My Travels in Fukushima

July 7, 2012

Today many of kids on the trip a got an early start with a walk or jog around the lake. 

I was out there around six with a few friends from Washington. After breakfast we found out that there was a newspaper article about last night’s reception that included a picture of Emily Arkenberg, Cameron, and our teacher.  

Our first stop today was a small hot spring village called Yunomoto, a place as far off the beaten path in Japan as you can get.  Our local guide, Hoshi-san,

showed us the mountain temple and shrine as well as some of the farming areas around the town. 

The arrows are kept around the temple to ward off evil spirits.

At one point we stopped in at a hot spring inn to refill our water bottles and April showed Japanese curtesy by offering candy to a roomful of older women who had gathered for tea and a chat.  They came back with some Japanese  tsukemono (pickles) and we became instant friends. 

We then proceeded to the community gym where we were introduced to the skill of mochi making.  Mochi is a gooey rice cake made by lots and lots of pounding.  Emily M was the first in our group to try to make it and several others tried as well.  When the mochi was made, it was prepared traditionally and we feasted. 

When we finished eating we traveled to Shirakawa city to see some of the temporary homes that evacuees from Futaba City are living in after the great earthquake and tsunami.  Futaba city is where the nuclear plant that melted down is located.  One of the cities former residents read us a poem that he wrote after he had to evacuate his home.  He is 91, and it is clear that he loves Futaba, telling us about  the distinct beauty each season provided in the years he lived there.  Futaba, unfortunately cannot be entered at the present time and he informed us as he started to tear up, that the town will be off-limits for the next 30 years, and he won’t be able to return to his home until he is 121 years old.   We also heard from a volunteer at the temporary housing complex.  Most of the people living there are in their 70’s and 80’s, and many of them live alone as the housing units are cramped even by Japanese standards and other family members need to be in other places for work or school.  In small groups we had an opportunity to talk with some of the residents about their experiences in the quake and adjusting to life as an evacuee.  Residents of Futaba in many cases moved seven times in the first few months after the disaster.  This reminded me of when our house was flooded in the Flood of 2008 and we had to move around about half a dozen times. 

The victims that we met today are the people who survived World War Two, and in its aftermath worked hard to build Japan into an economic superpower.  As bad as what they are going through now is, what they survived in their youth was far more challenging.  Still, as tough as they have proven themselves to be, they deserve to have some peace and stability.  Unfortunately, they won’t get that for a while.  There is a two year limit on the temporary housing they are living in.  They will have to move at least one more time.