OTSUCHI, Iwate Prefecture--More than two months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, shopkeepers here are building temporary stores on their own as local officials have been unable to settle on a plan for reconstruction.
OTSUCHI, Iwate Prefecture--More than two months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, shopkeepers here are building temporary stores on their own as local officials have been unable to settle on a plan for reconstruction.
The owners are reacting to a growing call from residents who say that they want to buy goods in addition to accepting relief aid.
Seiji Fujii, head of the Mast shopping center, handed in a petition on May 13 signed by 1,600 people calling for the reopening of the shopping center. The petition was delivered to acting-Mayor Masaaki Tobai after Mayor Koki Kato died in the March 11 tsunami.
The shopping center housed about 40 shops that served a population of 15,000 before the earthquake struck. Fujii said shopkeepers will build makeshift shops in the parking lot and later reopen their damaged stores after repairs are completed.
With the center of town devastated, 90 percent of more than 700 stores in Otsuchi are not operating. The town hall has approved the operation of makeshift shops, even if they are set up in
areas still flooded in ankle-deep water.
But town officials have not settled on where the new town center should be located. And until they do, shop owners cannot commit themselves to full-scale construction of their permanent stores.
"We would like town officials to lay out a grand vision of rebuilding soon--before residents abandon the town because of inconvenience," Fujii said. "We are ready to make a move any time (in reaction to the town's decision)."
Ryoichi Kikuchi, head of the town's commerce and industry association, suggested at a meeting of shop operators on May 16 that stores should be concentrated in one area, on the east side of the town, where only three shops existed before March 11.
There have been more than 100 applications for leasing prefabricated structures for makeshift shops, according to the town hall. The town hall intends to have those shops open near an area where temporary housing will be built, but shop owners expressed concern about the plan.
Some said that they may not be able to make money because there are not many housing units there. Others said that seafood stores need to be set up near the coast.
Some residents are offering a free lease of their land. A man in his 50s discussed with town officials what he should do with his 1,200-square-meter store. He said he can no longer operate it without his wife and children, who were killed by the tsunami.
According to a survey of the commerce and industry association, 40 percent of shopkeepers want to reopen their stores, while another 40 percent are undecided. Twenty percent, the survey found, want to close their shops. By early May, 13 shops have either reopened or plan to reopen. Five resumed operations in places where they used to be.
One left the town to reopen, while the rest set up temporary outlets outside an area still covered centimeters-deep in water.
Kazuo Ieko, a 62-year-old realtor, opened a prefabricated real estate office on the same site as his pre-quake office, in front of the makeshift town hall building. He cleaned debris by himself to do so.
"I have five or six customers a day," Ieko said. "This is a perfect place to do real estate business because people come to the town hall to collect the necessary documents. I would not be able to run this business in other places."
Food shops and drug stores set up their provisional operations in an area surrounding the residential district that was spared from the disaster. These shopkeepers are waiting for the town's decision about the rebuilding plan.
Sachiko Yahata, a 60-year-old woman who has run a food shop in the residential district for years, says that all the equipment in her shop was ruined after the tsunami flooded the first floor.
There are 400 homes in the district, which was developed more than 40 years ago. Yahata said that as residents got older, the less she has made in profits. She thought about quitting, but changed her mind after some of her elderly customers told her they often have difficulty shopping, and they appreciate the convenience of shopping at her store.
"I finally repaid my debts last year, but I find myself borrowing an additional 10 million yen ($121,000)," Yahata said.
She intends to reopen her shop this month to sell fresh vegetables and bento lunch boxes, and offer bento delivery.
"Now, I want to sell vitality," she said.
Otsuchi Taxi, one of three taxi companies in the town, resumed operations in early April. Seven of its 10 taxis were washed away by the tsunami, but the company managed to acquire old cars from a driving school and a taxi company in Morioka.
"We should also be prepared for operation in a town with fewer people," said company President Matsuo Iwasaki.