When he's not busy filming and has time on his hands, acclaimed "Last Samurai" actor Ken Watanabe has another starring role: being behind the counter and serving meals to customers at his K-port cafe.
Watanabe, 59, opened the cafe-cum-shop-cum-event space in Kesennuma in late 2013 to show his affection for the city in Miyagi Prefecture that was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The actor said he wanted to do something positive to help the locals, and hopes that K-port will shine like a beacon in the stricken community.
Despite his filming schedule, Watanabe still finds the time to fax a handwritten letter of support to the cafe almost every day.
The actor sat down for an interview with The Asahi Shimbun to explain how he is trying to raise spirits in quake-hit areas but also talk about challenges facing Fukushima Prefecture, site of a nuclear disaster triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, in light of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Born in 1959 in Niigata Prefecture, Watanabe's most memorable roles were in “The Last Samurai,” “Ashita no Kioku” (Memories of Tomorrow) and “Shizumanu Taiyo” (The Never-Setting Sun), among other films.
He will also act in “Fukushima 50,” a movie depicting the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 power plant that will hit theaters in 2020.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
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I work at my eatery at least once a month when I'm in Japan. When I cannot go there, I write messages with a brush and send them via fax almost every day.
I do this because I want to show that I remember K-port and Kesennuma at least once a day. I want others to know that I think of them wherever I am in the world.
I develop the meals on the menu myself. The most popular is a bowl featuring rice and slices of fresh fish, which is also served to staff.
Half of the bowl using chunks of fish should be eaten with the egg yolk and gochujang-based sauce, while the remaining half should be consumed with “dashi” stock, like an “ochazuke” rice-based meal.
I did not open K-port out of a feeling of pity. Basically, we are entertainers. We want to do something to make people smile and relax.
I continue frequenting there, not out of sorrow or pain that I suffered initially, but out of a desire to convert such feelings into pleasure, fun and smiles.
I believe it is high time we stopped emphasizing reconstruction (of the Tohoku region) and started seeking things that are enjoyable to everyone.
Huge earthquakes hit Kumamoto Prefecture and Hokkaido after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster, which shows there are quake-hit regions outside (Tohoku).
I think it's time for those in Tohoku to stop considering themselves and their hometowns alone as victims of a natural disaster and begin creating places to share pleasure and happiness.
I have met many people in the quake-devastated areas.
Kenichi Murakami, 69, the owner of the Fukuyoshi restaurant across the harbor from K-port, has long been famous among locals. Fukuyoshi is an “izakaya” pub that serves Japan’s most delicious broiled fish.
After his restaurant was swamped by the tsunami, he invited me to his home. His house is equipped with as nice an “irori” sunken hearth as that of Fukuyoshi, and he roasted fish over charcoal for me. I was moved by the tasty fish.
Murakami, while drinking, spoke passionately of his lifestyle and how he and those around him live, as well as why they live near the sea.
It may be overstepping the mark to call him a friend, but he is a great forerunner to me. He is like a big brother in Kesennuma.
SHOCKING SCALE OF DEVASTATION
I was aboard an aircraft when the earthquake struck. I had no sense of what it was really like as I did not experience the seismic vibrations.
I only grasped the scale of the disaster on my return to Japan. I felt strongly that I had to do something.
Six weeks after the disaster, I started touring evacuation shelters with relief goods in the hope I could help people feel better.
I spoke to victims, stared at their faces, massaged their backs and held their hands. I spent five days and four nights there on that trip.
I remember feeling dispirited when I left, as it was so hard to come to terms with their deep feelings of sorrow.
The view of Minami-Sanriku (in Miyagi Prefecture) was so shocking. There was really nothing there.
Although the media kept referring to mountains of debris, I could not see things that way. Various things used in daily life were washed ashore and dumped there by the tsunami.
Is it right to refer to such things as debris? I felt a sense of destiny about the fact that we live in this era.
CHALLENGES OF FUKUSHIMA
Challenges still remain in some regions. For example, Fukushima.
I hope people can still recall all those black plastic bags full of contaminated soil piled up along arterial highways.
Younger generations and families with children have yet to return to Fukushima. The reality is that many people who left their hometowns will never be able to return.
I'm currently filming “Fukushima 50,” which depicts the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. To play the character of Masao Yoshida (who was the head of the Fukushima plant and died in 2013), I pondered what I felt at the time and what challenges he was struggling to address then.
The accident was a reality of the near past and was a terrible tragedy. We should never forget it.
I am concerned that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are being exploited only for economic purposes, even though the Games were originally designed to promote the recovery of disaster-hit regions.
The Games were initially organized to show the world how Japan is able to recover from natural disasters, but I feel that only the economic effects are currently taken into account. In other words, the event only promotes Tokyo, and Tohoku is being left behind.
Residents (of Tohoku) may view the Games as somebody else’s affair in a distant country.
There are many things people outside of the quake-affected areas can do. They can contribute to those regions through the “furusato nozei” hometown tax contribution system, buy local specialties from disaster-stricken areas, and of course, make donations.
But the most significant thing, I believe, is sharing empathy.
It is said that a huge earthquake will hit Japan again in the near future. We must consider the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
Now is the time for everyone to think--even just a bit--of how to simplify their lives, such as changing from current electricity-dependent lifestyle. It is not good to abruptly shut down (power-consuming equipment), but there is still much waste to be slashed.