Tohoku, Japan 4

Ishinomaki City      March 29th 2011


 I woke up in a shelter (actually it is an elementary school now used as a shelter)
started try talk to people to collect information around the town.

I hear a good news and a not good news.
The good news was that I might not have to worry about gas any more.
A person told me it is very hard to get gas from gas stations in towns,
but go to gas stations on Tohoku-Express Way( It's a tollway ) at night,
there would be very small lines and I don't have to be anxious about me taking away local people's gas because tankers can access those gas stations easily so they have lots of gas.
The not so good news was, some people break in to cars for steeling stuffs (it started to happen after the earthquake) so it is not a good idea to leave a car in one place for long time.
As I said on previous post, I left my car 20 miles away, I had no choice but to walk 20 miles back to get my car.
aggh..... what a wast of time.

This gentle man walked up to me and said " Oh look at my town!! look how horrible it is! I wonder how long it's gonna take to restore to how it was..."  

This is by a swimming pool in a elementary school. People use its water to wash their clothe.

Have you ever seen those charactors?
It's "Kikaida" created by one of the most famous Manga creator in Japan and this Ishinomaki is known as his home town.
Photo below is his museum.

missing person posters.















Precious 9 hours has been wasted to go back and forth to get my car.

It was already dark when I get back to Ishinomaki.

But my day was not a total waste after all because I met this great person at the end of the day!

 I will talk about this donkey guy on my next blog.

Tohoku, Japan 3

Ishinomaki City    March 28

After I said good bye to the lady who gave me a ride to Ishinomaki,
I spent 5 hours walking around the town trying to photograph.
Then...... I was overwhelmed by the sight before my eyes...so badly.
My mission was to talk to the people there and photograph them, but I couldn't.
All I could do was shut my mouth and take pictures. I was speech less.

For today's post, I just attach photos of Ishinomaki briefly.
I want you to see what's it like a city after walls of water struck.

    This building used be a kids day care center.

    Paper sign below says " to the parents of Yuika (a girl's name) and 

    Shiryu (a boy's name)They are safe with us"

    can you see the house is actually upside down?

    looks like the  house was a two story building

    but the first floor has just gone.

    all streets and alleys were covered by mud and debris.






    I was told that half of the city was just wiped out by tsunami. 

    You can see how powerful the water was,
    It could just punch through concrete walls.

  
    at the end of the day, I looked for a place to sleep.
    so I headed to one of the shelters.
    I knew I shouldn't. It is for people who lost their homes.
    but I could not help it because it was too cold out side.

    I went to talk to volunteer workers there that 

    I have my own food, water, and a sleeping bag

    so I just want a tiny space to lay myself down.

    and they said ok.

    I slipped into my sleeping bag around 8pm.
    then, someone knocked on door and opened it a little bit, just enough
    to slip in a plastic bag, then left there some bread and a bottle of green tea.
    Then I cried.
    I cried because I knew how they are short of food, water and everything else.
    Plus they have just experienced a disaster of a life time.
     and how can they be so generous to an outsider like me?
    I began to realize Tohoku people are not weak.
    even huge tsunamis can't break their spirits.





  

Tohoku, Japan 2

Matsushima City to Ishinomaki City    March 28

By the time I got to Tohoku area, I almost had no information about that area.

I had no acquaintance or nor friends.

All I know was huge disastrous event happened then tens of thousands of people have died and thousands others were still missing.  

I only had a rough plan which is to stay there for one week and try to photograph as much as I can.

 One of my biggest concern was gas.

As I driving through the cities, I found out about three fourth of the gas station were closed 

because they were badly damaged.

The other reason why was they were simply out of inventory because less tankers could access to that area.

Cars were making a very long line at a gas station which was open for business.

I asked how long the waits going to be and one worker answered

" At least 5 to 6 hours. some people have to wait over night "

Even local people were struggling, how can I, an outsider,  steal their precious gas? 

I gave up the idea of filling gas in the area.   

Then I decide to walk instead of drive.

I found a free parking lot for tourists in Matsushima City ( Matsushima is a major tourist destination but in the time like that, I saw no tourists )

So I left my car with half a tank of gas so I can go back to Tokyo, packed food, water, some clothe and a sleeping bag into my back pack and started to walk.

My destination was to Ishinomaki City, about 20 miles away from where I was.

    Even though tsunami did not hit this area in the picture, 

    the earthquake itself was huge enough to crush down houses like this.

    After I walked for four or five hours, this lady stopped her car in front of me 

    then asked me where I am going and if I want a ride.

    Of cause I said yes.

    She was on her way to see her friends who now live in a shelter,
    delivering some stuffs they have asked.
    She said she was lucky because her house is standing 7 miles inland so did not
    have toworry about tsunami and also she does not have to worry about food
    because she is a farmer.
    With that advantage she has, she was running around day and night trying to
    help other people.
    She was a great person and I could not stop admiring her.
  
    She gave me a pack of strawberry and said
    " It's grew in Ishinomaki, where we are heading right now.
     Try them ( actually  they taste super good!! )
     and please see what really happened there"

    You can see why they are still out of power.

    The lady dropped me off at Ishinomaki Port, the west end of the city and
    we said good bye to each other.

    Now I am in Ishinomaki.

Tohoku, Japan 1

March 28th Shiogama City   6:00am

 It has already been one month and one week since the earthquake and Tsunami hit Tohoku(north-east)area of Japan.
Like everyone else, I could not believe what I was seeing on TV news on that day.
As I watching huge wall of water destroying my home country through TV screen,
I became very emotional and could not stand just sit here and do nothing.

Then my phone rang, it was from my mother, said her mother ( my grandma ) was visiting Shiroishi City, where the earthquake hit really hard, on that day and still not be able to get touch with her.
That made me decide to go to Japan to see and photograph what is going on there.
Four days later we finally found out that my grandma is OK in a Onsen Ryokan ( a Japan style Hotel)and my uncle brought her safely back to Tokyo.

I arrived to Tokyo on March 24, went to see my grandma (she was totally fine), rent a compact car, and started my journey to Tohoku on March 27.


I drove through Sendai City, the biggest city in Tohoku, arrived at Shiogama City before
mid night, slept in my car, and those photos were taken next morning.

    almost three weeks had past and people were starting to clean up the town.

    

    I may look clean but dirt and water once filled entire ground floor.  

   A lady told me because the 2nd floor is livable, people in that area 

   staying in their house Whith no power and no running water.

   She also said she has to go to city hall, which is about half a mile away,

   just to go to bathroom.

    

    The Shutter is down but it is easy to imagine it is a clothing store.

    The paper sign says "still using them ( so don't take them )"