RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture--A memorial pen made from branches of the “
RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture--A memorial pen made from branches of the “
The fountain pen, produced by German luxury writing instruments and jewelry maker Montblanc, was commissioned by the city of Rikuzentakata, which was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
It will go on sale on March 11, the fourth anniversary of the disaster.
During a news conference in the city on Feb. 25, Montblanc International CEO Jerome Lambert said that while Europe is geographically far from Tohoku, its people are always with the disaster victims in spirit.
The company will donate 20 percent of the earnings to the city to help with reconstruction efforts.
The so-called miracle pine tree was the only one among 70,000 pine trees in the famed Takata Matsubara forest to survive the more than 13-meter-high tsunami waves.
It became a much-needed symbol of hope for victims of the disaster, but it later died due to saline contamination from the seawater.
However, in a project that cost 150 million yen, the city preserved the tree in July 2013 by inserting a pole through the trunk.
It then asked Montblanc to make memorial products using the tree’s discarded branches so that they would not go to waste.
The company manufactured the memorial pen in Germany, using the pine tree in its body and cap. An engraving on the writing tool reads “Rikuzentakata 11/03/2011.”
A total of 113 pens will be sold to commemorate the date of the disaster.
Rikuzentakata Mayor Futoshi Toba noted that the pine tree was among the few things that gave residents hope in the desperate days following the disaster.
“With Montblanc’s support, we hope this memorial pen will help people around the world understand the disaster,” Toba said.