Here is a report from our staff, Yoshitsubaki, on the evacuees out of Fukushima.
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Thinking of hometown Fukushima – evacuees’ now Vol. 24
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Yonezawa-shi, where they have heavy snow every year in Yamagata Pref., sometimes holds a small tea party for the evacuees. Very few males take part in it, but Mr. T (age 70) attends it every time. “I came here because everyone invites me. I have nothing to do anyway”, he says shyly.
He came to Yonezawa-shi from Namie-machi, Fukushima on Mar. 20 with his family. At first all 6 of them lived in one apartment room provided by the government, but he moved to another private apartment room with his wife and his mother aged 94. “Because the first apartment has only 2 rooms. Too small for 6 people to live”, he says. He is anxious about his wife, “My wife cannot come to such a tea party because she has to care of my mom”.
Looking back his 9-month life in Yonezawa-shi, he says, “People here are all very kind, but this is not the place I wished to come. By Prime Minister’s order, we were kicked out from our home”. He also worries about his future and says, “I am going to move to somewhere in Fukushima next spring so that I will not bother Yonezawa people any more”.
That was right after when Prime Minister announced the termination of Fukushima accident. Mr. T, however, said musingly, “They say it takes 5-10 years for us to return to our home, but I am 70 already. After 10 years, I am getting 80. My time is limited.”
“Frankly speaking, I’ve never felt that there remains little time in my life until now.”, “I don’t want them to waste my time. I am not sure if they really think about our lives,” that’s the thoughts that come to his mind these days.
Lastly he mentioned quietly, “All I want is time. Give me time.”
Every evacuee has his/her own feeling and surrounding. There remained time is also different.
2012年04月26日
Activity Report No. 154
posted by NGO Collaboration Center for Hanshin Quake Rehabilitation at 11:45| Comment(0)
| Activity report
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2012年02月27日
Activity Report No.153
Here is a report from our Tomoko Masujima. She is working for one of Iwate local groups, “Tono Magokoro Net (Tono Hearty Net)” since end of May.
A new year has come, but we cannot leave that terrible tsunami in the previous year.
Even in tough situation, some people try to go ahead by making makenai-zou rather than being sunk in grief. But what are their real feelings?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Tono story – A bond by makenai-zou
Went for Kamaishi-shi to collect makenai-zou
We visited Kasshi temp house in Kamaishi-shi to collect finished makenai-zou for the first time in 2012. Though they might have been busy for welcoming new-year guests, they already made lots of makenai-zou.
One of the residents, Mrs. S invited me to lunch because it was a new year probably. “Do you have time today? If so, shall we have some tea at my house with my neighbors? There is nothing at my house but rice cakes, so take some for your lunch,” she said. She lost her husband and son by tsunami. It was at the shelter in Kamaishi-shi that I met her for the first time. When we met there, she said she was lucky. “My husband and son were swept away by the tsunami, but their bodies were found, so I am rather luckier. Some bodies are still missing,” she said. I can never forget her to say “I am rather luckier”. She was in such sorrow to lose their loved ones, but she tried to control her emotion. Since then, I’ve never heard about tsunami from her. Even when others talked about it, she said nothing but just listened to them. “I myself don’t want to talk about tsunami,” she said.
But on that day, she was different. She greeted us saying “Happy new year”, and continued, “This is the first time for me to see the old year out and welcome a new year all alone”. Considering her loneliness, I could not celebrate her a new year. How struggling for her to make a new year greeting after she lost her loved ones?
Then her makenai-zou mates and neighbor (who is living alone also) came to her house, and we all chatted and enjoyed new-year dishes.
At first we were having fun, but after a while, a postman visited her and left a big package. That was sent by the doctor who once took care of her husband. A few days before, she got a phone call from the doctor and he said that he wanted to something for her. Though she declined his offer with thanks, he didn’t follow her and sent her a present. On receiving it, she muttered in tears, “Enough. I am disgusted. I even cannot write to him though he gives me a favor, and what is worse, it reminds me that tsunami. It really hurts me.” “I want everyonem to leave me alone. Let me just make makenai-zou….”
