Traditional light boxes bring hope to quake victims

MIYAKO, Iwate Prefecture--In the Taro district of Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, one of the hardest-hit areas by a devastating tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake, residents are making traditional Japanese "andon" light boxes, hoping the lights will brighten the future of their ravaged hometown. On Aug. 11, the five-month anniversary of the March 11 quake, local residents will place 3,000 andon light boxes with candles lit inside on a massive 1-kilometer coastal levee--once the symbol of protection against disasters for the district's residents--as well as a road leading to a nearby temple. The special andon light boxes, called Yume-akari (dream lights), were created by Asako Komukai, a local resident, about 10 years ago. To make the light box--usually made of Japanese paper and wooden bars--Komukai uses three milk packages or plastic bottles as a frame and makes a number of slits on the surface to create flower designs on it. She colors the surface using paint spray guns as the final step. Empathizing with the dire situation facing the Taro district, a nonprofit organization based in Kobe, the city hit hardest by the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, will share the flame from "1.17 the Light of Hope," a memorial monument for victims of the quake. Komukai initially planned to place 200 light boxes--matching the number of people dead and still missing in the area--in front of temporary housing to commemorate the disaster victims in the district. The event was scheduled for the Obon season, the traditional period during which Japanese people believe their ancestors return home. Hearing of the plan, other residents pitched in, coming up with a plan to place light boxes on the coastal levee.