While it
is the scenic beauty that Matsushima is famous for, the magnificence of the
mighty ocean is for Oku-Matsushima Saga Gorge. Once you get on a cruiser and
reach the open sea, you will see the greenness of the sea to be yet greener,
the strange animal-shaped rocks, the white sand on the beach and the rocky
stretch that you can pass through, if on a small boat, during low tide.
On such a
journey, you will be enchanted by the captain’s guidance and the scenery of
untouched nature, and finally taken away from everyday reality.
The Jomon
Bunka-mura (Jomon Culture Park) on the Miyato Island shows you the life of
ancient men, and the Otakamori Mountain takes you high to see the scenery of
Sendai harbour and the Pacific Ocean in the far distance.
The numerous
minshuku (private lodgings for tourists) in Satohama, Ohama and Tsukihama show
how this place has attracted many tourists. It is also the site for fishing.
Some anglers always come back to the same minshuku.
For its
mild climate and the moderate slopes around the shore, members of many
university and company sports clubs choose to stay there for training.
Tsukihama
used to flourish with fishery and laver production that brought them a variety
of fresh seafood, and many tourists used to visit there.
With
friends and family, I have often visited there. It always was a lovely,
relaxing place for me.
The great
disaster on 11 March has, however, destroyed most of the 20 or more minshuku as
well as their laver production and fishery, too. Now it is as if there is not a
shadow of their previous life left.
Although
debris has gone in the areas near straight-lined coast, it is different in the
Tsukihama area which sits right on the irregular coastline: not only that every
element of their everyday life has been destroyed but also the ruins of their
devastated life have remained as though Tsukihama has been spin-dried in a
washing-machine.
I had been
trying to get a hold of Ritsu-chan, the landlady of the tourist home “Kami-no
Ie” after the disaster, but it was only on 14 April when she called me so that
I could finally talk to her. “Hahaha-a-a!” she spoke laughingly, “You did think
I was dead, didn’t you?”
“All
residential houses and minshuku near the coast were all wiped out,” she told
me. “There is a ship thrown just in front of my garden,” she continued, “Only
the tourist home section in my house was eventually saved because it was
located on the height. It has since been a shelter for 30 people.”
“Still no
electricity, nor drinking water unless provided by the rescue corps of the
self-defence force. They have pitched tents around, and now they take turns of
staying here to provide food for us.”
“We have
been talking stupidly funny and laughing. No one has been killed in my
neighbourhood. Miracle, isn’t it?”
“They all
knew they had to be evacuated to the elementary school at once if a tsunami was
ever reaching us. Even those who were in the next shore could reach my house
just in time.”
“Wait. How
on earth are you making this phone call now?” I asked her.
“Hahaha.
Because I do have power generator at home. But I have kept my mobile phone
turned off most of times to save the battery,” she answered indifferently.
She did
talk as if nothing had happened! But I was relieved.
Everyone
should know the devastating reality after the earthquake and the tsunami.
For
Ricchan (Ritsuko, the landlady of Kami-no Ie) and others who still remain close
the shore, I wish them to get their true liveliness back.
I shall
carry reportage from Kami-no Ie in Tsukihama in our blog.
- An elder
friend of the landlady of Kami-no Ie.
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