Film shooting

 

 

We held a 'making my own tote bag' Salon.

The results were lovely individual creations.

 

 

Next door, film director Okuda Eiji was shooting.

The film is scheduled to premiere on March 11.

 

The participants' creations

 

 

 

A 'room for the elderly' was built.

Inside, there is that cozy warmth peculiar to heating with a stove.

Over lunch everyone returns to their rooms, but soon after they gather again so that there is hardly any seat left.

Minamisanriku - the situation at the beach

 

Unchanged since 3.11.

The second floor of that house was swept over the street 

and lies overturned ever since.

 

Today's catch is this one fish.

The chef is my father.

 

The minshuku (private lodging for tourists), the house, the kitchen, three buses and cars - all gone. Nothing but this billboard remained. 

 

The 20m heigh tsunami transported the boat up this hill and over the road, depositing it finally in this ravine.

 

The fish looks really ugly, but I was told that they are delicious as a fish soup.

 

Pacific cod for 5000 Yen

 

At the fish monger, fish dishes prepared from locally caught fish 

as well as these unique cookies are sold

 

 

 

Stately tiled roofs

 

 

 

 

 

In Minamisanriku, one can find many houses with elegant tiled roofs; each of them being distinct in its style.

Impressions of Minamisanriku

 

Volunteers helping with the clean-up of smaller debris.

 

A lacquer bowl found at the foot of the mountain.

 

Even this flat cover was swept away and broken.

 

 

A house saved from tsunami damage

 

 

 
 

Wrecks of boats and disaster alarm radio poles

 

Salt-damaged trees cut down and piled up

 

Straw

 

Before the disaster, straw would be kept in bales on the fields. Nowadays, these bales are covered, apparently in order to avoid contamination with radiation.

"Skill Up" lectures in Sendai

Below is the schedule for the forthcoming "Skill Up" Lectures for volunteers and supporters, to be held in Sendai. We hope that many of you will participate.

The Omoriya Shop

 

As we are approaching the first anniversary of 3.11 and were hoping to leave the disaster behind us, we came across this place which is still in a state of complete ruin.

 

Withered seaweed entangled in the railing of a staircase

 

 

View onto the coastline 

 

The tsunami smashed cars into this building, too.

 

 

Rubbish remains like glued to this building's back (facing inland).

 

Remnants of the rail tracks.

 

"This is already sold out in Tokyo!"

A special yoghurt said to help against influenza.

 

"I also wanted to read that," said a client to the Omoriya shop owner.

The article in demand is about "owning property vs. renting property."

 

The temporary shopping street where the Chiba Nori (dried seaweed) shop will soon open.

 

The owner of the Omoriya shop currently reads this book.

Slowly but surely

 

High school girls I saw in town.

 

 

Almost all of the temporary dwellings are painted in one colour - grey.

These buildings seem to resemble storage sheds. Gazing at them from the outside, I can't help but feel overwhelmed by pity and sadness.

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, I began to notice things I did not see before: roads have become passable again; the big items of debris have been cleared away; gutters have been repaired and covered; and the reconstruction of telephone cables and traffic lights is progressing. Children are welcoming a new school year that will be different from the past one. 

Did the changes in town draw your attention as well?

I want to retake photographs of this charming spot sometime, and introduce them here. Quite often, I take pictures from within the car, so my timing is sometimes off and I catch only half of the image. This is one of them.

The little Kamaboko Shop

 

This is "the little Kamaboko (fish paste) Shop" we introduced last October.

Mrs Kurino's second series of products has been launched! Castella Kamaboko!

You will still have to wait a little bit, though, for the popular deep-fried triangle Kamaboko.

Living circumstances

 

Work has begun in this temporary housing unit to properly pave the gravel paths surrounding the houses.

Such improvements are undertaken little by little, it appears, but there are big differences according to the district, in which a temporary housing unit is located.

For our grandchildren

We held a 'make my tote bag' workshop, using the kits put together from donations. 
Using stamps with well-liked western patterns, which we applied directly to the bags, or arranging lace, buttons, and crocheted flower motifs that could be glued on, each bag was given its own design. It is quite easy to make these bags. And it was such good fun, as we were peeking at the designs the persons next to us were creating. One should think that it was difficult to do all this work kneeling in a small tatami mat room, but it was a piece of cake, really! We made these bags imagining our grandchildren's joyful expressions on receiving their bag.
Since the bag making does not involve any needlework or sewing, anybody can join in. We already received requests from other temporary housing units to hold the 'my tote bag' workshops.