KAMAISHI, Iwate Prefecture--In this northeastern city that was slammed by the Great East Japan Earthquake, children are playing games of make-believe tsunami.
KAMAISHI, Iwate Prefecture--In this northeastern city that was slammed by the Great East Japan Earthquake, children are playing games of make-believe tsunami.
The games shock and embarrass the adults, but psychological experts have recommended letting the kids continue with their games, saying that this is an important step that helps young children recover from emotional wounds.
In early June, a 5-year-old girl suddenly stood up on a bench in a classroom at the Kogawa Kindergarten in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture.
"A tsunami is coming! Please evacuate to high ground!" she shouted.
The other children, who were playing house or playing with building blocks, cried out in unison, "Run away! Run away!" They took their toys and bags with them and jumped on benches.
Another child at the kindergarten climbed on a jungle gym and called for evacuation: "A tsunami warning was issued." Yet another, playing in a sandbox, overturned a bucketful of water and cried out, "Tsunami!"
The kindergarten, about 5 kilometers inland from Kamaishi Port, suffered no damage, but six of the total 21 kindergartners had their houses affected.
Five-year-old Kokomi Sasaki runs about in her house, holding towels and bed quilts in her hands, and shouts, "Tsunami! Run away!"
"I am always telling her that she should evacuate to high ground if an earthquake hits," says her mother, Izumi. "Perhaps I have frightened her."
Sayaka Sawada, 29, a clinical psychologist at the community welfare section of the Kamaishi city government, says these types of games constitute an important stage of the cure process for children.
"Young kids tell their experiences and express their feelings not verbally, but through games," Sawada says. "The same occurs during play therapy sessions. As long as they are doing so of their own will, you can let them do so. The important thing is that you keep a caring eye on them and say things like, 'It was horrible, wasn't it?' to put in words what they felt."
Yoshiki Tominaga, professor of clinical psychology at the Graduate School of the Hyogo University of Teacher Education, is an expert in psychological care for disaster survivors.
"Playing games with others in an environment where you can feel safe can help, if done well, to develop a capacity to overcome frightening and traumatizing experiences," he says.
Children with intense memories of fright and anxiety, however, may repeat "games" of a make-believe tsunami sweeping them away or be repelled by these games played by other children.
"Such cases should be dealt with individually by clinical psychologists," Tominaga says.
The Japan Committee for UNICEF held training sessions on how to deal with children in the disaster-stricken areas. About 630 people attended the sessions in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures by the end of May, with kindergarten teachers, child nursery staff and parents among them.
The Japan Committee for UNICEF is joining with the Japan Association for Play Therapy to assist the stricken areas. According to JAPT staff, children also played make-believe earthquake games after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995.