Changes Around Town

So I keep saying how much the town has changed recently.  Here are some proof before and after-type pictures to prove it.

December 2011: I remember being very excited when the first barber shop opened in the area.

October 2012: Some new buildings in the process of being built behind the barber shop (still visible on the right).

March 2013: The new buildings completed!  The yellow one is a sushi and rice bowl restaurant.  There are also several barber shops and beauty parlors in the area now.

Dec. 2011: The big hospital in the center of town (notice the green medical cross on the roof) surrounded by debris.

Oct. 2012: The hospital was torn down during the summer so some of the other buildings from that neighborhood are now visible.

Dec. 2011: During high tides the coast would often get flooded, especially near the river.

Oct. 2012: A sea wall has been built and the road has been raised so I don't have to drive through large puddles so often anymore.

Feb. 2013: The Hotel Kanyo is visible in the background.  The "boat graveyard" can also be seen in the middle-distance.  The boats themselves are actually pretty far away from the water but due to the perspective here it looks like they are in the bay.

Mar. 2013: Last fall some metal sheet art pieces appeared around town.  I assume it's part of an art series of some kind(?).

Dec. 2011: Some trees that died after coming into contact with the salt water from the tsunami.  Also notice the small white car on the left that was placed on the hill by the tsunami waters.

Oct. 2012: Piles of logs from trees in the area, this pile has since disappeared.  I wonder where the wood ended up...

Oct. 2012: Piles of tree roots that were extracted from the ground after the dead trees were cut down.

Feb. 2013: A white heron looking for food by the river.

Nov. 2012: Here some building foundations and parking lots are visible.

Mar. 2013: Most of the foundations (and parking lots) have since been removed

Mar. 2013: The area looks so flat now...

Mar. 2013: Unnaturally flat...  Keep in mind that flat land is exceedingly rare in Japan (and is often used for rice fields).  That's why houses are small here - they use up less of the flat area that way.

Dec. 2011: The radio tower building (on the left).

Nov. 2012: Here the area to the right of the building is being cleared of debris.

Mar. 2013: Now the whole building is gone.  And the shopping area has a brand new bus stop (the cylindrical building a bit to the right of the center).

Mar. 2013: Here's the shopping area again; it has tons of souvenir shops, restaurants, beauty parlors, and even a couple of cake shops.

Mar. 2013: The shopping area seen from a distance.  The area looks so empty without the radio building.

Mar. 2013: Some friendly dolphins warn people to stay away from the road drainage system which still hasn't been covered with cement blocks yet.

Mar. 2013: A helpful citizen decided to cover this part of the drainage system with some random cement blocks.  They don't fit particularly well, but most cars can drive over it safely now.

Mar. 2013: The same driveway with the improvised cement blocks.  Also notice the fruit stand in the background to the left.

Dec. 2011: The fruit stand looked a bit brighter last year since it had just opened and was freshly painted.

Mar. 2013: The fruit stand now boasts two vending machines.

Feb. 2013: A local government building that was built last year.  It houses the Board of Education among other departments.

Mar. 2013: Some of the ever-present diggers.  These ones are working around what used to be the train tracks.

Dec. 2011: I was so happy when we got a laundromat down the road since it meant that we didn't have to dry our clothes inside the house anymore.  Very few Japanese homes have dryers.

Mar. 2013: Now that same laundromat has a dry-cleaners next door.  There is also a fruit stand on the right and a cafe behind.

Dec. 2011: I posted this picture last year - notice that the land still looks pretty torn up.

Mar. 2013: Now the land has been smoothed down.  I still don't know if there will be any new buildings built in this particular part of town.  It might end up just becoming a park.

Mar. 2013: Then again, with all of these building supplies maybe there will be some new structures after all.

Anyway, I haven't been able to get all of the videos to load since my internet is too slow... I'll try again later this week.