Then she burst to talk about tsunami. When the tsunami occurred, she was at a dancing school. Knowing the situation was very severe and unusual, she hurried back to her home, where her husband was staying at. She was in panic and said to her husband to escape from the tsunami as soon as possible. “Don’t scream,” her husband tried to calm her down, but she insisted on refuge, and they got out from their home in hurry, hand in hand. But the merciless tsunami attacked the two, separating their hands. Though the water came to her neck, she rarely could survive, but her husband was swept away by tsunami.
“Probably my husband’s brothers resent me for releasing my hands from his. They may think that it is never acceptable the fact that only I survived. But I could do nothing. You never know what was like until you experience it in real”, she said. I really didn’t know what to say to her. Seeing me without any words, she apologized to me for telling me her hard story.
Then one of the makenai-zou makers, Mrs. H who is in her 80’s, stared to speak out. “My son in law was flowed away too. When the tsunami came, I told him to escape soon, but he said, “You go first”. Because I could not take him, I went out first and had a narrow escape. When I told it to a certain media person, he blamed me, “Why didn’t you run away together with him?” Do you think an old woman like me can pull him out to somewhere?” She confessed that she could never forget such cruel words. We often talked to each other, but that was the first time for me to hear such a painful experience from her. Seeing my surprising face, Mrs. S said, “Mrs. H is so patient that she doesn’t make any complaints.”
She continued, “We often had tsunami before, but never had such a huge one until Mar. 11. So we might be off our guard. Since 1933, we run a disaster drill on Mar. 3 every year. That was the day that we had previous big tsunami. We run it seriously every year, and of course in last year too, but….”
I have got along with her since we met each other at the shelter for the first time, but never heard of her to talk like that before. I could not find what to say to her. “One officer from the Metropolitan Police will come to see me in a few weeks. I bothered him a lot when my husband was missing, so I have to see say “thank you” to him. Actually he says he wants to meet me, but to tell the truth, I don’t want to. It reminds me everything if I see him. I really want him to leave me alone, I’d rather want to make makenai-zou,” she said. Both Mrs. S and Mrs. H had been our makenai-zou mates since they were still at the shelter. I thought I had been so close to them, but that’s not true. I found myself wordless and incompetent.
Both Mrs. S and Mrs. H must have spent the same peaceful days just as they did before the tsunami, and never heard of makenai-zou. Getting to know makenaizou means that you have painful experiences. It brought me mixed feelings when I thought so.
Finally Mrs. S said, “I need nothing now. I’d had Iwatani-do chest (traditional chest of Iwate Pref.) and many Japanese kimonos that I had never worn, but they are all gone with the tsunami. The only things that I found were a few scarves that my grandmother gave me as keepsakes. Though the land price around here is falling, I still have to pay real estate tax according to the rate before the price down. So I don’t want any more now. I think I had too good living.”
Here there is a woman living strongly in a hard fate. Everyone had his/her own thought and feeling for a new year.
I will do my best in this year too, asking myself what I can do now.
(Tomoko Masujima)
A new year has come, but we cannot leave that terrible tsunami in the previous year.
Even in tough situation, some people try to go ahead by making makenai-zou rather than being sunk in grief. But what are their real feelings?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Tono story – A bond by makenai-zou
Went for Kamaishi-shi to collect makenai-zou
We visited Kasshi temp house in Kamaishi-shi to collect finished makenai-zou for the first time in 2012. Though they might have been busy for welcoming new-year guests, they already made lots of makenai-zou.
One of the residents, Mrs. S invited me to lunch because it was a new year probably. “Do you have time today? If so, shall we have some tea at my house with my neighbors? There is nothing at my house but rice cakes, so take some for your lunch,” she said. She lost her husband and son by tsunami. It was at the shelter in Kamaishi-shi that I met her for the first time. When we met there, she said she was lucky. “My husband and son were swept away by the tsunami, but their bodies were found, so I am rather luckier. Some bodies are still missing,” she said. I can never forget her to say “I am rather luckier”. She was in such sorrow to lose their loved ones, but she tried to control her emotion. Since then, I’ve never heard about tsunami from her. Even when others talked about it, she said nothing but just listened to them. “I myself don’t want to talk about tsunami,” she said.
