We started the day in Kamaichi. It was a gorgeous morning and we started early with a nice, Japanese breakfast of miso, rice, salmon, meatballs, daikon radish, seaweed and pickled plums.
It was the perfect amount of food. We then drove through the mountains - some beautiful country, as you can see below. The trees are just breathtaking. The closest I can think of is the Pacific Northwest, but still, the foliage here is impressive and breathtaking. None of these pictures from the car do it any kind of justice:
So we then arrived at the Ao-Zora Farm gardening project, a project started during the rebuilding, in an effort to bring the community together to grow and harvest a garden; something they had never done before. We met some pretty amazing women who carry the water down the hill every day and check on their plants and vegetables. It started out where people could grow their own crops and choose what to grow. But as they saw their neighbors' crops, they started to share them between each other, creating a real community garden. The simple act of growing a garden gave them joy - and fostered a better sense of community between them. Look at the smiles on their faces, just happy to share the experience with us and the things they learned.
So I had an ulterior motive for showing you my breakfast. It wasn't meant to rub a good breakfast in your face. It was the perfect amount of food, not too full, not hungry afterwards. Imagine our surprise when less than an hour later, we were invited to the house of one of the women at the Ao-zora Farm project who owns the only store in town following the tsunami. She was a housewife before the tsunami, but then became involved in the project and opened the store. Her husband is a fisherman. More importantly, she was a plucky and amazing woman who invited all of us into her home for perhaps one of the best meals I have eaten. Ever.
Not really knowing what we were about to get into, we were instructed to sit. We were told she was going to share food with us, but we were not expecting what we got.
Here we are, waiting:
She brought out a plate of fresh yellowtail, accompanied by soy sauce made right there in town and wasabi. She followed up with cucumbers fresh from the community garden with miso paste and then fresh garden tomatoes and some ginger/garlic thing none of us could place. It was so simple, but easily the most decadent thing we've eaten here because it was just so amazingly fresh and the taste was surprisingly complex as we dug in. Her husband had caught the fish the day before, kept them alive overnight for us and then they were prepared just before we got there. Three decent sized yellowtail. The food, company and hospitality were just unmatched. We all wanted to put her in our pockets and take her home!
We stopped for a picture before making our next stop:
Moving towards our next thing, we made a sudden stop right along the water to watch fishermen separating oysters. It was part of an Oyster Raising Project that we were to visit later in the day.
Never underestimate the hospitality of the Japanese people. We then were allowed to sample the largest and most fresh oysters I have ever seen. These oysters would be incredibly expensive back home and yet, here they were, running to find us oysters to share, proud of the work they were doing.
Some of us adventurous souls decided to partake. Even without some marinara and horseradish, the oyster was delicious. First of all, it was literally just caught, cleaned, shucked and handed to us. The most perfect, natural brine I've ever had. Memorable.
So then we went back to Kamaishi where we continued to tour the damage and meet with the Fuji Welfare Foundation. First we stopped at a school to observe the festivities for Respect for the Elderly Day, specifically targeted at seniors 77, 88 and over 100. The place was packed. Only people in those groups were targeted. The Japanese do live healthy lives, indeed.
Then we had lunch from one of the kitchen cars. Following the tsunami, restaurants had to close and owners who could not receive unemployment, found themselves struggling as well as the community, who was beginning to need better options for food since the aid they were getting wasn't enough. So they came together to create kitchen cars, or what we in the states would call food carts. They would go to the office buildings where people were still working, fed volunteers and provided services at events and holidays. It became so popular, there's plans to keep them going in the future, including reopening restaurants.
We abruptly needed to leave to go to a meeting with the Mayor of Kamaishi City, Mr. Takenori Noda. Despite touring a lot of the disaster area the day before and hearing stories from the volunteers and survivors, we finally got a really good sense of what had happened in Kamaishi.
Kamaishi was known for the seawall that protects the bay in 2008. It was the deepest sea wall in the world and stood at 6 meters tall. Because they had survived several tsunamis in the past, they had decided that the effort and cost was worth it to build the wall. On top of it, they had city walls that protect the coastline that stand at 3 meters tall.
After the earthquake that day, which, let's not forget was one of the largest in recent history (registering a 9 undersea on the Richter scale with subsequent after-shocks), the warnings came that there could be a tsunami with waves up to 3 meters. Immediate evacuations are called when they predict a tsunami with 3 meters. Subsequent reports then moved it to 4 and then 6.
Kamaishi's sea wall stands at 6 meters. The city walls stand at 3 meters. However, the electricity cut out after the announcement of 3 meters. So many in Kamaishi believed they'd be safe with the walls holding back much of the wave. They did not seek higher ground.
The tsunami reached 11 meters, or 33 feet. There were 5 waves, with the second and third the highest.
