Japan seeks ‘recovery of people’s hearts’ decade after earthquake

TOMIOKA, Japan (AP) – Ten years after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, the lives of many survivors are still on hold.

On March 11, 2011, one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded triggered a huge tsunami, killing more than 18,000 people and triggering catastrophic collapses at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Almost half a million people have been displaced. Tens of thousands have not yet returned home.

More than 30 trillion yen ($ 280 billion) has been spent on reconstruction so far – but even the Minister of Reconstruction, Katsuei Hirasawa, recently acknowledged that although the government has moved forward with new buildings, it has invested less to help people rebuild their homes. lives, for example, offering mental health services for trauma.

The Associated Press talked to people affected by the disasters about how far they have come – and how much more needs to be done.

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“WHILE MY BODY MOVES”

Yasuo Takamatsu, 64, lost his wife, Yuko, when the tsunami struck Onagawa in Miyagi Prefecture.

He’s been looking for her ever since.

He even got his diving license to try to find her remains, and for seven years he did weekly dives – 470 and counting.

“I’m always thinking that she might be somewhere around,” he said.

In addition to his solo dives, he joins local authorities once a month to conduct underwater searches for some 2,500 people whose remains have not yet been found across the region.

Takamatsu said the city’s scars have practically healed, “but the recovery of people’s hearts … will take time.”

So far, he has found albums, clothing and other artifacts, but nothing that belonged to his wife.

He said he will continue to look for his wife “as long as my body moves”.

“In the last text message she sent me, she said, ‘Are you okay? I want to go home, ‘”he said. “I’m sure she still wants to go home.”

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“STARTING LINE AGAIN”

Just a month after a 17-meter (55-foot) tsunami hit the city of Rikuzentakata, Michihiro Kono took over his family’s soy sauce business.

The fact that he was able to continue the business for two centuries is a miracle, he says. The precious soy yeast was only saved because he donated a little to a university laboratory.

In the past decade, Kono has worked to rebuild the business in the prefecture of Iwate, and later this year he will complete the construction of a new factory, replacing the one that was destroyed, on the same plot where his family started making soy sauce in 1807 He even launched a soy sauce called “Miracle” in honor of the stored yeast.

“This is a critical time to see if I can do something meaningful in the next 10 years,” said the ninth generation owner of Yagisawa Shoten Co. “I was born here and now I am on the starting line again.”

But the challenges remain: its customer base has been decimated. The city’s population has dropped more than 20%, to about 18,000, so it is trying to build business networks outside the city.

Kono always thinks of the people killed by the tsunami, many of whom he used to discuss the city’s revitalization plans.

“All these people wanted to make a big city and I want to do things that will make them say, ‘Well done, you made it’, when I see them again in the next life,” he said.

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“WHO WANTS TO GO BACK?”

About 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the destroyed nuclear plant, rice farmer Naoto Matsumura defied a government evacuation order a decade ago and stayed on his farm to protect his land and cattle abandoned by neighbors.

He’s still there.

Most of the city of Tomioka was reopened in 2017. But dozens of neighboring houses around Matsumura are still empty, leaving the area completely dark at night.

The city’s main railway station in Fukushima Prefecture has been renovated. A new shopping center was built. But less than 10% of Tomioka’s former population of 16,000 people returned after large amounts of radioactive material expelled from the plant forced evacuations from the city and other nearby areas. Parts of the city remain banned; houses and shops are abandoned.

“It took hundreds of years of history and effort to build this city, and it was destroyed instantly,” he said. “I grew up here … but this is no longer like a home.”

As the evacuation order took six years, many city dwellers have already found jobs and homes elsewhere. Half of the former residents say they have decided never to return, according to a survey in the city.

This has been happening across the region.

In Tomioka, radioactive waste from decontamination efforts in the city is still stored in a prohibited area.

“Who wants to go back to a place like this?” Matsumura asked. “I don’t see much of a future for this city.”

As a companion, Matsumura has several cows, a pony and a family of hounds that help him chase away wild boars. The cows are descendants of neighboring farms that he maintained, in protest, after the government issued an order to destroy thousands because of fear of radiation.

This spring, for the first time since the disaster, the 62-year-old farmer plans to experimentally plant rice and expand his beekeeping efforts.

“I will stay here until the end of my life,” he said.

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“YOUR HOME IS STILL HERE”

Yuya Hatakeyama was 14 years old when he was forced to evacuate from Tomioka after the disaster.

Now 24, the former third baseman of Fukushima Red Hopes, a regional professional league team, is in his first year working in Tomioka prefecture – but has not yet moved back to the city, joining the many commuters out.

Hatakeyama has bittersweet memories of Tomioka. The area that is now a no-go zone includes Yonomori Park, where people used to gather for a cherry blossom festival. Decontamination work is being intensified in the area and the city plans to remove the rest of the prohibited zone in 2023.

“I want to reach out to residents, especially the younger generation, to let them know that their home is still here,” said Hatakeyama. One day, he said, he wants to see young families playing ball, as he did with his father.

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“A PLACE OF COMFORT”

Hazuki Sato was 10 years old when he fled his elementary school in Futaba, where the destroyed nuclear power plant was located.

She is now preparing for the coming-of-age ceremony that is typical of 20-year-old Japanese, waiting for a meeting in the city so she can reconnect with her spreading former classmates.

Despite the horrible memories of escaping her classroom, she still considers Futaba her home.

After studying outside the region for eight years, Sato now works for his hometown – albeit from an office in Iwaki, another city in Fukushima Prefecture.

None of the 5,700 residents of Futaba can return to live there until 2022, when the city is due to reopen partially. An area outside a train station reopened last March just for a daytime visit to bring the Olympic torch.

Sato has fond memories of Futaba – a family barbecue, riding a unicycle after school, doing homework and having lunch with friends in a nursery while waiting for his grandmother to pick her up.

“I want to see this city become a place of comfort again,” she said.