A Year After and the Graduation Ceremony

This weekend has been fairly eventful.  Yesterday was the graduation ceremony at Hashi middle school and of course today is the anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.  Anne and I felt a bit awkward about staying around town today since there were tons of ceremonies, memorial services, and reporters so we went down to the movie theater in Ishinomaki.  We saw two movies since the theater was "showing its appreciation to its customers" for being able to stay in business through the year even though Ishinomaki was affected by the tsunami, so all the movies were free.  We ended up seeing the "new" Sherlock Holmes, and Hugo (western films come to Japan kind of late so even though these films are available to buy back home already they are still in theaters here, with Japanese subtitles), haha.  In between the movies we observed the minute of silence at 2:46; it was a bit surreal to see all the people at one moment moving hurriedly through the mall (where the theater is) suddenly pause almost as one and bow their heads, but it was also moving.

I can't believe it's already been a year... a lot has changed in that time.  Mostly things change very slowly; like rubble gets organized and removed leaving only building foundations and scraggly grass in its place, I was looking at pictures from BBC News today that exemplify this well.  Next temporary buildings are erected like restaurants and barber shops and laundromats (we now have three of the latter within a couple miles of the apartment).  Permanent buildings are being constructed on higher ground (including a new Board of Education).  But who knows how many families who left town and moved in with extended family elsewhere will ever return.  It will also take many years for the land to heal and the trees to grow back; recently many of the still-standing dead trees have been cut down leaving the lower sections of hills and slopes lonely and bare.  Well, I guess all things heal at their own pace.

Anyway, I wanted to say a bit more about the graduation.  Since it was so close to the anniversary (and because at this time last year when everyone was preparing for that graduation the earthquake struck) there was definitely a correlation between the two events in my mind (and I think in other peoples' as well).  All this past school week was pretty much dedicated to preparing for the graduation.  Students cleaned all the rooms (and even polished all the trophies in their glass cases), decorations were created or taken out of storage and hung around the gymnasium.  There were only a few classes on Thursday and none at all on Friday as the third-years practiced the ceremony and the first and second-years practiced the songs that they were to sing during the graduation.  I tried to help where I could by aligning chairs in the gym and making paper cranes that would decorate tables.

I guess that a middle school graduation ceremony must seem like a pretty odd event for many of my readers (after all in the US there is no ceremony or diploma associated with middle school).  But in Japan it's a big deal since many of the students will be going to different high schools soon so the graduation ceremony is when students may have to say goodbye to some of their middle school friends.  There were many differences between the ceremony yesterday and my high school graduation (which is the only thing I can really compare it to at all) for example the time of year and temperature.  I remember during my high school graduation (which occurred in May that year) the weather forecast predicted rain so the ceremony took place inside the gym instead of outside (then it turned out to be blazing hot and sunny outside and boiling inside and someone turned off the floor fans since they were too loud and I almost fainted since it was so hot).  But in Minamisanriku it is still winter and still cold (and there is still little to no insulation in the walls).  The day of the graduation it snowed a bit in the morning and it was literally freezing in the gym (or at least I could see the students' breath as they sang their songs).  The floor heaters (which were kept on throughout the ceremony) didn't make any difference that I could tell...  If only I could have combined the temperatures from my high school graduation and the graduation on Saturday, it would have been perfect...

Most other differences had to do with the order of events and the attendees.  The third-years sat in chairs on the stage facing the audience (opposite of my graduation where we sat in front of the stage with our backs to the audience).  The first and second-years were required to attend (even though it was a Saturday but to make up for it they will have Monday off from school) and they had to sing songs like I mentioned.  All the important people from the Board of Education and from other schools who attended the graduation sat in their own section to the left of the stage (across from us teachers) and each important person was introduced to the audience in turn during the ceremony (there were a lot so it took like 10 minutes).  The ALT from last year came to watch the graduation (she visited on Friday as well and got to take lots of pictures, and see all the teachers and students who were very happy to see her) and she sat with the other VIPs.  As for the families, it seemed like there were more mothers in attendance than fathers, probably because Saturday is often a working day for salary-men.  Also in attendance were several cameramen from various TV stations probably doing special reports about towns and schools affected by the tsunami (apparently there were tons of reporters and such at Anne's school).  Anyway, the presenting of the diplomas was very formulaic but also was efficient; for example, when a student came to receive her certificate she would bow along with the student who had just received his and was leaving the stage (to save time with the bowing I suppose).  I'll admit I got teary during the ceremony (everyone did, though this again may have had to do with the anniversary as well) and after the ceremony when the third-years were passing in between rows of first-years, second-years, and teachers down the hallways I definitely was teary when one of the third-year girls hugged me (she was the same girl who had told me, "I love you!" on Friday... she's so cute).