But on that day, she was different. She greeted us saying “Happy new year”, and continued, “This is the first time for me to see the old year out and welcome a new year all alone”. Considering her loneliness, I could not celebrate her a new year. How struggling for her to make a new year greeting after she lost her loved ones?
Then her makenai-zou mates and neighbor (who is living alone also) came to her house, and we all chatted and enjoyed new-year dishes.
At first we were having fun, but after a while, a postman visited her and left a big package. That was sent by the doctor who once took care of her husband. A few days before, she got a phone call from the doctor and he said that he wanted to something for her. Though she declined his offer with thanks, he didn’t follow her and sent her a present. On receiving it, she muttered in tears, “Enough. I am disgusted. I even cannot write to him though he gives me a favor, and what is worse, it reminds me that tsunami. It really hurts me.” “I want everyonem to leave me alone. Let me just make makenai-zou….”
Then she burst to talk about tsunami. When the tsunami occurred, she was at a dancing school. Knowing the situation was very severe and unusual, she hurried back to her home, where her husband was staying at. She was in panic and said to her husband to escape from the tsunami as soon as possible. “Don’t scream,” her husband tried to calm her down, but she insisted on refuge, and they got out from their home in hurry, hand in hand. But the merciless tsunami attacked the two, separating their hands. Though the water came to her neck, she rarely could survive, but her husband was swept away by tsunami.
“Probably my husband’s brothers resent me for releasing my hands from his. They may think that it is never acceptable the fact that only I survived. But I could do nothing. You never know what was like until you experience it in real”, she said. I really didn’t know what to say to her. Seeing me without any words, she apologized to me for telling me her hard story.
Then one of the makenai-zou makers, Mrs. H who is in her 80’s, stared to speak out. “My son in law was flowed away too. When the tsunami came, I told him to escape soon, but he said, “You go first”. Because I could not take him, I went out first and had a narrow escape. When I told it to a certain media person, he blamed me, “Why didn’t you run away together with him?” Do you think an old woman like me can pull him out to somewhere?” She confessed that she could never forget such cruel words. We often talked to each other, but that was the first time for me to hear such a painful experience from her. Seeing my surprising face, Mrs. S said, “Mrs. H is so patient that she doesn’t make any complaints.”
She continued, “We often had tsunami before, but never had such a huge one until Mar. 11. So we might be off our guard. Since 1933, we run a disaster drill on Mar. 3 every year. That was the day that we had previous big tsunami. We run it seriously every year, and of course in last year too, but….”
I have got along with her since we met each other at the shelter for the first time, but never heard of her to talk like that before. I could not find what to say to her. “One officer from the Metropolitan Police will come to see me in a few weeks. I bothered him a lot when my husband was missing, so I have to see say “thank you” to him. Actually he says he wants to meet me, but to tell the truth, I don’t want to. It reminds me everything if I see him. I really want him to leave me alone, I’d rather want to make makenai-zou,” she said. Both Mrs. S and Mrs. H had been our makenai-zou mates since they were still at the shelter. I thought I had been so close to them, but that’s not true. I found myself wordless and incompetent.
Both Mrs. S and Mrs. H must have spent the same peaceful days just as they did before the tsunami, and never heard of makenai-zou. Getting to know makenaizou means that you have painful experiences. It brought me mixed feelings when I thought so.
Finally Mrs. S said, “I need nothing now. I’d had Iwatani-do chest (traditional chest of Iwate Pref.) and many Japanese kimonos that I had never worn, but they are all gone with the tsunami. The only things that I found were a few scarves that my grandmother gave me as keepsakes. Though the land price around here is falling, I still have to pay real estate tax according to the rate before the price down. So I don’t want any more now. I think I had too good living.”
Here there is a woman living strongly in a hard fate. Everyone had his/her own thought and feeling for a new year.
I will do my best in this year too, asking myself what I can do now.
