MINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--It won't rival "Lassie Come Home," but a dog named Johnny beat the odds when his owner, Yoshiko Umeda, had to release him when she became an evacuee following the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
MINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--It won't rival "Lassie Come Home," but a dog named Johnny beat the odds when his owner, Yoshiko Umeda, had to release him when she became an evacuee following the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
When she was reunited with her pet in May, Johnny reared up upon seeing Umeda, or in her words, “jumped to” her.
She held her dog tightly.
“I am sorry. I am glad to see you,” she said. Johnny sniffed at Umeda for a while, as if happy to be smelling her familiar scent again.
Johnny joined Umeda's household when her eldest son, then a high school student, brought the dog home after he received him as a gift. The dog took a liking to Umeda, who fed him.
Umeda, 58, lived in Minami-Soma's Odaka district with her husband, 58, mother-in-law, 81, and her eldest son, 30. After the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was damaged, their home was in the no-entry zone.
On March 12, the family was forced to evacuate to a relative’s house in the city’s Haramachi district, following a warning that there was a danger of radiation (in Odaka).
Shortly after 11 a.m. on March 14, they heard what was like “a boom from fireworks,” which was later found to be an explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
On March 15, they moved to an apartment in Sendai, where Umeda’s nephew and his family lived. She could not bring Johnny with her because another relative had evacuated there.
“If we leave Johnny on a leash, he will die,” her husband said. “If we unleash him, clever Johnny will survive somehow.”
Umeda agreed. She gave him all the dog food she had and released the chain from the dog's collar.
Johnny looked into her face as she said, “Stay alive,” while shedding tears.
The dog chased the family for hundreds of meters as they left in a car.
“I’m sorry. Take care,” Umeda said.
On March 23, an Asahi Shimbun reporter shot a photograph of a dog wandering near the seashore in Minami-Soma’s Kashima district.
“Isn’t this Johnny?” Umeda was asked when she was handed a copy of The Asahi Shimbun.
The dog in the photo did look like Johnny, but Umeda was doubtful if Johnny could make it to the Kashima district, about 20 kilometers from where he was released.
Umeda started to stare at the TV screen whenever dogs in disaster-stricken areas appeared on television to see if she could spot Johnny.
In April, Umeda was living with her sister-in-law's family in Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture.
On April 29, her younger son, 28, called her, saying, “I found Johnny.” He said he found the dog on the Fukushima prefectural government's website for animal protection. Johnny was in the custody of a local public health center, he said.
She asked her daughter’s family to take care of her dog. She is married and lives in the Kashima district, where Johnny was found.
In May, Umeda and her mother-in-law moved to Narita, Chiba Prefecture, where her eldest son had evacuated to. But later in the month, Umeda returned to Minami-Soma's Haramachi district to start working at a rental dress shop, where she had worked before the earthquake struck, as the store was opening again.
She started to live by herself, in an apartment. She visited her daughter and was immediately reunited with Johnny. Sadly, she couldn't take him with her and left him in the care of her daughter's family.
Even though she lives in the same city as Johnny, she has had few chances to see him, because the dog has broken free from its leash and run loose twice after her visit.
On Feb. 10, she saw Johnny for the first time in a long while. He was raven-haired and healthy, a totally different dog from the skinny animal she saw several months ago.
Currently, Umeda's husband and his mother live in Fukushima city, where the transport company he works for is located.
The family of four and their dog live separately.
At her apartment today, alone, Umeda cannot help thinking, “If there were no nuclear power plants, we would have led a normal life. I want to go back home to Odaka and live with my family and Johnny.”
It is unlikely, however, that her desire will come true, as is true for many pet owners who were forced to evacuate following the March 11 disaster.
A total of 415 dogs and 228 cats have been taken in within the no-entry zone since April, a few weeks after the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
The dogs and cats taken in are tested for radiation and then sent to two temporary shelters of the prefectural animal protection headquarters, operated by the prefecture and its veterinary medical association.
Less than 40 percent of the animals have been returned to their owners, due mainly to their housing situation.
While owners of about 70 percent of the animals were found, only 39 percent, or 253, were returned to them.
About 100 animals were given to new owners, because their owners were not found or have given up on taking them back.
The cost to run two temporary facilities, about 5 million yen ($62,900) a month, is paid for privately, such as from a relief fund. Volunteer members walk the dogs and take care of the animals.
Tadashi Toyoda, a veterinarian working for the headquarters, is concerned.
“I am afraid that if pets are separated from owners for a prolonged period, the ties can be weakened,” he said.
When the prefecture asked about 220 owners of the animals in October, about 150 said they would like to take them back in the future but said they could not do so for the time being.
Some said they did not want to cause trouble at their temporary housing, while others asked to wait until the no-entry zone is lifted.
(This article was compiled from reports by Jun Kaneko and Toyohiro Mishima.)