Me and Kan-chan...I think we were at Kinkarou, MS's Uncle's place. Oh yeah... I'm eating whale meat sashimi.... ummmmmmmmmmm. Onagawa, Miyagi. June 1997
[from FB post: March 13, 2011]
One of my best friends lived in Onagawa . I spent a LOT of time there over the years. So it is absolutely GONE (for the second time... it was washed away by a tsunami before as related by my friend's grandfather before he passed away). I can only pray that my good friend, his kids, parents, and employees made it up the hills to safety before the wave hit.
[March 27, 2011]
I got this email from my friend:
A few days We were Cold and Hungry. But We are OK now. Myfamily Stay in MIYAZAKI, I'm in Onagawa now. We lost Everything, Onagawa town Also.KAN-chan Died
Miyazaki is an inland town where my friend's extended family lives. So they have a place to live. Kan-chan is my friend's brother-in-law, a really sweet and funny guy.
[May 19, 2011]
I got a call from my friend in Japan who lost everything in the tsunami. He got his insurance check and they are rebuilding their house and business on higher ground. The land sank at their old place, so it's impossible to rebuild there. It's under water at high tide. He said his city is 80% destroyed but also about 80% of the inhabitants survived due to early warning. He was really upbeat about the future...
(later the same day)
Further comments on my friend from Japan: part of the conversation was about who was lost. His mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and a lot of his friends that I knew. He said they saw people scramble to their roofs and then saw buildings washed away. They waited 10 days in the cold and snow for rescue. And HE really was positive and happy when he called me! THAT is a lesson in "positive thinking"!!
I spent a lot of time in Onagawa. My memories of the place are wonderful, yet in one day the place was literally washed away and it now exists only in memory. I am not sure I would even recognize it if I revisited. My good friend, MS, born and raised in Onagawa, told me after the earthquake and tsunami the land had actually subsided and parts of the town (including his family home and business) became regularly inundated at high tide. The town had to abandon most of its waterfront - that was the part of town I knew best.
When I lived in Sendai on my many visits to Onagawa I got to know MS's family members including his grandfather. His grandfather told me this story:
When I was young, a man could have one of two jobs here in Onagawa, fisherman or lumberjack. Because I was originally from the mountains, I chose lumberjack. I remember coming to Onagawa from the mountains when I was young and seeing the sea for the first time and being amazed. I even tasted the water to be sure it was salty as everyone said it was. One day, I went into the hills to fell trees as per usual and we felt the earthquake. It was very strong, but we often had strong earthquakes, so we continued working. When we came back to Onagawa later that day, the town was gone. A tsunami had swept in and destroyed everything and killed many people. I woke up in the morning and my life was normal. I came home that evening and everything was gone.
MS's ojiisan passed away shortly after I left Japan. I wonder what he would have thought had he lived to see a second tsunami in his lifetime.
On my regular trips to Onagawa I increasingly knew more residents - MS' friends and local shop owners. MS married and I flew in from New York to give a speech at his wedding. I got to know his in-laws who ran a sushi shop. No sushi ever has compared to what was served in their family run shop. MS used to complain as a student in Sendai that the sushi tasted bad compared to Onagawa. He was correct on all counts. Any coffee lover cannot say they have had good coffee without having drunk it in Italy. Any sushi lover cannot say they have tasted good sushi unless they have tasted some prepared in a coastal village in Japan.
MS's brother-in-law, Kan-chan, worked at the sushi shop and in his free time explored his eclectic hobbies. He was very interested in Japanese culture. One of his passions was tea ceremony, which I could never get into personally, but I came to respect due to its practitioners having to remember a myriad of details to complete one successfully.
On the day of the great Tohoku earthquake the tsunami sirens sounded and MS ran with his family into the hills just behind the town. Kan-chan delayed because he wanted to go to his room and grab a few things. That delay cost him his life. His mother also didn't make it. That siren had gone off so many times with no tsunami. Of the people lost, how many were from "cry wolf syndrome" and how many from thinking they had just a few more minutes?
MS had traveled to the USA many times - for study, for travel, and to hang out with me. He was extremely pro-American. After the earthquake and tsunami they waited an agonizing 10 days for help to arrive. March was still very cold in northeastern Japan. Their eventual rescuers were the American Navy. A huge relief effort on the part of the American military followed in the wake of the tsunami as the task overwhelmed Japan's Self-Defense Forces. MS told me after that he loved America even more.
Onagawa has been rebuilt and I follow the town page on social media. They are resilient and tough people being fisherman/lumberjack stock. Festivals are being celebrated again and new and better places built in town to replace what was lost. Kinkarou Restaurant (in the photo above) was rebuilt and is now run by MS's cousin. I am still saddened at the loss of Kan-chan, his Mom, and other friends I came to know over the years. I am also happy and proud of the spirit of optimism in the survivors who refused to let Onagawa die in spite of being washed away more than once.
よく がんばれました 女川町!!