Victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami were remembered in somber ceremonies around northeastern Japan a day before the two-year anniversary, with kites flying in the breeze, handmade lanterns lit and "taiko" drums adding poignant touches.
Victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami were remembered in somber ceremonies around northeastern Japan a day before the two-year anniversary, with kites flying in the breeze, handmade lanterns lit and "taiko" drums adding poignant touches.
In Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, trains of 1,896 kites were flown on March 10 to commemorate the same number of victims in the city and adjacent Ofunato.
“Fly up and high,” shouted Chiyomi Kikuchi, 70, who came with her husband, Hideo, 73, from Hanamaki.
Their daughter Reiko, 42, and grandchildren Keito, 8, and Rin, 6, were killed by the tsunami generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011.
Chiyomi said her sorrow has doubled over the past two years rather than ebbed.
The Kikuchis wrote a message on a kite: “Please wait for us in heaven. We will soon join you there. From Grandpa and Grandma.”
A joint memorial was held at the Kichijoji temple in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture.
Touemon Azumaya, 79, lost his wife, Kei, 74. When the temblor hit, he told her to stay home, but their house was swallowed by the tsunami.
“I cannot help but feel regret,” Azumaya said before the altar. “I am still wondering that I might have been able to save her if I had acted differently at that moment.”
A few hundred people living in temporary housing remembered victims before lanterns placed at the former Yuriage Junior High School in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture.
The 3,000 lanterns, handmade by survivors, feature paintings and messages sent in from around the country. About 800 residents were killed or left missing in the Yuriage district.
Bamboo lanterns brought in by a group based in Hyogo Prefecture were also placed in the shape of a kanji character for “kizuna,” or bond.
Matsuko Sato, 61, from Sendai lost her mother, her brother and his wife. “Rest in peace,” she said as she lit three bamboo lanterns.
At the Jifukuji temple in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, residents played “taiko” drums and performed a traditional tiger dance in memory of victims.
Toshihiro Kikuta, 24, who lost his mother and grandparents, took up the drumsticks. He said he and his mother once beat drums together.
“I hope my mother will see me hanging in there and working hard,” Kikuta said.
About 150 parishioners of the temple were killed or left missing.
“We were all discouraged and disheartened, but let us get back on our feet,” chief priest Shuko Katayama, 73, said. “We should not let the disaster be forgotten.”
The town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, held a memorial in Aizu-Wakamatsu in the same prefecture because residents have all evacuated due to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Eleven residents died, and one remains missing. Eighty deaths were attributed to causes related to the disaster.
Images of the town before and after the disaster were shown. Some residents shed tears watching images of a busy shopping street and a “bon” summer dance.
Norio Kimura, 47, lost his wife and father. His younger daughter, who was 7, is still missing. He came with his elder daughter, Mayu, 12, from Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, where they moved.
“I now feel stronger than before that we need to make the reality of the disaster better known and leave lessons from the disaster for future generations,” Kimura said.
Kimie Takahashi, 62, remembered the faces of two girls at a joint memorial service in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture.
The girls, grandchildren of an employee of her husband’s company, were in high school and elementary school when they were killed in the disaster. A total of 12 employees and family members died.
Takahashi has often attended memorial services over the past two years.
“I saw no expressions on their faces in the early days, but smiles have gradually come back,” she said. “I once thought that it was because many people prayed for them, but it may be because I have calmed down.”