Memories and images of the picturesque areas in northeastern Japan before they were destroyed in the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami have been preserved in a new book of photographs compiled from a website.
Memories and images of the picturesque areas in northeastern Japan before they were destroyed in the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami have been preserved in a new book of photographs compiled from a website.
Rafco Inc., a web system development company based in Tokyo's Nakano Ward, asked the public to send photographs to the website titled "Tohoku Memorial Gallery" from about a month after the disaster.
During the six months since, about 7,000 photos have been received. In October, a photo collection that carried selected photographs was published in book form.
"I want affected people to see the book as a photo collection that is filled with their memories," said Rafco President Nanaka Shimotani.
Shimotani, 46, started the website along with some of her employees in April after she read a message on Twitter.
"Aren't there any websites which show pre-disaster photos of the affected areas?" the tweet asked.
Since then, nearly 800 people have sent photos to the website, including those of a sunset over Namiita beach in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture; moai statues at Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, which were installed after the deadly tsunami caused by a massive 1960 earthquake in Chile hit the Tohoku region; and Soma-Nomaoi, a local festival in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture.
On the website, the 7,000 photos have been classified based on municipalities in the six prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Aomori, Ibaraki and Chiba.
As an unexpectedly large number of photos were being sent to the website, an acquaintance of Shimotani, a book editor, suggested she publish a collection of those photos. Shimotani accepted the proposal, thinking that she wanted to publish a book based on the goodwill of the people who sent the photos to her website.
The photo collection carries about 350 pre-disaster photographs of coastal areas in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, which were hit hard by the March 11 tsunami. Stories about the damage inflicted on those areas, sightseeing spots and local specialties are also included.
Shimotani has never been to the Tohoku region, but collected information on the local specialties. She wrote introductions of those areas based on e-mail messages from people that were or are living in Tohoku.
"I made the photo collection, thinking that I want affected people to have happier feelings," Shimotani said.
The 98-page photo collection, published by Tokyo-based publisher Takarajimasha Inc., is priced at 1,000 yen ($12.90), including tax. Shimatoni plans to donate half of the proceeds from the sales to affected areas. The remaining half will be spent for the operation of the company's website.