ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--Once or twice each month, Masaaki Narita dives into the sea to search for anything related to his only daughter who was swept away in the tsunami four years ago.
ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--Once or twice each month, Masaaki Narita dives into the sea to search for anything related to his only daughter who was swept away in the tsunami four years ago.
So far, Narita, a 58-year-old resident of this coastal city, has found no remains or belongings of Emi, who was 26 when she disappeared.
“I think it is far more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack, but I cannot give up because my daughter is the most precious thing for me and my wife,” said Narita, who obtained a diving license in July last year. “I still wonder if I had done anything wrong that would make me deserve to lose such a precious thing.”
He is not alone in his search. Others who lost loved ones in the 2011 disaster and their supporters are also on undersea missions to bring about some sense of closure.
Among all municipalities hit by the tsunami on March 11, 2011, Ishinomaki had the most casualties, with about 4,000 killed or missing.
The Narita family’s home was destroyed in the tsunami. In their new residence in Ishinomaki, a life-size portrait of a smiling Emi, drawn last September by a professional painter, has been placed in the living room.
“We still want to live with Emi at the center of my family,” said Narita’s wife, Hiromi.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake rocked the area and generated the tsunami, Emi and 13 colleagues at 77 Bank’s Onagawa branch in the neighboring town of Onagawa fled to the roof.
But the towering tsunami engulfed the entire building, killing four people and leaving Emi and eight others missing.
Narita later learned about Yasuo Takamatsu, who had been searching for his wife, Yuko, in waters off Onagawa. Yuko was one of Emi’s colleagues at the bank.
Takamatsu, 58, who still searches for Yuko, told Narita that he would also look for Emi during his dives.
That determination prompted Narita to increase his own efforts to find his daughter. After obtaining his diving license, Narita now regularly joins the undersea searches by victims’ families.