(Tomoko Masujima)
posted by NGO Collaboration Center for Hanshin Quake Rehabilitation at 14:29| Comment(1)
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2012年02月20日
Activity Report No.152
Here is a report from our Tomoko Masujima. She is working for one of Iwate local groups, “Tono Magokoro Net (Tono Hearty Net)” since end of May.
She visited Chiba Pref. Co-op which is supporting our “makenai-zou” activities. (Co-op is one of Japanese consumer groups.)
We got message from Chiba Co-op as follows;
“Tohoku is so far that we could not go there immediately, but many of us wanted to do something…(omitted). To make good use of the donation from our members, we presented 100 of sewing sets to the victims joining “makenai-zou”. At the same time, we are asking our members to purchase makenai-zou” in addition to bring unwanted towels from their home.
Makenai-zou activities are supported by many people as above
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Tono story – A bond by makenai-zou
………………………………………………………………………………………
From Kobe to Tohoku (2)
At the end of 2011, we visited Chiba Co-op to give makenai-zou course. The chairman of Chiba Co-op is Mr. Shuji Tai, who is from Kyoto, and used to be a professor of Ritsumeikan University. Since Hanshin Awaji Great Earthquake, we have been receiving lots of his favors.
Chiba Co-op also has two talents, Mr. Mizushima who is working for disaster support, and Mr. Kondo who is in charge of liaison & PR. They both have curious fate to have worked at Kobe before coming to Chiba.
All of the members, with Mr. Tai at the first of the list, have been helping our activities a lot. Taking this opportunity, we would like to say “thank you” to all of them.
Needless to say, sewing kits are essential for making makenai-zou and we could send sewing boxes to the stricken areas with the help from Chiba Co-op. In last November, Director Nishiyama and Mr. Kondo (liaison& PR) shared their valuable times to rush to temp houses at Hakozaki district of Kamaishi-shi to deliver sewing boxes. 50 sets were handed to the evacuees staying there. On the day they arrived, about 20 residents participated to makenai-zou course cheerfully. Of course they gladly received sewing boxes before the course began.
As mentioned before, we visited Chiba Co-op at the end of 2011. This is because we wished to report our recent activities, but we had another purpose to give makenai-zou seminar there. Right after Mar.11, news on the damage in Chiba Pref. was broadcasted frequently, but nowadays, people’s attention is very little though there still remains the influence of the disaster. In Chiba, 200 temp houses were built in Asahi-shi, and 30 in Katori-shi for the evacuees who lost their home by the disaster. They also received around 300 persons with intellectual disabilities from Fukushima Pref. For them, Chiba Co-op continues their supporting activities including meal service, or small tea parties at the temp houses, and as their new trial, they gave makenai-zou course. The aim of the course was to raise makenai-zou instructors among Chiba supporters. Once they mastered how to make it, then they will be able to teach the method to the evacuees at the temp houses. Some of the supporters’ kids joined the course and they made their own designed elephants.
While making makenai-zou, they asked us if everything remained calm in the stricken areas. They also said, “We cannot know about Tohoku since we do not have much information on mass media these days”.
As time goes by, the news on the disaster will be fewer, but we should never forget that we are only at the starting point for the restoration. Regretfully, like when we had Hanshin Awaji Great Earthquake, the reports on the disaster tend to be decreased after a year or so, and it becomes difficult to update information of the stricken areas. At that time of the last Kobe Earthquake, we travelled all over the country in caravan with a heap of rubble on our truck, or with makenai-zou, so that people would not forget the tragedy. Through this caravan, we learned how important it is for each of us to tell the people what was happening in the stricken areas. We believe that makenai-zou can be a good spokesperson too.
After Great East Japan Earthquake, a lot of Tohoku people were forced to move away from their hometown because of Fukushima Dai-ichi (the first) nuclear power plant accident. If you look around, you may find the evacuees from Tohoku in your neighbors, or you can find “something you can do now”, so please watch carefully.
On the day we reported to Chiba Co-op about our activities, we got a warm message from them, saying “We will continue to support Tohoku from now on too”.
