RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture--Taiga Toba’s mother went missing after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami devastated the city of Rikuzentakata. For many months after the disaster, the boy, then 12, could not talk about her with anyone. Even after he learned that she died in the disaster, Taiga could still not mention his mother and the pain he was feeling. When the tsunami struck, Taiga’s house, which was located in the central area of Rikuzentakata, was swept away. Taiga’s father, Futoshi Toba, the 46-year-old mayor of Rikuzentakata, sent Taiga and his younger brother--10-year-old Kanato--to live with a relative while he stayed in his city government office to supervise rescue and recovery efforts. The whereabouts of his wife, Kumi, 38, were unknown. People around the two boys told them that their mother would be found soon. But Taiga’s little brother could not stop crying About 10 days after the disaster, Taiga’s relative took him to see his father. The mayor wore a days' old stubble beard and work uniform. When he embraced his son, Taiga wept. “Even if we cry, there are things we cannot control,” Toba told his son. “You are the older brother--you must be firm and be strong for the both of you.” Taiga was determined to take his father’s advice to heart. In the next month, Taiga read in a newspaper that his mother’s body had been found and his father confirmed her identity. In May of that year, Taiga began to frequently miss classes at junior high school complaining of a headache as an excuse. A concerned teacher, Takahiro Noguchi, met with the boy but did not ask Taiga about the reasons for his absences or tell him to return to school. One day that summer, Noguchi gave Taiga a ride home in his car, and they talked about the boy’s father. “Your father is working hard, isn’t he?” Noguchi said. Then, the teacher began to talk about his deceased father. “When I face hardships, I ask my father in my heart, ‘What would you do in this case?’ " he told Taiga. “Although he is not living, I feel that I am always supported by him.” Around that time, Toba published a book about his experiences in dealing with the disaster. In the book, he explained why he concealed the death of Kumi from the two boys for six weeks. “The color of her skin had changed to black. My children will say, ‘We want to see Mom.’ But I must not show her to them,” Toba wrote. “I want to keep the image of their beautiful mother in their heart as a treasure of their lives.” When Taiga read the passage, for the first time he understood his father’s silence. When the new school term started in autumn, Taiga stopped skipping classes and returned to his studies. After becoming a second-year student of the junior high school, he joined the basketball club and became hooked in the club's activities. After he became a senior high school student, he recalled his mother in a venue of a basketball competition. The site was where she cheered him on his elementary school days. He felt as if his mother was there telling him, “Do your best.” Taiga is now a 17-year-old second-year senior high school student. His father makes him a “bento” (box lunch) every morning and picks him up each night after his school club activities. In the car, father and son often discuss various things, including their hopes for the future. Taiga’s dad enthusiastically talks about the reconstruction of Rikuzentakata, saying, “I want to create a new town instead of reviving the previous one.” Taiga said when TV news programs talk about the slow pace of reconstruction in Rikuzentakata, he feels as if his father is being blamed. He said he does not want to follow in his father’s footsteps as a politician, but he wants to work to support the future of Rikuzentakata. His dream is to set up his own company in the city after graduating from college.