We move on and head further up the coast to an area in Iwate that has been part of Trace’s favourite area in Japan – the Iwate coast. Almost five months later it still sits there like this. It took the tsunami less than 7 minutes to destroy Kesennuma. So in this area of town it was eerie, silent. As of April 2011, the city had confirmed 837 deaths with 1,196 missing. After the tsunami, spilled fuel from the town’s fishing fleet caught fire and Kesennuna burned for four days. This is just the tip of a very watery iceberg. In others the large mountains of debris reveal just how much higher they are going to get. In some areas foundations lay bare indicating a smattering of work. It is so obvious the clean-up alone will take years and years. Sure there were guards here and there directing traffic and a bulldozer and private contractors too. We have heard that there are concerns for the health of the clean-up crews. Large sections of the affected areas are still flooded and burnt cars still dot the landscape.
We are met by an intense smell by the sea. The rice fields follow us all the way to Kesennuma, up in north-east corner of Miyagi prefecture. Not sure of their fate now with the radiation/food chain testing. We pass through those magical Japanese rice fields, looking stunning in the mist. Well a little, with roads cleared for sure, but in terms of moving forward it’s looking more like April than August. Not looking that much different to 150 days ago. So it was both emotional and disturbing to head further north again and see these other towns suspended in time. A sense of moving forward in spite of the staggering scale of the disaster. But to come back time after time and notice the differences, however small, has been both hopeful and positive.
Slow and painful, some areas that will take years to look anything like pre-3.11. On our previous trips, we’ve seen the rescue, recovery and very slow rebuilding phases of people’s lives in this area. Most of our time in Tohoku has been spent in Ishinomaki and Oshika here… And sure in some places that was the case. All abuzz with bulldozers and clean-up crews.
I guess naively we expected there to be a flurry of activity. As we ventured further up north, we passed through ghost towns, now suspended in devastation. Living, breathing in this environment we may not entirely understand but we can all certainly respect that from here strength, resilience and spirit is rooted. Those still in shelters never quite wake up from the nightmare when they open their eyes. Homes perched above the death zones look down to a new seaside view. This post is dedicated to seeing what the people living in the region are seeing themselves everyday. So there’s something unusual in the blog today. And of people who fight and never give up and simply ask that we don’t forget. Of rivers and waterlines soaking towns still, of swarms of flies that envelope cul-de-sacs and back alleys. A landscape smouldering in the shells of burnt cars, possibly fresh green radiated rice, tsunami swept ghost towns, and hamlets the earthquake flattened. Of a landscape that sits while life goes on elsewhere. Today we share our final snippets of experience and what our cameras witnessed just this week. So we apologise (well, Trace says she doesn’t…) but that is some of what we are sharing today. Perhaps preferring a more positive focus. Who unequivocally do not want to see anymore images of destruction. We understand there are some who are ‘oh, so over it all’. A landscape of change… and absolutely no change… since March 11th. And what we found was a mixed bag of all that has come before. To keep moving with a sense of understanding. To continue awareness through our few words and images. This time on the Tohoku road, after our stay in Ishinomaki for the Kawabiraki Festival ( Toro Nagashi + Fireworks) we pushed further north again, to see what was ahead these few months on. There’s a chinese proverb that says “to know the road ahead, ask those coming back,” or something along those lines. “The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.” ~ Maya Angelou
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