One of Chiba Co-op directors has a friend in Otsuchi-cho, Iwate Pref. He said that he could not meet his friend when he visited there last time, but after a while, he heard that his friend newly opened the bookstore. “If you go to Otsuhi-cho and find my friend,” the director said, “please say hello to him”.
On Christmas day, we visited Otsuchi-cho and there we found a big supermarket “Mast” was reopened. Here almost half of the buildings used to be buried in the rubble carried by tsunami.
The bookstore keeper resigned the company he worked for, and opened his own store “Ichi-page-do shoten (Page One Bookstore)”. He wants the children to have dreams by reading books, while he himself hopes to be a spiritual supporter for them. The bookstore is run by him and his wife. They are living in a temp house in Wano area located inland of Iwate Pref. Coincidently, our temp staff Hirano had met them before through “making veranda” activities. This activity was to build verandas at the evacuees’ temp houses without any rewards (residents only bear the cost of materials). When the evacuees moved into temp houses at first, there is no veranda to hang their clothes and bedding. So we decided to build verandas to solve such inconvenience, and through this activity, Hirano had chance to get to know the couple. How happy and lucky we are to meet them again by a curious turn of fate. They were very fine and deliver lots of dreams to the children. Please drop in at their store and see what they are doing when you visit Otsuhi-cho.
Chiba Co-op gave us a memorandum mentioning the collaboration made with us for the Great East Japan Earthquake. With such encouragements and helps from many people, we will do our best more than before so that we can meet your expectation.
(Tomoko Masujima)
A short message attached to makenai-zou
“It was so enjoyable and grateful to make makenai-zou with my neighbors in circle. Though we have received lots of favors from many people, we cannot buy anything in return because we have no stores around here. But I was so glad that finally we could give these makenai-zou to our supporters. From our temp houses in Rikuzentakata, makenai-zou will go to Hokkaido, Fukui, Nagasaki or even to Holland. It is truly international exchange, starting from Japan to all over the world.
Making makenai-zou is totally volunteering, but it brings us lots of joy and thankfulness. Now I feel happy, but will be happier with makenai-zou!!”
(2011/10/31, a ale in 70s, Takata high school 2nd ground temp house, Rikuzentakata-shi)
She visited Chiba Pref. Co-op which is supporting our “makenai-zou” activities. (Co-op is one of Japanese consumer groups.)
We got message from Chiba Co-op as follows;
“Tohoku is so far that we could not go there immediately, but many of us wanted to do something…(omitted). To make good use of the donation from our members, we presented 100 of sewing sets to the victims joining “makenai-zou”. At the same time, we are asking our members to purchase makenai-zou” in addition to bring unwanted towels from their home.
Makenai-zou activities are supported by many people as above
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Tono story – A bond by makenai-zou
………………………………………………………………………………………
From Kobe to Tohoku (2)
At the end of 2011, we visited Chiba Co-op to give makenai-zou course. The chairman of Chiba Co-op is Mr. Shuji Tai, who is from Kyoto, and used to be a professor of Ritsumeikan University. Since Hanshin Awaji Great Earthquake, we have been receiving lots of his favors.
Chiba Co-op also has two talents, Mr. Mizushima who is working for disaster support, and Mr. Kondo who is in charge of liaison & PR. They both have curious fate to have worked at Kobe before coming to Chiba.
All of the members, with Mr. Tai at the first of the list, have been helping our activities a lot. Taking this opportunity, we would like to say “thank you” to all of them.
Needless to say, sewing kits are essential for making makenai-zou and we could send sewing boxes to the stricken areas with the help from Chiba Co-op. In last November, Director Nishiyama and Mr. Kondo (liaison& PR) shared their valuable times to rush to temp houses at Hakozaki district of Kamaishi-shi to deliver sewing boxes. 50 sets were handed to the evacuees staying there. On the day they arrived, about 20 residents participated to makenai-zou course cheerfully. Of course they gladly received sewing boxes before the course began.