The sea wall did, however, somewhat protect the bay. The height of the tsunami was halved due to the wall and gave residents an extra six minutes to get to higher ground. And then, there is the Kamaishi miracle. No children were lost from Kamaishi that day because they did not listen to the adults, they followed the teachers, who knew what to do. While the adults took refuge in the evacuation centers, the children moved to higher ground as far and as quickly as they can. As a result, they were all saved. 300 people did not run up the hill. A total of 1,000 lives were lost from Kamaichi. The lesson learned was that the greater the wall, the more residents are ill-prepared because they expect the wall to hold. No one predicted the tsunami. But you can never be too prepared.
We toured more of Kamaichi after the meeting. It hit home. It doesn't matter how prepared you are, just run for higher ground. This is the building that just a week before, residents were told to evacuate to.
The tsunami hit the first and second floors of the building. The few people that were saved here were only saved because they climbed curtains on either side of a stage on the second floor and managed to get their heads above the water, which was merely 30 centimeters from the ceiling.
We then visited the City Hall that was demolished during the tsunami. It had sustained a lot of damage during the earthquake and they were dealing with the aftershocks when the tsunami hit, killing the City Council and Mayor and stopping the clock when the wave hit. The only folks who survived this were ones who could hang onto the ledge of the building.
17 minutes. That's all they had. 17 minutes after one of the largest earthquakes in recent history to run more than a mile over earthquake debris, through buildings and up some serious mountains.
I don't know if I could have done it. Who knows in the face of that kind of adversity what you can do. But 17 minutes is hard for even the hardiest runner. Especially when I'm certain there would be people I'd want to save along the way.
But I say all of this because not once in any of our visits, not once in any of our conversations, did we see any evidence of anyone wanting to give up. There was a steely strength and a quiet pride. They weren't victims, looking for someone to come in and solve their problems, though they have all been incredibly grateful for the amazing response from the rest of the world.
Instead, they were rolling up their sleeves and doing the best they could to move forward. They were coming together as communities, volunteers from all over the country, to find common ground and work by consensus. Consensus! Not my way or yours or let's compromise here and hate each other forever silently. They are genuinely trying to get everyone to have a seat at the table, to take all viewpoints into account and find ways to move forward together.
That's pretty impressive when you compare it to, oh, Katrina or even Ground Zero - the two biggest things that could be remotely comparable. The response after Katrina by government was embarrassing and outrageous, to say the least. As for Ground Zero, see the Ground Zero Museum for starters. Yeah. It took 10 years for them to get cracking on World Trade One. These guys are owning it and the communities are doing what they can to survive.
For instance, the Mayor today said something interesting - that Kamaishi is one of the "fastest to take care of their debris". No kidding. In fact, they take the crazy amount of debris, manage to separate it into reusable and unusable material and recycle what they can and pulverize what they cannot. In fact, in Kamaishi, they even test all of it for radiation. That commitment to the environment in the face of rebuilding is amazing.
It's not even that they're doing it so fast. It's that they are being incredibly thoughtful about it. That struck us. While there's a lot of people still displaced and many of them may not return, they are taking the time to really create and be thoughtful about what they build after this. By making sure everyone works together, or at least agrees on ways forward.
Not to say this is easy. None of them have said that. In fact, there are problems some of it has already created (like the issues in the temporary housing). But they have an immediate 3 year plan, followed by a 3 year intermediate plan and a 4 year long-term plan. That would be a 10 year strategic plan for rebuilding that gets reassessed at each stage. That is impressive. We don't think that far ahead back home. At least that I have seen. 10 years! Too far away! Now! Now! Now!
We were just struck by the resilience. And they are proud of what they have done and while they have a long way to go, they always stop to remember as well. Much like the people of New Orleans and New York. But there's a quiet resilience here that is hard to miss.
We said goodbye to Kamaishi and headed back for the long journey back to Tokyo, enduring some serious heat and humidity. Ugh. As we stood on the train platform, waiting for the train back to Tokyo, we were hopeful that the express train that would go by would generate some wind. Instead, we had the breath knocked out of us when it passed by. Talk about fast! We are certain the people on board would have gotten a laugh at us standing on the platform, mouths agape, and staring. Good Lord, it's amazing what they've done here.
So now it's 3am and I'm still awake. But will force myself to bed soon. Now that I'm fully settled in to the hotel, I've handwashed some laundry and unpacked and wrote this. We spend the next four days in Tokyo and I plan to check out that 400 year old garden tomorrow morning before we have meetings at noon. Oh yeah! It has only been two days, but it feels like we've been here a lifetime. Japan makes it easy with how clean and welcoming it is.
And without further ado, here is your picture of the day. They have planted rows and rows of sunflowers to give the residents of Iwate hope while rebuilding. This was impressive, it's right in downtown Kamaishi, in front of the restaurant we had dinner in the night before and it's nearly as tall as the truck! It's the perfect picture to end this day, where we fell in love with the residents and marveled at their resilience and strength.
Until tomorrow, sayonara!
Location:New Otani Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
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