Well, I should get to bed soon.  I said pretty much everything I wanted to say about the graduation but I'll have to tell you about the cards that the third-years gave me next time since they are amazing!

A walk through town - photos

So, things have been very busy and I haven't had time to post.  I probably won't have time to write a lot until the end of the week so until then here are photos from Minamisanriku:

 A pile of tires on my way to work.

 A car on top of what used to be an apartment building.

 Some statues left to bring peace to the deceased.

 An autumn tree in the sunlight.

 Part of the layer of dead trees.

 The forest near my apartment.

 A section of town which has been cleared.

 The tide coming in through what was the center of town.

This used to be a pillar inside someone's house.

A boat on dry land.

The Godfather of Minamisanriku

So the good news is that Anne’s alien registration card finally came!  But when we tried to go to the cell phone store to get her cell put in her name (it’s currently under our supervisor’s name) the cell company said that it would be impossible to change... kind of weird if you ask me since she pays the bill.  But she was able to change her internet router info so that she can pay for it automatically via her bank account.  I’m kind of happy now that I’m waiting to get a cell until after I get my alien registration card so it can all be in my name from the start.

Anyway, after I’d been in the neighborhood for a few weeks Anne came back one night to tell me that she’d been talking with Chibara-kuchou, the neighborhood chief.  Basically he’s a retired, older guy in charge of the community center building and who has a lot of connections.  The way Anne described him almost reminded me of a very tame mafia or something since Chibara-kuchou has a bunch of cronies and some of them call themselves brothers even though I'm pretty sure they’re not related.  When outside aid comes in to help the victims of the tsunami oftentimes the items will end up being distributed by Chibara-kuchou.  Anne told me that when she first arrived and was trying to figure out which days to put out the trash she ended up in front of the community center where Chibara-kuchou and his gang were grilling up some fish underneath a temporary pavilion.  They told Anne what she needed to know and gave her some milk and rice that had been donated to the area.  Anyway, apparently Chibara-kuchou was annoyed that Anne hadn’t been by the grilling-tent recently and that she hadn’t introduced me to the gang.

So... one Thursday after work Anne and I walked down to the community center and ate some barbecue.  Upon meeting Chibara-kuchou I decided that he kind of reminded me of the Godfather (hopefully without the shooting and horse heads...).  Basically it’s in your best interest to stay on his good side and then you’ll get things in return.  After eating some grilled fish(?) with Chibara-kuchou and a few of his buddies we decided to call it an evening (though it was only about 7).  On our way back to our apartment we were walking in the same direction as Chibara-kuchou when he asked us what we were eating for dinner.  Anne and I told him we weren’t really sure (we were planning to heat up some leftovers) and he told us to come to his place to see if his wife (whom he affectionately called “the old woman”) had made anything.  Chibara-kuchou’s wife is a full-time housewife (the “ideal” woman by Japanese standards) and has been for going on 40 years now so of course dinner was ready when we arrived.  So, though I felt a bit embarrassed about intruding upon the wife, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, we were invited for some homemade dinner!  Chibara-kuchou’s wife taught us about some Japanese table manners while the daughter-in-law tried to encourage her five year-old son to sing us the ABCs (unsuccessfully).  It was a fun evening.

On October 9th Anne and I took the bus into Sendai to see Erin again (this time as part of a yosakoi festival).  Yosakoi is energetic dancing with colorful costumes and props that is really fun to watch.  Erin and a few other JETs from the Kami area of Iwate joined a local women’s yosakoi team last year and apparently have a good time with it (plus it’s good exercise).