As mentioned before, we visited Chiba Co-op at the end of 2011. This is because we wished to report our recent activities, but we had another purpose to give makenai-zou seminar there. Right after Mar.11, news on the damage in Chiba Pref. was broadcasted frequently, but nowadays, people’s attention is very little though there still remains the influence of the disaster. In Chiba, 200 temp houses were built in Asahi-shi, and 30 in Katori-shi for the evacuees who lost their home by the disaster. They also received around 300 persons with intellectual disabilities from Fukushima Pref. For them, Chiba Co-op continues their supporting activities including meal service, or small tea parties at the temp houses, and as their new trial, they gave makenai-zou course. The aim of the course was to raise makenai-zou instructors among Chiba supporters. Once they mastered how to make it, then they will be able to teach the method to the evacuees at the temp houses. Some of the supporters’ kids joined the course and they made their own designed elephants.
While making makenai-zou, they asked us if everything remained calm in the stricken areas. They also said, “We cannot know about Tohoku since we do not have much information on mass media these days”.
As time goes by, the news on the disaster will be fewer, but we should never forget that we are only at the starting point for the restoration. Regretfully, like when we had Hanshin Awaji Great Earthquake, the reports on the disaster tend to be decreased after a year or so, and it becomes difficult to update information of the stricken areas. At that time of the last Kobe Earthquake, we travelled all over the country in caravan with a heap of rubble on our truck, or with makenai-zou, so that people would not forget the tragedy. Through this caravan, we learned how important it is for each of us to tell the people what was happening in the stricken areas. We believe that makenai-zou can be a good spokesperson too.
After Great East Japan Earthquake, a lot of Tohoku people were forced to move away from their hometown because of Fukushima Dai-ichi (the first) nuclear power plant accident. If you look around, you may find the evacuees from Tohoku in your neighbors, or you can find “something you can do now”, so please watch carefully.
On the day we reported to Chiba Co-op about our activities, we got a warm message from them, saying “We will continue to support Tohoku from now on too”.
One of Chiba Co-op directors has a friend in Otsuchi-cho, Iwate Pref. He said that he could not meet his friend when he visited there last time, but after a while, he heard that his friend newly opened the bookstore. “If you go to Otsuhi-cho and find my friend,” the director said, “please say hello to him”.
On Christmas day, we visited Otsuchi-cho and there we found a big supermarket “Mast” was reopened. Here almost half of the buildings used to be buried in the rubble carried by tsunami.
The bookstore keeper resigned the company he worked for, and opened his own store “Ichi-page-do shoten (Page One Bookstore)”. He wants the children to have dreams by reading books, while he himself hopes to be a spiritual supporter for them. The bookstore is run by him and his wife. They are living in a temp house in Wano area located inland of Iwate Pref. Coincidently, our temp staff Hirano had met them before through “making veranda” activities. This activity was to build verandas at the evacuees’ temp houses without any rewards (residents only bear the cost of materials). When the evacuees moved into temp houses at first, there is no veranda to hang their clothes and bedding. So we decided to build verandas to solve such inconvenience, and through this activity, Hirano had chance to get to know the couple. How happy and lucky we are to meet them again by a curious turn of fate. They were very fine and deliver lots of dreams to the children. Please drop in at their store and see what they are doing when you visit Otsuhi-cho.
Chiba Co-op gave us a memorandum mentioning the collaboration made with us for the Great East Japan Earthquake. With such encouragements and helps from many people, we will do our best more than before so that we can meet your expectation.
(Tomoko Masujima)
A short message attached to makenai-zou“It was so enjoyable and grateful to make makenai-zou with my neighbors in circle. Though we have received lots of favors from many people, we cannot buy anything in return because we have no stores around here. But I was so glad that finally we could give these makenai-zou to our supporters. From our temp houses in Rikuzentakata, makenai-zou will go to Hokkaido, Fukui, Nagasaki or even to Holland. It is truly international exchange, starting from Japan to all over the world.
Making makenai-zou is totally volunteering, but it brings us lots of joy and thankfulness. Now I feel happy, but will be happier with makenai-zou!!”
(2011/10/31, a ale in 70s, Takata high school 2nd ground temp house, Rikuzentakata-shi)
posted by NGO Collaboration Center for Hanshin Quake Rehabilitation at 17:42| Comment(0)
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