Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan in early May

It is hard to put into words the range of emotions and experiences one goes through during a week of recovery volunteer work in Ishinomaki, Miyagi on the northeast coast of Japan. The world watched live on television as the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami shattered towns along the coast. I won’t rehash that story here.

On the night of April 30^th I and a couple of guys from ball hockey climbed aboard a bus – one of nine departing that night – along with about 350 other volunteers for the overnight ride to Ishinomaki. Following all that an overnight bus ride on earthquake-roughened highways and the requisite stops to ensure an on-time arrival, we arrived bleary-eyed and stiff on the athletic practice fields of a university. This is where we would set up tents and camp for the week.

By mid-morning we were loaded on another bus and driven into the town itself. This was our first real look at the devastation the water had wrought. Along the cleared streets were mounds of timber, tatami mats, appliances, cars, boats, furniture, and everything else that can be imagined. Dust and dirt blanket the city. It was a quick and stark reminder that we had at most been slightly inconvenienced in Tokyo on March 11^th.

We were told the area of town in which we would work had been protected from most of the raw force of the wave by a large hill. The area of town in which we would work had suffered massive flooding as the tsunami waves had moved up the river. The water crested about the second story of the buildings here. Although spared the full impact of the waves, there was enough power to put boats into some buildings, cars into other buildings and completely destroy other buildings and scattering whatever was inside.

Our team of six armed ourselves every morning with scoops, wheelbarrows and sacks. Each morning we were assigned a place to clean. Over the course of the week, our team was assigned parks, an elderly couple’s home, piles of debris and drying sludge outside a hospital, the storm drains between buildings, a couple of bars, and parking lots. We spent two days in those bars, each measuring only about 20 feet by 20 feet and came out looking and smelling like we had been working on a malfunctioning oil pipeline. Our team had it easy.

Northwest Japan catches and processes a lot of fish. Over two days during the week we were there, four other teams cleared an estimated 17 tonnes of dry and rotting fish from a small area of town. They achieved a level of minor celebrity and great admiration in the camp, as well as national television and internet news coverage. They were all easily identifiable. They were Fish.

During our lunch on the second day in Ishinomaki, the owner of the house where we were clearing the garden took us up the hill that protected this part of town. From the top is the incredible view of the ocean and the destruction left behind the retreating waves. He told us of people who had climbed onto their roofs to escape the rising waters, only to have the roofs torn loose and taken a kilometer or more out to sea. For the lucky ones, the next wave brought them back. One of his neighbors had grabbed a tree which was perhaps two inches in diameter at its base and stood on two small knots in as he held on while the waters rose to his chest, just out of reach of a balcony on the house.

One day we got bicycles to ride from camp to the work site. During our lunch and again after finishing work, we took the short ride around the edge of the hill and into the heart of the tsunami zone. Words and pictures are inadequate to convey what we saw and felt. It is something that must be experienced firsthand to be understood.

Electricity is on in parts of the town, as is water. During that first week of May gas companies from around the country were working to check the lines and restore service. Businesses are beginning to reopen, although with limited stocks. We found and frequented the open fruit and vegetable shops. The residents of the town are rebuilding, and there is a sense that although they have suffered, they will rebuild. They are grateful for the volunteers, and generously shared food and coffee with us. They are optimistic about rebuilding, but they are worried that interest will fade and they will be left without volunteers to help the community.

We were there during the annual spring holidays of Golden Week. Peace Boat, the organization with which we went, had 350 volunteers, including 41 non-Japanese. The following week they had registered about half of that. The week after just 60.

Two members of my team will return for shorter trips next month. Two others are talking about returning in August. I will be looking for my own opportunities to return later in the year.

There are a number of organizations running volunteer programs throughout the affected areas. The links to information below are those with which I have had personal experience.

Peace Boat

AP Bank (Japanese only)

Second Harvest Japan

If you cannot volunteer, but still want to help, I suggest donating to the Red Cross or to Doctors without Borders, or to Second Harvest Japan.

Twilight in Tokyo

Tokyo received little direct damage from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Suburban areas, particularly Chiba seem to have been more directly affected. Rolling blackouts continue in the suburbs of the city, but the central part of Tokyo remains largely unaffected by these. Subways and trains in the city center are back nearly to their pre-earthquake schedules. 

Because so much of the Tokyo Electric Company’s (Tepco) generating capacity is offline, power shortages and the rolling blackouts are likely to continue for weeks, or more probably months. Train stations, department stores, grocery stores and other large retailers are keeping their lights dimmed, with their outdoor signs mostly off. The reduced hours many have kept for the past couple of weeks are inching back to their normal operating hours. Mom and pop restaurants have begun turning their signs back on at night. Whether the lessons of excessive power consumption have truly been learned is yet to be seen. 

There have been stories in the foreign press about the self-restraint that has taken hold in Japan. That is true to an extent. But the crowds in Shibuya on March 18^th did not appear any smaller for the lack of giant, blaring advertisements that usually light the main crossing there. The screeches that are supposedly singing coming from local karaoke bars in the wee hours of a weeknight would indicate not everyone has taken up this outlook. The lights may be down, but aisles of electronics retailers and bookstores have not seemed much off their typical size.

