MOTOMIYA, Fukushima Prefecture--There were a few blunders, but the joy of being able to finally strut their stuff on stage seemed to override any sense of disappointment over choreographic errors for five members of the local idol group "NYTS."
MOTOMIYA, Fukushima Prefecture--There were a few blunders, but the joy of being able to finally strut their stuff on stage seemed to override any sense of disappointment over choreographic errors for five members of the local idol group "NYTS."
The five, half the usual 10-member dance and singing unit, on Aug. 15 were performing for the first time since the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, in Motomiya, Fukushima Prefecture, about 50 kilometers from their hometown.
Evacuation from the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant had dispersed the members, six regular members and four trainees, of "NYTS" (pronounced like "nights"), who hail from Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, a coastal town. The group's main mission is to promote local produce, particularly the city's famed fried noodles.
"It's a very nice town/ a town of wonder/ full of mysteries/ We love Namie," they sang in unison.
Five members, including their 16-year-old leader, Kanako Namie, went on stage in matching uniforms at a festival in Motomiya, and sang and danced to the tune of numbers such as "Wonderful Namie" and "Koi Suru Yaki-soba" (Fried noodles in love). Applause followed.
NYTS was organized in 2009 by local girls attending elementary and junior high schools. It was one of the projects initiated by the youth division of the Namie Society of Commerce and Industry to promote "Namie yaki-soba" (Namie fried noodles), a local specialty characterized by noodles as thick as 6 millimeters. The fried noodles were to join the B-1 Grand Prix, a festival of locally promoted specialty food.
The name of the group combines N of Namie, Y of yaki-soba and other initials.
The fried noodles first participated in the B-1 Grand Prix last autumn, and NYTS's membership grew. Just as its activities were expanding, the town was hit by the big quake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis.
The group's members evacuated not only within the prefecture but also to Saitama Prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture and even overseas. Half of the town's area, including its center, was included in a no-entry zone within a 20-kilometer radius of the nuclear plant. The members could no longer return to their homes.
NYTS's members have developed close friendships, because they used to practice singing and dancing together twice every week even before the group was formed. Namie, the leader, exchanged cellphone text messages with other NYTS members to confirm each other's safety after she evacuated to Yashio, Saitama Prefecture.
"Will we be able to return home one day?" she wrote. She never stopped exchanging messages of mutual encouragement as she moved across different places, including an evacuation shelter and a relative's home.
Many of Namie residents are evacuated in Motomiya. The executive committee of a summer festival in Motomiya asked the Namie Society of Commerce and Industry to sell fried noodles there. The NYTS members, who were now junior and senior high school students, attended schools at their respective places of evacuation, but the summer vacation provided an opportunity for a reunion. Five of the group's members were reunited on this occasion, and it was only the day before the staging that they could finally rehearse together. Namie said they were happy being together again.
"We will hang on to help rebuild our town," she vowed.