When Mihoko Ishizawa read a newspaper story about a dead elderly woman found clutching her grandchild following the March 11 tsunami, the tragic tale moved her to action.
When Mihoko Ishizawa read a newspaper story about a dead elderly woman found clutching her grandchild following the March 11 tsunami, the tragic tale moved her to action.
"I want to convey the story of the life of each person," she thought, as she drew a comic strip about the grandmother who tried to save her grandchild as the huge tsunami engulfed them.
Ishizawa, a Wasada University graduate student, had her collection of short comic strips about survivors and victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami published by Tokyo-based Fusosha Publishing Inc. in September.
The book is titled "Itsuka Nanohana-batake de--Higashi-Nihon Daishinsai o Wasurenai" (Some day in a field of rape blossoms--We do not forget the Great East Japan Earthquake).
The 27-year-old woman, whose pen name is Misukoso, plans to donate all the proceeds from the sales to the affected areas.
Ishizawa, who is studying to become a certified public accountant, has been drawing comics for many years as a hobby and carried them on her blog.
After she drew the first of the grandmother and grandchild tsunami victims, she thought, "I want to see the current situation of the affected areas with my own eyes."
She visited Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, in late May, where she volunteered to help remove sludge and rubble.
She also met Bunzo Kanayama, who was engaged in removing rubble from a riverbed that used to be a playground for children and planting rape blossoms there.
"I want you to continue to see our efforts to move forward," he told her. "Don't forget us. In the future, please come here to see the beautiful rape blossoms blooming."
After graduating from Keio University, Ishizawa worked as a company employee. At that time, she fell while riding a bicycle and lost her memory of the proceeding six months. She has never regained those memories.
"What did each of the survivors feel when they experienced the (March 11) disaster?" she asked. "I strongly thought that I want to draw a story of each person's life and put it in my memory."
The collection of comics contains not only real-life stories based on media reports or her experience as a volunteer worker, but also scenes and situations she imagined that could have taken place in the disaster-hit areas.
The comic strips include one about a young female nurse who regrets her failure to evacuate a disabled patient from the tsunami. Another is about an elderly woman who saw her husband dying in their house in an evacuation-required zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, as they were unable to leave the town they had been living in for many years.
Ishizawa drew many of these comics while shedding tears. After she carried them on her blog, they attracted the attention of a professional editor, leading to their publication.
The collection of comics also contains works whose protagonist is Kanayama.
"I am engaged in my activities (of planting rape blossoms in a riverbed), hoping that the flowers that bloom in early spring heal the minds of affected people," Kanayama said.
Ishizawa added, "As the title of the book shows, I am looking forward to the day when I go to see the field of rape blossoms that will bloom in the riverbed."
The 158-page collection of comic strips is priced at 1,000 yen (about $13), including tax.