two years later
From the weekend, I'm not waiting any longer because I'll forget.
6/28
I'm in Ishinomaki today. We spent the day being guided around the city with Peace Boat Disaster Volunteer Center staff, and saw some of the hardest hit areas in the hardest hit city. It wasn't what I was expecting. There isn't rubble everywhere, you don't see any of that, at least not here, but at the same time things are not really rebuilt.
In the coastal areas that were leveled, there are buildings that they are just demolishing and there are others that they've let be, even in a terrifying state. Near Onagawa, we saw this apartment building that had been flipped on its side, and the fire escapes were warped. Apparently they're debating whether or not to clean it up.
We also went to Ogachi and passed by Okawa Elementary School, which was apparently the school that suffered the highest number of casualties. It looks incredibly dramatic, maybe even moreso than the dome in Hiroshima.
I think these should be kept. Maybe not all of them, but at least a few, because the earthquake/tsunami two years ago will mold this region for a long time yet.
We walked around the city, looked at the prefab shopping arcade and neighborhoods, and learned about the various recovery projects going on and the vision for the future.
The problems here are basically the same as those in Tottori, and probably all of rural Japan, exacerbated by the trauma of the recent disasters. An aging population, youth exodus, declining industry…
One of the disaster relief staff members who was involved in community building talked (quite disdainfully) about a successful case of revitalization in Takamatsu (in Shikoku), where the downtown shopping area was rebuild completely in response to consumer needs and not so much tradition. She was appalled that stores that had been there for decades were essentially bought out to be replaced by chains and other very commercial shops.
While I am as much for small stores as anyone, I've seen streets in Tottori that are dead because the tenants are completely irrelevant. In this day and age, why are there 7 kimono stores and no place to buy a coffee? It sucks, but ignoring consumerism completely is not the answer, either. There is a middle ground.
Tomorrow we're off to Fukushima.
6/28
I'm in Ishinomaki today. We spent the day being guided around the city with Peace Boat Disaster Volunteer Center staff, and saw some of the hardest hit areas in the hardest hit city. It wasn't what I was expecting. There isn't rubble everywhere, you don't see any of that, at least not here, but at the same time things are not really rebuilt.
In the coastal areas that were leveled, there are buildings that they are just demolishing and there are others that they've let be, even in a terrifying state. Near Onagawa, we saw this apartment building that had been flipped on its side, and the fire escapes were warped. Apparently they're debating whether or not to clean it up.
We also went to Ogachi and passed by Okawa Elementary School, which was apparently the school that suffered the highest number of casualties. It looks incredibly dramatic, maybe even moreso than the dome in Hiroshima.
I think these should be kept. Maybe not all of them, but at least a few, because the earthquake/tsunami two years ago will mold this region for a long time yet.
We walked around the city, looked at the prefab shopping arcade and neighborhoods, and learned about the various recovery projects going on and the vision for the future.
The problems here are basically the same as those in Tottori, and probably all of rural Japan, exacerbated by the trauma of the recent disasters. An aging population, youth exodus, declining industry…
One of the disaster relief staff members who was involved in community building talked (quite disdainfully) about a successful case of revitalization in Takamatsu (in Shikoku), where the downtown shopping area was rebuild completely in response to consumer needs and not so much tradition. She was appalled that stores that had been there for decades were essentially bought out to be replaced by chains and other very commercial shops.
While I am as much for small stores as anyone, I've seen streets in Tottori that are dead because the tenants are completely irrelevant. In this day and age, why are there 7 kimono stores and no place to buy a coffee? It sucks, but ignoring consumerism completely is not the answer, either. There is a middle ground.
Tomorrow we're off to Fukushima.