HIGASHI-MATSUSHIMA, Miyagi Prefecture--In the quake-devastated Tohoku region this holiday season, a hardy, colorful flower that survived the March 11 quake and tsunami will be a special present under many Christmas trees.
HIGASHI-MATSUSHIMA, Miyagi Prefecture--In the quake-devastated Tohoku region this holiday season, a hardy, colorful flower that survived the March 11 quake and tsunami will be a special present under many Christmas trees.
Nearly nine months later, about 25,000 cyclamens that have produced flowers in greenhouses in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, are waiting to be shipped for Christmas gifts.
On March 11 when the tsunami struck, the cyclamen seedlings, in small pots, were in the greenhouses for their protection.
Although the waters of the tsunami stopped short of the greenhouses, the resulting loss of power knocked out a machine to pump water from a well. The temperature also dropped to nearly below zero at the time.
Employees at the greenhouses tended to the seedlings, watering them by hand for two weeks and getting them through the difficult time.
Their hard work paid off in mid-November, when the flowers began to bloom, even though it was one month later than a normal year.
The flowers will be shipped to prefectures in the Tohoku region.
Customers from neighboring Ishinomaki in the same prefecture, which was hardly hit by the tsunami, stop by to see the colorful autumn perennials.
Yasuo Ogata, who is in charge of customer services, said he finds it rewarding when he hears customers say, "I like flowers. I feel some comfort."