RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture -- Takahiro Kanno, orphaned by the Great East Japan Earthquake, is working on an idea to give his younger brother hope for the future. He wants to buy a big American car so they can both go out for a drive in the countryside.
RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture -- Takahiro Kanno, orphaned by the Great East Japan Earthquake, is working on an idea to give his younger brother hope for the future. He wants to buy a big American car so they can both go out for a drive in the countryside.
In the immediate aftermath of the March 11 disaster, The Asahi Shimbun carried a story April 2 on Takahiro and his brother Masatomo. At the time, Takahiro, 18, said he planned to follow in his father's footsteps as a sheet metal worker.
But things turned out slightly differently, and Takahiro is now learning the trade of car mechanic in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, which was one of the hardest-hit areas.
The school he attends reopened in May. Takahiro commutes from provisional housing in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, which he shares with his 13-year-old brother and an uncle.
Takahiro quickly realized he has much to learn, such as measuring battery fluid and removing a starter motor.
If only his father were still alive, he often tells himself. Then again, he recalls that his father, Seishi, 50, was not given easily to offering praise and could be difficult to please.
Nevertheless, Takahiro would watch his father strip his motorbike to find out why it wasn't working. Seishi was clearly proud of his son, but Takahiro didn't realize it at the time. Even so, he was determined to be as much a man as his father.
But it was his mother, Kiwako, who was 47, who was always ready to lend an ear.
On March 10, the day before the earthquake, Takahiro passed his driving test. He had planned to take his father out the next day for a spin.
"I'm not surprised you passed," Seishi responded dryly when his son told him he was now licensed to drive a car.
Now, he realizes how much his father loved him.
A friend of Seishi told Takahiro later that his father would beam with pride when he spoke about his son. He would say, "I want Takahiro to take over my job one day."
Two months after the earthquake, Takahiro and his brother went to live with their uncle, Kyoichiro Murakami, in provisional housing.
Murakami's wife, 59-year-old Setsuko, remains missing.
"I have brought up three children. It is nothing to have two more," Murakami said.
The brothers were grateful to their uncle and thankful they were not separated.
In July, shortly before Murakami completed procedures to become the boys' foster parent, he told them, "Don't you think it's time?"
By that, he meant submitting death certificates for their mother and grandmother, 78. Their bodies were never found.
"We have no choice," Takahiro told him.
Murakami also registered the death of his wife several days later.
"When I am alone, many things come to me," said Murakami. "But just having the boys with me has brought me great joy."
All 93 children in Iwate Prefecture whose parents perished in the disaster are being cared for by relatives.
Despite the scale of the disaster, local residents decided to go ahead with the traditional "Fighting Star Festival" in August. A float was paraded in a street cleared of debris.
Takahiro rapped on a drum placed atop the float.
A neighbor shouted out, "Takka (Takahiro), your father was always such a great help to me."
It turned out that Seishi had given drum lessons for years to local children.
Takao Hosoya, 47, who beat drums with Seishi, said to Takahiro, "Stay in the community. Join the volunteer fire company, too."
Hiroshi Nakayama, 50, gave him a photo of his father.
"Be prepared to repair cars and motorbikes," Nakayama said. "Many people will come to ask for your help."
Residents in the Sanriku coastal community where Takahiro and his brother live are big-hearted people. "Go easy, and live each day properly," they often say.
When I asked Takahiro if I could ask Masatomo about their parents, he indicated no with a shake of his head.
To this day, Takahiro and Masatomo don't care to talk about their parents and grandmother.
The emotional scars of losing them are still too deep. Takahiro said he is trying to focus on remaining positive.
That said, he often thinks of them by praying in front of their portraits at the family altar set up at his uncle's home.
Takahiro is driven by two dreams. One is to purchase a big American car.
He believes his brother, who says he is scared of Takahiro's driving, will be happy to be a passenger in such a vehicle.
Takahiro's other dream is to start a car maintenance company in his hometown.
"Even though my hometown is gone, it is where I was born and raised," he said.