As the sound of sirens resounded across Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, at 2:46 p.m., Tomonobu and Midori Mori put their hands together and prayed for the shy girl who grew up to be a beloved teacher.
As the sound of sirens resounded across Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, at 2:46 p.m., Tomonobu and Midori Mori put their hands together and prayed for the shy girl who grew up to be a beloved teacher.
During the one-minute prayer on March 11, Tomonobu’s eyes were closed but he kept seeing images of his daughter. In one memory, he was taking her to the entrance ceremony of an elementary school, holding her hand. He also saw her cooking his favorite dish, “chirashi-zushi,” a bowl of sushi rice with other ingredients mixed in.
As he prayed in a vacant lot in front of Prefectural Takata Senior High School, he felt she was nearby.
One year ago, after the Great East Japan Earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m., the couple’s 29-year-old daughter, Motoko Onodera, helped students evacuate from the school. She then drove toward a pool near the coast to alert nine members of the swimming club she supervised about the oncoming tsunami.
The waves swamped the coast and reached the third floor of the school.
Motoko has not been seen since.
Tomonobu, 66, and Midori, 63, wanted to be as close to their missing daughter for as long as possible. Although they lived 500 kilometers away in Otaru, Hokkaido, they traveled to Rikuzentakata by car and ferry almost every month after the disaster.
They shouted their daughter’s name again and again. But with each unsuccessful trip, their feelings of despair increased in the rubble-covered city.
When they left their home at the end of February for their 10th visit, they decided it was time to say goodbye to their daughter.
On March 1, the parents attended the graduation ceremony of Takata High School, which had moved to neighboring Ofunato. The school allowed the parents to use the seats reserved for teachers.
Motoko’s parents gave a send-off to their daughter’s students, clapping their hands.
Although Motoko remains missing, her parents registered her death on March 2 and held a memorial service the following day. About 200 people, including her students and friends, attended.
A woman who had been taught by Motoko at another school was waiting at the memorial service with her baby boy.
“Before the disaster, Motoko promised to hold my baby,” the 22-year-old mother said, gently handing the boy to Motoko’s parents.
In June 2010, Motoko married Hiroshi Onodera, 44, one of her colleagues. Before the day of the earthquake, Motoko’s parents learned that their daughter was likely pregnant.
On the one-year anniversary of the disaster, Tomonobu and Midori were proud of their youngest child who had matured into a reliable person adored by her students and colleagues.
They also think about what might have happened had Motoko not taken a job in Iwate Prefecture. But they try not to dwell on such thoughts “because Motoko grew and lived here with her heart and soul.”
At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, members of Takata High’s swimming club bowed their heads and closed their eyes.
“I will work hard to make my dreams come true,” 18-year-old Hayato Konno pledged to Motoko and his teammates who died in the disaster. “Keep watching me.”
On the day of the earthquake, Hayato, who had missed the swimming practice, fled to higher ground with his brother as the tsunami destroyed their home. Four days later, they were reunited with their parents, who told them that all contact had been lost with the swimming club members. He later learned that Motoko and seven members had been swept away in the waves.
Hayato was the only survivor among the second-year members of the team.
As the only senior member, Hayato became team captain in May.
He practiced hard for his lost friends and set personal bests in two events at a prefectural meet in June.
Hayato was given a yellow swimming board by his juniors at the graduation ceremony. A photo taken with the seven members in the summer of 2010 was attached to the flip side of the board.
The photo was taken by Motoko, who had always told the team members: “You can do more.”
(This article was written by Yuichi Inoue and Atsushi Yamanishi.)