MIYAKO, Iwate Prefecture--When Mamoru Sakamoto went back to see where his home used to stand, he was speechless.
MIYAKO, Iwate Prefecture--When Mamoru Sakamoto went back to see where his home used to stand, he was speechless.
The whole of Otobesato, a community of 19 homes in Miyako, a coastal city in Iwate Prefecture, was gone.
"Literally, nothing is left," said Sakamoto, a 72-year-old fisherman. "It's awful."
The devastated little community and its 150-meter-wide harbor are surrounded by steep mountains. For generations, it was home to fishermen harvesting seaweed, sea urchin and other marine life.
But the tsunami, triggered by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake on March 11, surged over a 10-meter coastal levee and swallowed everything--homes, vehicles, warehouses and cooperatives where locals processed sea urchins.
About 300 fishing boats, including boats from other communities, were lost.
Almost all of the 111 ports in Iwate Prefecture were destroyed, according to the Fisheries Agency.
The destruction was almost complete: Less than 4 percent of the prefecture's approximately 14,200 fishing boats survived the tsunami, according to a survey by The Asahi Shimbun.
Fisheries is one of the prefecture's main industries, chalking up about 45.3 billion yen ($545 million yen) in revenues in 2008.
Combined with processed products, the marine products industry was worth 124.3 billion yen the same year.
However, the estimated financial damage to the industry is at least 90 billion yen.
A senior official at the prefectural association of fisheries groups said it will be a huge challenge to rebuild, given the scope of the devastation.
"We cannot rebuild the industry on our efforts alone," the official said. "Some fishermen may leave the industry forever."
Fishermen in Otobesato are faced with the same challenge.
The aging Sakamoto grew up in Otobesato and became a fisherman like his father, who passed away when he was young.
He had his own home around the time he was 40. By rarely taking vacations, he made enough money to enlarge his house, add a structure for processing seaweed and increase his fleet of boats to four.
The disaster struck just as he was grooming his son to take over the business.
"I don't feel like building a home near the sea again," Sakamoto said.
Another victim, Moto Sasaki, 76, continues to search for her husband almost every day with her 48-year-old son, Tetsuzo.
Samon, 81, is missing after their home, which sat as far as 300 meters from the coast, was washed away.
Even after he turned 80, Samon, a fisherman born to a family of fishermen, went out to sea to harvest seaweed.
"We lived here all the while because we liked it here," Moto said. "But I don't feel like it anymore."
She said she will move to a vacant house in a different community.
Takashi Yamazaki, 53, is an eighth-generation Otobesato native.
He was hospitalized three years ago for a week for an operation on his hand.
Even after he was released from the hospital, the hand hurt. His work cultivating seaweed fell far behind schedule because of the pain.
Otobesato is a tightly-knit community where people extend a hand without being asked. About 10 neighbors offered to help though Yamazaki had not asked for anything.
"Honestly, nobody wants to leave because people here have strong bonds and have helped each other over the years," Yamazaki said.
Yoshihiro Yamazaki, 63, the leader of the community, also serves as an attendant to the local Shinto shrine.
A festival in May held at his home is the little village's biggest event, drawing about 100 people.
During the festival, there is sacred music and dancing, about 30 children carry a portable shrine and adults drink and sing songs.
But the tsunami swept away all 100 floor cushions and special dishes he kept stored at his house for the occasion.
Tsunami are nothing new to the community.
It was ravaged by tsunami in 1896 and 1933.
Each time, some residents moved to safer, upland areas, but the 19 households chose to stay.
Over the years, people built up the coastal levee as a defense--but sadly it wasn't up to the task.
"Tsunami will likely strike us again," Yamazaki said. "All the people in the community may now move out."
Still, Yamazaki hopes to remain nearby.
He said he wants to revive the fishing industry because it had provided a livelihood for the community for decades.
"Despite great damage inflicted by the tsunami, I still go out fishing, just like my ancestors did to support their families," he said. "I don't know how long it will take, but I will revive the fishing industry for my grandchildren."