Here’s a different yosakoi team during their performance.

While in Sendai Anne and I also got to do some much-needed shopping and I discovered that there’s a Cold Stone Creamery ice cream store at the train station (so exciting!).  I’ll have to go back there again next time...

Entering Minamisanriku...

Well it's been more than a few days since my last post and part of the reason was that I was busy (especially over the weekend) but another part part of me just didn't want to write because I knew it would be depressing…  But enough is enough!

I knew beforehand that the main part of Minamisanriku town had been destroyed in the tsunami but the knowledge didn't prepare me for what I saw… 

The bus had been heading through a narrow valley road for several minutes before we found ourselves on an open plain with steep hills like walls on both sides.  Pine trees were growing very close together on the hills and that added to the walled-in effect even more.  All of a sudden the bus descended a few more feet down a hill and I saw that the front rows of trees on both sides were brown and dead.  A shiver ran down my spine as I realized that we had reached the tsunami zone.  The reason the trees were so visible was because the houses and other buildings were gone.  It probably wasn't so empty right after the tsunami but since then much of the rubble and debris has been taken away, leaving empty space.  I could still see the foundations where buildings had been.  Closer to the shore there was more rubble and garbage though much of it had been separated into piles.  I saw a pile of rubble about 10 feet tall with a pile of crushed cars next to it about the same height.  There were also piles of wires and metal.  Some areas still had unorganized debris.  I saw the remains of buildings on the ground with a few pieces of twisted metal sticking out, glowing in the sunlight.  I saw a car tire caught on a vertical piece of wood and wondered if a person had placed it like that as a grave marker or if the water had randomly placed it there.  I saw a small row boat sitting on a house's foundation and later I saw a car in almost perfect condition perched on top of a three story building.  The train tracks which had been visible to my left through most of the bus ride were suddenly twisted and cut off near the tree line, about 50 feet later they started up again and headed into a tunnel through a hill, I wondered if they would reappear on the other side.

 The tire on the piece of wood.

Abruptly the bus left the first area as the road curved north to hug the coastline.  We headed to higher ground and passed by many houses that were perfectly fine (it was a little disturbing how normal everything was).  There was a fancy hotel on the peak overlooking the ocean, I found out later that it had been used as an evacuation center and that mostly volunteers stay there now.  I saw the train tracks again to the right of the bus, they were on a raised railroad bridge about 20 feet off the ground and still intact (from what I could tell); it must have been a very scenic coastal ride in the past.

The bus headed down the hill and into what was once Minamisanriku center; it was pretty much a huge field of rubble with a few cleared roads here and there.  Before I came I would have expected that most of the cleanup would have been done at this point (but I suppose if one has literally thousands of pounds worth of rubble it will take a long time to clear).  I was slightly horrified to see that the road we were on seemed a bit flooded but the bus carefully went through the large puddles of water and headed for the only building in the area that had more or less survived the tsunami, the hospital.  Yesterday I asked if the hospital was still being used but I was told that the sea water had gone up to the fourth floor and the building is no longer stable.

One of the piles of burnable debris near the edge of town.

Apparently the reason that the road was flooded is that after the Great East Japan Earthquake and following tsunami the coastline dropped 1 meter in height and now during high tide the seawater often encroaches on the remaining roads.  You might ask yourself why the people in the area would want to rebuild in the first place with all the trouble they have gone through.  But this town has been here for generations and even though there are risks to living here I believe that one cannot give up one's home just because there are risks.  Any location in this world has associated risks after all!  You might ask yourself why I decided to accept my position at Minamisanriku too.  Well, while teaching a foreign language is a great challenge and a worthy task in its own right I also believe that helping a community and helping my fellow humans in their time of need is also very important.  I also know that I would have regretted not going just because of the location.

Anyway, this picture was actually taken in Kesennuma to the north of Minamisanriku and it's of a house that withstood the tsunami but was recently torn down for structural reasons (which is why the wood looks so fresh).  I couldn't help feeling sad about the forgotten stuffed animal though.