were found dead in the charred vehicle at a point less than 100 meters down from the hill three days later. It is said that their bodies were too fragile to be held up and hugged.  

The case was brought to court by part of the bereaved families, and the plaintiffs won an out-of-court settlement in favor of them from the kindergarten operator in 2014. The parents' message on the monument reads, "Don't forget their sacrifice." 

"The child had left with saying 'See you later' that day, but never came back with the words 'I'm home.' There will be no hug with my child any more. I wish to see my child's smile one more. Not to repeat the same tragedy."

<Damaged school building reborn as tsunami ruins display facility> 

The Kadonowaki Elementary School building was opened as a "tsunami ruins" display facility in April 2022.

Discussion on whether to preserve the building began soon after the city embarked on rehabilitation projects for the affected areas. Initially, nearly half of those who lived around the school asked for demolishing the structure, emphasizing that it would remind them of the horrible scene of the tsunami fire. 

The course of discussion changed later in favor of preserving the building, partially or entirely, as experts, media people and citizens concerned noted that the building is one of the few ruins that can tell the dreadfulness of a tsunami fire. 

The original Kadonowaki Elementary School building had a length of 107 meters extending east and west, but the current structure is much shorter. 

Both of its ends are demolished, because local residents not in favor of its preservation hoped that the building, if preserved, would be as inconspicuous as possible.

The tour within the school building brings the visitor first of all to part of the charred rooms on the first floor, which can been seen from the corridor through the mesh wire fence. 

Lying in the center of the principal's room is a safe with bundles of graduation certificates kept inside. The certificates were found intact in the safe and handed to graduates one month behind schedule. 

The dark staff room, next to the principal's room, is seen filled with various kinds of equipment toppled and destroyed with the strong tremor and the wave. 

In a classroom for small group learning, a lot of charred desks and chairs used by children are scattered around. Also lying on the burned floor are the damaged teacher's desk and an organ.

Earthquake survivors in northeastern Japan shifting to new phase with refined memories (1)

[Tsunami-hit areas in northeastern Japan region revisited] 1st of 3-part series 

August 30, 2023

Earthquake survivors in northeastern Japan shifting to new phase with refined memories (1)

Those who visit the central part of Ishinomaki, a northeastern Japan city extensively damaged by the devastating earthquake of March 2011, can see two impressive objects set up or preserved in memory of the mishap; one of them is a huge one, actually a school building destroyed by a fire which occurred following the earthquake-triggered tsunami wave, while the other one is a small stone monument dedicated to the souls of five kindergarten kids killed in the disaster.

The two structures stand in the city's tsunami memorial park expanding on a 38.8-hectare site in the Kadonowaki-Minamihama area, which used to be alive with about 3,000 houses built and residents busily passing by. 

Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, hosts a major fishing port facing the Pacific, but the earthquake and the ensuing killer tsunami wave left some 3,600 people dead or missing in the city, the municipality-specific heaviest damage across the country. 

The figure compared with its population of 162,000 at the time of the disaster. Of the victims, over 500 people were killed by the onslaught of the earthquake and the wave in the seaside area. 

------------------------------

Those who survived the earthquake, which jolted the northeastern part of Japan on March 11, 2011, have spent their time in various ways since then. Some lawsuits were filed for damages by bereaved families, while debates occurred among citizens in some cities over whether the damaged structures and other objects must be preserved as earthquake ruins to keep the memories for the future generation.

The disaster, which claimed more than 20,000 lives in widely scattered regions on the Pacific coasts, led Japanese people to look back at their daily life, individual and social. They also came to realize the importance of their family bonds. 

Overall, people in the affected regions appear to be shifting from the initial days for rehabilitation and fact-finding to a new phase to pass their refined memories down to the generation to come. 

----------------------------

The reader may be recommended to refer to the related articles posted on this blogsite between March 7 and March 13, 2012, based on the author's tour of the affected regions. They can be found in the archives column for the year of 2012.

Indigo grass project aims at reviving unattended farmland in southwestern Japan

March 28, 2022

(Suspended now)

 

Indigo grass project aims at reviving unattended farmland in southwestern Japan

Cute mechanical toys give time of peace to Japanese amid continued pandemic

 February 28, 2022

Cute mechanical toys give time of peace to Japanese amid continued pandemic 

The small art museum located in Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, used to be a guesthouse for a local sake Japanese rice wine brewer. Currently owned by Okawa City, the facility usually displays its collection of paintings and other art works, but it has become an exhibition theater for cute mechanical toys, some of them mysterious.

The two-story, semi-Western style building was completed by Seiriki sake brewer in 1908. It was used as a privately run art museum from the 1950s, and then, it was donated in 1996 to the city, which reopened it for citizens after renovation in 2001.

As the event comes amid the covid-19 pandemic, visitors are asked to register their name and mobile phone number at the entrance so that if a virus infection is found there, they may be so informed any time soon. This kind of measure has been taken by public facility operators throughout Japan since just after the start of the pandemic. 

