Japan aims to ‘restore people’s hearts’ ten years after the earthquake

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

On March 11, 2011, one of the largest numbers ever recorded hit a massive tsunami, killing more than 18,000 people and causing catastrophic meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Almost half a million people were displaced. Tens of thousands have still not returned home.

More than 30 trillion yen ($ 280 billion) has been spent on reconstruction so far, but even Reconstruction Minister Katsuei Hirasawa recently acknowledged that while the government is moving forward with new buildings, it has invested less in helping people get their lives back. to build. , by providing mental health services for trauma.

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

“AS LONG MY BODY MOVES”

Yasuo Takamatsu, 64, lost his wife Yuko when the tsunami hit 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 makes weekly dives – 470 and more.

“I always think she might be around somewhere,” he said.

In addition to his solo dives, he joins the local authorities once a month to search underwater for some 2,500 people whose remains are still not found across the region.

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

So far he has found albums, clothing and other artifacts, but none that belonged to his wife.

He said he will keep looking 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 come home.”

“START LINE AGAIN”

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

It is a miracle that he was even able to continue the two-century-old company, he says. The precious soy yeast was only kept because he had donated some to a university laboratory.

For the past decade, Kono has been working to rebuild the company in Iwate prefecture, and later this year he will complete the construction of a new factory to replace the destroyed factory, on the same site where his family started making in 1807. of soy sauce. He even launched a soy sauce called “Miracle” in honor of the preserved yeast.

“This is a crucial 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 back on the starting line.”

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

Kono often thinks of the people who died in the tsunami, with whom he discussed with many the revitalization plans of the city.

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

“WHO WANTS TO RETURN?”

About 10 kilometers south of the destroyed nuclear power plant, rice farmer Naoto Matsumura defied a government evacuation order ten years ago and stayed on his farm to protect his land and livestock left behind by neighbors.

He is still there.

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

The central station of the prefectural city of Fukushima was given a facelift. A new shopping center was built. But less than 10% of Tomioka’s former population of 16,000 has returned after massive amounts of radioactive material were spewed from the factory and forced evacuations from the city and other nearby areas. Parts of the city remain off limits; houses and shops are abandoned.

“It took hundreds of years of history and effort to build this city, and it was immediately destroyed,” he said. “I grew up here … but this is nothing like home anymore.”

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

This applies throughout the region.

In Tomioka, radioactive waste from urban remediation efforts is still stored in a no-go zone.

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

Matsumura has several cows, a pony and a family of hunting dogs for company to help him chase away wild boars. The cows are descendants of those from neighboring farms he kept in protest after the government issued an order to destroy thousands for radiation anxiety.

This spring, the 62-year-old farmer is planning an experimental rice planting for the first time since the disaster and wants to expand his beekeeping.

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

“THEIR HOUSE IS STILL HERE”

Yuya Hatakeyama was 14 when he had to evacuate from Tomioka after the disaster.

Now 24, the former third baseman of the Fukushima Red Hopes, a regional professional league team, works at Tomioka City Hall in his freshman year – but he still hasn’t returned to live in the city and joins the many who come to it. from the outside.

Hatakeyama has bittersweet memories of Tomioka. The area that is now a no-go zone includes Yonomori Park, where people gathered for a cherry blossom festival. Remediation work in the area is being stepped up and the municipality plans to discontinue the rest of the no-go zone by 2023.

“I want to reach the residents, especially the younger generation, so they know their home is still there,” said Hatakeyama. One day, he said, he wants to see young families play, like he used to do with his father.

“A PLACE OF COMFORT”

Hazuki Sato was 10 when she fled her primary school in Futaba, home of the destroyed nuclear power plant.

She is now preparing for the coming-of-age ceremony typical of Japanese 20-year-olds, hoping for a reunion in town so she can reconnect with her former classmates who have scattered.

Despite horrifying memories of escaping her class, she still considers Futaba her home.

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

None of Futaba’s 5,700 residents can return until 2022, when the city is expected to partially reopen. An area outside a train station reopened last March for a day visit only to bring in the Olympic torch.

Sato has fond memories of Futaba – a family barbecue, after school on a unicycle and doing homework and snacking with friends at a daycare while waiting for her grandmother to pick her up.

“I want this town to be a place of comfort again,” she said.