RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture--After losing his wife and young daughters in the earthquake and tsunami disaster two years ago, Mitsugu Nitta was inconsolable.
RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture--After losing his wife and young daughters in the earthquake and tsunami disaster two years ago, Mitsugu Nitta was inconsolable.
Overcome with grief, he wept for months on end.
"I thought my life was over," Nitta, 49, said.
It was only in summer 2011, after a chance encounter with a Buddhist priest, that Nitta slowly began to come to grips with his loss.
The priest told him, "You may not be able to see your wife and daughters again, but they will always be by your side."
In the living room of temporary housing where the father and his 11-year-old son Yu now live, 31 photos cover part of a wall.
They show Nitta's wife, Makie, and the couple's daughters, Rin and Rei.
One photo of Rin, who was 6 when she died, shows her giving her all at a kindergarten sports event. Another is of Rei, 4, holding an "onigiri" rice ball. A photo of Makie, 36, shows her compassionately looking at the two girls.
For months after the disaster, Nitta was so distraught he couldn't bear to look at a single picture of his family.
"I would bawl my eyes out whenever I looked at any photos," he said. "I sobbed every day after their bodies were found. I thought I would go crazy."
Nitta's mother died when he was 8 years old. His father, who supervised a crew of carpenters, wept at the loss of his wife.
"That was a shock for me as a child," Nitta said. "Ever since then, I had tried not to cry. I also told my son, 'Men don't cry.'"
Friends of his wife and daughters often visited to offer prayers at the family altar and consolation. Nitta got to thinking that perhaps he ought to have at least a photo of the girls and their mother together on display.
"At first, I put up only one photo, but that made me weep," Nitta said. "I thought that if I displayed more photos, my feelings would change. I started putting them up, but could hardly see what I was doing through my tears."
Nitta realized that no single image could adequately represent the family he had lost, and that only a montage showing each member in a variety of situations would do them justice.
Even though he was overcome with grief, Nitta noticed that his son never seemed to shed a tear. He also felt relieved when he watched Yu playing with other children.
While visiting his mother, Nitta mentioned that Yu never cried. That was when he learned that Yu often broke down when he was in his grandmother's living room.
"I felt terrible because I realized he was bottling things up," Nitta said. "From that time on, I also tried not to openly weep, even when I felt tears welling up."
A turning point occurred in the summer following the disaster when Nitta met a priest from Nagano Prefecture who had visited Rikuzentakata several times to offer consolation to survivors in disaster-stricken areas.
After that meeting, Nitta said he began dreaming about his wife and daughters for the first time after the disaster.
"Rin returned to me, and my wife was there as well," he recalled. "I was so happy, I called out to my wife and told her Rin had come back. I was also able to hold my daughter."
From that day on, Nitta began going to bed earlier because he felt that was the only way to be close to his wife and daughters again.
He was also encouraged to get out more and attend events organized to support disaster victims.
He and his son visited South Korea and Mongolia. They also took in a sightseeing flight from Hanamaki Airport in Iwate Prefecture and a ride aboard a steam locomotive from Ichinoseki in the prefecture.
"I began to think that if we did something enjoyable then Rin, Rei and my wife would also be able to enjoy it," Nitta said.
In their living room, Nitta displays small boots on a keychain that he purchased in Mongolia as a gift for one of his daughters. Other souvenirs from trips elsewhere are also on display.
In a sense, Nitta is partly fulfilling a pledge he made when he married Makie.
"I told her when we got married, 'I will take you anywhere,'" said Nitta. "But the truth is, that has only happened since she died."
Nitta attended a memorial ceremony for disaster victims held in Rikuzentakata on March 10. Afterward, he went to the neighboring town to pay his respects at the graves of his wife and daughters.
"Two years ago, I thought that my life had come to an end," Nitta said. "But, I am still alive. I no longer am afraid of death. That is why I now feel that I should stay positive and keep living."