KITAKAMI, Iwate Prefecture—Disaster survivors who lost family members and friends in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami are publishing a newspaper to help others overcome their grief.
KITAKAMI, Iwate Prefecture—Disaster survivors who lost family members and friends in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami are publishing a newspaper to help others overcome their grief.
The Inochi Shimbun (Newspaper of life) was started in tsunami-hit Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, to bind people affected by the disaster on March 11, 2011, that killed more than 15,000 people and left 2,600 missing.
Ruiko Sasahara, 40, who has restored about 400 bodies of disaster victims as a volunteer, is the chief editor of the newspaper, which is produced in an office she owns in the city.
“People can live when they have ties with others. But the size of a circle one can connect to is limited,” Sasahara said. “I hope this newspaper can connect people. I hope it will be delivered especially to people who feel isolated.”
Tomoe Ito, one of the editors at the Inochi newspaper, is a 35-year-old part-time teacher at a junior high school in Kitakami. She met Sasahara in March last year, a year after the disaster.
“There isn’t anyone else other than her who can understand my feelings,” Ito said she thought when she read a newspaper article about Sasahara.
Ito, whose 59-year-old mother and 93-year-old grandfather were killed in the tsunami, contacted Sasahara.
“A year ago, all I could do was to live day by day,” Ito said. “After I met Sasahara and talked about many things, I was able to stand and live on my own feet.”
Another editor at the Inochi newspaper is Yuya Kawamura, 28, a resident of Morioka, Iwate Prefecture. His wife, 20, and two sons aged 11 months and 7 days, died in the disaster.
Kawamura had lost his will to live, but after he started working as a mortician, he started to think more about life and death. He also said Sasahara taught him many important things for his job.
The starting point of their activities dates back about half a year ago.
Last fall, the future editors of the Inochi newspaper talked about the meaning of life and death with a young person whose friend died in the disaster. They also discussed how they felt when they identified bodies in morgues.
They came up with the idea of preserving their discussions in written form, and decided to publish a newspaper to share their feelings and thoughts with the outside world.
“I have managed to accept the death of my family members,” Ito said. “But there are still many people around me who cannot. I want to deliver our newspaper to these people and live together with those who read it.”
The first edition of the newspaper was completed on March 4, a week before the second anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Sasahara currently distributes the newspaper when she gives speeches across Japan. She said audience members handle the newspaper delicately and take it home.
Sasahara and her colleagues plan to publish the newspaper regularly and are soliciting written contributions.
The address of the Inochi newspaper’s office is: Inochi newspaper editorial desk c/o Sakura Inc., 18-17-5 Kamiezuriko, Kitakami-shi, Iwate Prefecture 024-0071, Japan.
(This article was written by Saiko Nozu and Shu Nomura.)