When Kazuko Furoto saw the tragic news that Iwate Prefecture's Rikuzentakata had been devastated by the earthquake and tsunami, she worried about the fate of her good friend living in the city.
When Kazuko Furoto saw the tragic news that Iwate Prefecture's Rikuzentakata had been devastated by the earthquake and tsunami, she worried about the fate of her good friend living in the city.
But when the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake struck, it knocked out about 500,000 telephone land lines in the Tohoku region. Cellphones and Internet service were also disabled over large areas, seemingly ending all ways of contacting her friend.
Furuto, 50, had met Keiko Yoneya, 44, some 20 years ago when both lived in Chiba. They each had children about the same age, so they would meet at a neighborhood park almost every day and became good friends.
Soon Furuto and Yoneya moved to Tomakomai, Hokkaido, and Rikuzentakata, respectively.
They have not seen each other since, but have continued to exchange New Year's greeting cards.
Furuto tried calling her friend in Rikuzentakata, but she could not get through. So, she turned to a tried and true form of communication, heading to the post office to send her a postcard.
She then remembered that television news reported on a shortage of supplies in the disaster-stricken areas.
She bought and included a return postcard.
"If you read this, I would be happy if you would write back," she wrote, and added a 232-character message on the postcard.
A few days later, the postcard reached Yoneya, who was evacuating to neighboring Ofunato.
"In time when cellphones and e-mail do not work, such an old-fashioned thing arrives without fail," Ofunato said.
She read the card again and again before she wrote her friend a return reply.
After a while, she called Furuto in Tomakomai.
The voice at the other end of the line sounded the same, and it was as if the 20 years since they had last spoke had passed in just an instant.