MIYAGI-JONET: Jonet Salon at Shibitachi meeting house in Karakuwa

On 22nd June, I came from Tokyo to join the Jonet operation for the first time.

At 8 in the morning, 6 of us packed ourselves with a lot of relief goods into a car and left from Sendai for Karakuwa to visit a shelter called “Ikoi-no ie (resting house).”

The journey had been expected to take about 2 hours and half, but it was about to take much longer when we found the road in the Motoyoshi area destroyed and had to detour by Takadai.

In the city of Kesennuma, very much similar to Onagawa I had seen a month before, there were tanks overturned and ships charred, and debris everywhere.

Traffic was bad for a number of road construction works taking place.

Prepared for further delay, we had Onigiri (rice balls) and managed our lunch in the car.

In the end, it took us 4 hours to arrive at the resting house.

The seashore in the peninsula had remained beautiful as sapphire, despite the tsunami.

Since we were late, everybody had gone home once, but they all came back to the house again when we finally arrived.

“You made it!” Everyone welcomed us.

Because it was a weekday, there were no children. About 20 women between their 30s and 70s gathered with us.

Soon we treated them to famous brands of sweets and Maccha (powdered green tea used for tea ceremony), which we had received from all over the country. I was pleased to see some members having their second cup of tea. “I did not expect to be having Maccha!” someone said joyfully.

Next we made toy bears, using work-gloves. Everyone was making her own bears quite actively. Many lovely and original bears were created.

“My eye sight is bad,” a woman said earlier, but she ended up losing herself in making most original bears.

In the end, photographs of our bears were taken. I assumed everyone enjoyed it very much.

We of course gave them our present –“Jonet-Set”– and hand massage. “My hands are lightened,” they were pleased. This time, we also did their nails. The nails, though having looked tired from living in the temporary housing, once again became lovely. “I can see the sheen of my nails,” a woman said with delight. It was indeed a grateful moment to our experience.

The ladies in Karakuwa were pleased with other presents we gave them – the lovely hand-made pouches that our members in Tokyo made. “Could I take two extra for my daughter and grandmother?” We were happy to hear a woman asking us something like that.

A man brought us photographs of the immediate aftermath of the disaster. When he was telling us his story, two of our members were quite shaken.

The tsunami took not only many fine houses but everything away. What’s more, more than 10 people were killed in his neighbourhood, he explained.

“Have a safe journey home,” many came to see us off. “We will be back for sure,” we answered.

On the way back, we stopped by the disaster countermeasures headquarter in Karakuwa district.

“We wish these would be a help for you who have been aiding the affected,” we left the members of headquarter with 10 Jonet-Sets.

There was a smile. But I only realised they were also the victims themselves. Surely there is no one who has escaped from the disaster.

The road construction works taking place everywhere confused us on our way back. We went inland and got lost. It took us a while to get back onto the Sanriku Expressway and finally another 4 hours for our return to Sendai.

The whole journey took us 8 hours. Though quite tired, we were nevertheless finding a sense of fulfilment in the end.

“We had to travel all the way up, but I really wanted to make them feel better,” said one of our members in the car on the way back. “I, too, wanted to cheer them up even a little bit,” answered another. I was remembering these words.

Mayumi