Restraint certainly has been encouraged by Tokyo’s governor and even local governments. This is traditionally the time of year when Japanese hold hanami parties, picnicking under the cherry blossoms in the parks. Signs have been erected by the Tokyo municipal government discouraging such behavior this year. In the idle monkey trainer’s neighborhood city officials (or their volunteer minions) distributed leaflets and politely asked those partaking in such parties – particularly those with alcohol – to show restraint. They even implied that those not showing restraint would be asked to stop drinking. Rather than revel in the new spring as usual, everyone is being told it is more appropriate to be mourning the victims to the north. These reflect the attitude of Governor Ishihara, who has had to retract his own remarks about the disasters being divine punishment for Japan’s ego and greed. (Sadly, such thoughts and statements probably will not prevent him from winning another term as governor in Sunday’s election.)

And despite the perfect weather for hanami this past Saturday, the park did seem a bit quieter than in years past. Perhaps there was less alcohol and food consumed. Maybe there was even a bit more reflection on the transcendence of life as witnessed in the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms – or cherry jello shots.

March 11 - 14, 2011

Just after 2:oo p.m. on a lovely early spring afternoon the shaking started. At first it seemed to be no more than the usual rocking, which is viewed with general nonchalance by the majority of residents. Then it kept going, and growing stronger. Concern began to creep into voiced thoughts. “Is it time to get under the desk?” “No. It’s better to get out.”

Outside the office building we stood on a narrow strip of road, feeling it sway beneath our feet like the deck of a ship at sea. Overhead we watched power lines sway and dance. The rocking lasted for several minutes, or at least what seemed to be several minutes. As it calmed the adrenalin kept coursing, creating uncertainty as to whether it was our bodies or the earth that was still shaking and swaying.

Aftershocks of various magnitudes followed quickly and frequently. On the eastern horizon plumes of black smoke stretched skyward. Phone service – both land and mobile – halted. SMS texts did not go through. We all turned to the internet, sending out flurries of e-mails and Facebook posts to keep in touch, to find out if friends and family were okay. The trains ceased running.

As evening rolled around and lesser tremors kept rolling, those with housing or places to stay within walking distance – a phrase that took on an expanded meaning – began their treks home. Power, fortunately, was still on. My own journey from my office took my largely against the flow of human (and vehicle) traffic. On the main thoroughfares cars waited patiently in unmoving lines. Throngs of people moved down the sidewalks. There was no shoving, no shouting. There was, as I have seen aptly described elsewhere, a melancholy calm in the crowds. A few people wore helmets, likely company provided. More often, the helmets were carried, in hand should the ground start moving again.

Convenience store shelves were stripped bare of instant foods – cup noodles, mostly – and ready to eat meals, rice balls and sandwiches by orderly lines of customers. By the next afternoon most grocery store shelves followed suit. Staples have become hard to come by. Water, milk, eggs, rice, batteries are in short supply.

Aftershocks continued through Friday night, waking people up on Saturday morning and keeping us up through Saturday night into Sunday morning. Another at about 10:00 a.m. Monday shook long enough to be eerily like the one that started it all Friday afternoon.

Images of the damage caused by the massive tsunamis that came ashore in Miyagi dominated the television, with focus shifting Saturday afternoon to exploding nuclear facilities.

Restaurants, bars and retailers opened more of less normally on Saturday, though without the normal Saturday trade. A few subway lines began running late Friday evening, others opened only again on Saturday with limited service. Ueno Park was quiet Saturday, but near brimming on the warm Sunday afternoon, as people looked more relaxed, walking around the lake, laughing, renting paddle boats, snacking from the usual food stands, watching seagulls try to steal food from a duck.

Most of the damage in the Tokyo metro area seems to be in the eastern part in Chiba, or at least the heaviest seems to be there. A refinery burned Friday. Disneyland is said to be closed for the week while they deal with a busted up parking lot and minor flooding. A friend reported taking a 20km hike Friday night back to his sodden neighborhood. In my neighborhood I saw only minor damage, including to a shrine in Ueno Park. A friend has said that his local grocery store is closed because of a damaged wall.

Monday morning train services were still limited as people started going back to work. Services will be spotty for a while as the Tokyo electric company proposes rolling blackouts be used to compensate for so many power generators being offline. The blackouts, however, have been put off for the time being as consumption has remained lower than expected. Some lines have not opened or have opened only for the morning and even rushes.

Decent information is hard to come by, in English anyway. In Japanese it is better since it can be taken straight from the source. CNN and BBC have the most dramatic aspects, but little else of use. The US embassy is sending out fairly regular warden messages with information and links to primary sources. Japanese television has kept near 24-hour coverage on all channels, with the exception of one that was at least for a while showing beautiful nature scenes from around the world and then a weight-loss program. Facebook, though it proved extremely useful in connecting with people can quickly become a source of incomplete or incorrect information.