YOKOTE, Akita Prefecture--In the Tonamikousen inn at the end of a narrow road running through apple orchards, Soichiro Inagaki, 10, teases his 12-year-old sister, Mao, about an incident at the basin-rowing festival here.
YOKOTE, Akita Prefecture--In the Tonamikousen inn at the end of a narrow road running through apple orchards, Soichiro Inagaki, 10, teases his 12-year-old sister, Mao, about an incident at the basin-rowing festival here.
Their cousin Yuhi Goto, 12, tries to see the photos of the festival on a digital camera, but Mao grabs it away, saying, "Don't look at them."
"Mao fell from the basin into the pond," Soichiro explains, as Yuhi's older sister, Nohara, smiles.
But the atmosphere was not always so cheerful at the inn.
Mao and Soichiro were living in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, when the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the nearby Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The family immediately packed only a box of apples and blankets in their car and fled the city. After moving from one evacuation center to another, they arrived at their relatives' inn in Yokote, northwest of Fukushima Prefecture.
On weekdays, the children's father lives in Saitama Prefecture while their mother stays in Fukushima Prefecture for their jobs at elementary schools. They can only see their children on weekends.
Soichiro's loneliness early on was so serious that when he found fliers for work at a beef barbecue restaurant or a bathhouse, he called his mother, Miyuki, 44: "There is a job offer here."
He asked his aunt, Takako, 49, to cancel his transfer to the school in Yokote, and sometimes refused to leave his futon in the morning, saying, "It's cold."
In Namie, Soichiro would walk for only three minutes to reach his elementary school. In Yokote, it takes about 45 minutes on foot to cover the 4 kilometers between the inn and the school.
Although Mao apparently adjusted more quickly to her new surroundings, there was a period when she seldom talked.
Their aunt, Takako, suggested that the two write compositions for a contest organized by nonprofit organization Chikyu Kodomo Club (Earth children club) on the theme of "3R," meaning "reduce, reuse and recycle."
Mao wrote in her composition: "During the spring vacation (from late March to early April), I received a used uniform for my junior high school (in Yokote). Some threads have come apart, and some worn-out parts were shiny. Although the appearance of the uniform is bad, I felt grateful."
Soichiro wrote: "As for my '3R,' the third one is 'reuse.' … The second is 'recycle' and the first one is 'return.' I want to return to Fukushima as early as possible and return the damaged beach and house to their original conditions. By removing radioactive materials in the air, I want to return to a normal life."
When they were writing their compositions, the facial expressions gradually returned.
"By writing about their current circumstances, they may have felt refreshed," Takako said.
Mao's composition received the prime minister's prize in June. Soichiro's work was awarded the education minister's prize.
Mao, a first-year student at junior high school, and Soichiro, a fourth-grader at elementary school, share a room the size of 15 tatami mats at the inn.
The two still want to return to their hometown, but they have no idea when decontamination work will make that possible. In the meantime, they are gradually adjusting to their new lives in Yokote.
The basin-rowing festival, which took place on Aug. 16, involved participants racing 40 meters in basins in a pond by rowing with their hands.
Soichiro wanted to place first to win merchandise coupons worth 10,000 yen (about $125) that could be used to buy a videogame console, which many of his friends already owned. But he wound up in fourth place, with jellies as the prize.
Soichiro asked his mother to pick up his wallet containing a Doraemon picture when she made a temporary return to their house in Namie. But it contained only a 1,000-yen note and some coins, insufficient for a videogame console.
So Soichiro plays games on a personal computer in the room of Yuhi and Nohara where his desk has been placed.
For Mao, the presence of Yuhi and Nohara is huge.
"Thanks to them, I can maintain my character at school," Mao said.
At the junior high school, Mao joined the art club whose members include Yuhi.
Mao, Yuhi and Nohara go to the school together on bicycles every morning. Yuhi sometimes comes to the room of Mao and Soichiro with her futon and sleeps together with her cousins.
On one night, they stayed awake until midnight, two hours later than usual.
"I don't want to be treated like an evacuee. I don't want people to talk about the nuclear crisis, either," Mao said.
When students in her class were deciding on a theme for their speech contest, they proposed the Fukushima nuclear crisis. But Yuhi, out of consideration to Mao's feelings, proposed a subject matter closer to the students. The theme of the speech contest was changed.
Mao said, "I have a thought that, considering the situation surrounding my house (in Namie), I don't want to return there."
Yuhi said: "If possible, I want to be with Mao. But I think that Mao wants to be with her friends in Namie."
Soichiro has made friends with some senior students of his elementary school in Yokote. In Namie, he did not have any older friends. Once reluctant to do so in Namie, the boy now washes his hair with shampoo every day.
But he still knows that his life has been turned upside down by the nuclear accident.
"I want to remove the radioactive materials," he murmured, referring to the shampoo.
"I want to go back to Namie and spend a normal life. It is not normal now," he said.
The bicycles of the four children are placed in a warehouse in front of the inn. Beside them is a portable iron bar. This summer, Soichiro finally was able to do a forward-upward circling flip over the bar under Yuhi's instructions.