Visitors also have their temperature checked at the entrance. After using a hand disinfector, they receive a pair of thin plastic gloves from the staff. 

They can touch and move the toys and other objects displayed with their gloves. When the toy's handle is turned around or the button is pressed, some objects start playing mysterious music and sound. 

This enables visitors to forget their hard days from early 2020 with the virus and refresh themselves for a while. 

The latest event, held at Owaka City Seiriki Art Museum from early January to late February, displays about 80 pieces of work crafted by five artists. The largest part of them are built by a local architect-turned mechanical toy maker. 

His pieces feature witches, fairies, rabbits and other creatures, as well as working figures like a baker and a woodcutter. 

Okawa City has been known as a hub of woodworking plants, which produce mainly furniture.

Based on its tradition of woodworking, the city aims at spreading enjoyable wood crafting among citizens and other people, not just adults but also children, a receptionist said. "We have organized the exhibition to demonstrate the fun of woodworking to many people" while taking anti-infection measures, she said. 

Big straw hen hoped to herald end of anti-pandemic fight

January 28, 2022

Big straw hen hoped to herald end of anti-pandemic fight 

The huge object appeared at a park in Chikuzen Town, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, early in December, amid local people's hope that the covid-19 pandemic will subside soon so that the affected people's griefs will come to an end around the world.

The 8-meter-high straw hen is a product by young volunteers who have gathered for a project to build a monument for each year to cheer up the largely rural community.

Chikuzen Town is known as a hub of egg farms in the region. This is why the hen has been selected as the theme for the straw monument project this time. 

The objects built so far since 2015 include a wild boar and a gorilla. 

The straw hen has a total length of 6 meters and weighs about 3 tons.  Lying beneath its body is an egg from which a chick has just appeared. 

The project has been organized by a local youth group, and the straw hen is a product of two months of work by about 150 volunteers, with bunches of straws collected from the rice fields around after the harvest.

The hen is known as a bird which heralds the dawn in Japan. In order for a chick to be born, the mother bird and the chick work together by picking at the eggshell from the outside and from the inside of the shell simultaneously, organizers say in a message on the board put near the object. 

"This can be interpreted to mean that we must close our ranks to overcome the covid-19 pandemic." 

The straw monument project is supported by crowd funding from across the country.  

The big hen will be displayed until the end of January, and spectators could see its night view lit up on some days from late December to early January.  

Visitors are asked to see the object while wearing a face mask and keeping a social distance from each other.

The series of new daily customs for living with the new coronavirus has come to stay among Japanese people. 

At a time when many people in Japan are getting exhausted with continuing the new practices in their daily life, the big hen is hoped to help boost their spirits and bring their normal days back to them soon.

Japan entering 3rd year of fight against covid-19 pandemic

 

December 29, 2021

Japan entering 3rd year of fight against covid-19 pandemic 

Japan's fight to contain and end the covid-19 pandemic is about to enter a third year, with many Japanese patiently hoping to see a virus-free, new safer daily life. 

The deadly new virus broke into Japan in mid-January 2020, when a Japanese man was confirmed as Japan's first covid-19 case after returning from Wuhan, China. The news did not draw so strong attention in the country, but Japan came to realize the magnitude of the pandemic in early February as a cluster of patients positive to the new coronavirus was found among passengers aboard a luxury cruise ship which had entered Yokohama Port.

Then came a decision by the government to close all public schools across the country from the start of March 2020 to protect pupils and students from the pandemic. The policy triggered a shock wave among not just working child-raising families but also various small traders and vendors doing school-linked business, such as school meal providers. 

This represented the beginning of Japan's long battle to overcome the covid-19 pandemic. In the course of about two years from early 2020, Japan experienced five waves of surge in the number of daily covid-19 positive cases. A total of over 1.7 million people have been found to be positive to the virus so far in Japan, among them fatal cases surpassing 18,000.

Japan has no strong anti-pandemic legal measures, like city lockdown. Japanese people have come to be accustomed with wearing facial masks, using hand disinfectors placed at the entrance of public places and shops, and taking a social distance from each other at busy locations. 

The year-end and New Year's holiday season is one of the most important periods for Japanese families and friends to get reunited and confirm their individual links, visiting temples and shrines together to share their happy time. 

In January, many famous Japanese shrines are flooded with New Year's worshippers, but amid the pandemic, Japanese are recommended to avoid a congestion of worshippers in the early days of January. Most shrines are ready to accept worshippers paying New Year's homage even before the start of the year.  

Such early New Year's worshippers were seen at some shrines on fine days in early December, among them young girls accompanied with parents. 

 It remains unseen when the covid-19 pandemic will end, but the series of new daily life rules and customs is expected to come to stay in Japan's society sometime in the not too distant future.