MINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--Though a week has passed since the government instructed people living in the 20-30 kilometer zone from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to evacuate voluntarily, some are returning to the zone on missions that bring only sadness.
MINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--Though a week has passed since the government instructed people living in the 20-30 kilometer zone from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to evacuate voluntarily, some are returning to the zone on missions that bring only sadness.
On March 27, Ichiro Takada, 81, a farmer in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, found his wife, Toyono, 78, in the rubble near their home. She had been missing in the tsunami since March 11.
Her body was black because it was covered with muddy water. But when Takada cleaned the dirt from her face with water from a spring, he was taken aback by her beautiful, peaceful expression.
"It was fine pink. I had never seen such a good color. I realized that my wife was such a beautiful woman," said Takada, who had married her 60 years ago.
On March 11, tremors started suddenly when he was preparing to heat a bath with firewood in the back of his house. Toyono and their 26-year-old granddaughter were in the home at the time.
When the shaking stopped temporarily, Takada ran into the house. Then, the house began to shake violently again. The three went out of the house.
Soon after, they looked eastward. Then, they saw the tsunami over the rows of pine trees.
"Flee," Takada cried to the other two. At that time, however, they did not sense that they were in danger. So, he returned to the house, and brought out a camera with him. When he turned the lens to the sea, he found that pine trees were being swamped by the tsunami and were shaking.
"It's impossible (to take the photos)," Takada thought, and got in the car. But Toyono was not there. She had returned to the house to retrieve some valuables. "I called her. Though she made a reply, she has not come yet," the granddaughter replied. That very moment, the tsunami swallowed the car.
The car was swept about 200 meters by muddy water and pushed up onto a hill. Takada's house vanished.
The house is located in the 20-30 km zone from the nuclear power plant. People living in the zone had been initially required to stay indoors. But later, they were required to leave their houses because of the serious situation at the nuclear power plant.
Takada fled to an evacuation center in the city of Fukushima with his son and the son's wife as well as his granddaughter.
While staying there, he had a growing thought that he had to look for Toyono. So, on March 27, he returned to his house with the family members by car and saw her face again for the first time in 16 days. Her body was temporarily handed over to Minami-Soma Police Station.
"The grandchild and other members of my family are saying, "Grandma protected us.' I have to live a long life, including the one that should have been enjoyed by her," Takada said.
Now he strongly hopes that the days when he can hold a funeral for her and he can enter the 20-30 km zone freely come quickly.