Ms. JI (a woman in her 50’s) J.Iさん（５０代）

October 1, 2014 I am more interested in the earth as a whole than humans. On March 11, when the disaster hit, I thought to myself that I was not ready to die, yet. I had to focus on saving myself first then others. It’s so important to have family. You need to believe in your senses and be intuitive and reactive. When I experienced Chilean Earthquake at Nakase, Ishinomaki, I realized that whether having training and education or not can determine your life and death in a split second in a situation like that. I witnessed how women can exhibit superhuman power in an emergency. I climbed over a wall that was 1.5 meter high when the Tsunami came after me. At the instant I saw the huge tide, I thought my life was at stake. Knowing intuitively the situation was serious, I told my car that I was driving “Thank you for the service” and left it there and escaped to the upstairs of a stranger’s house. A man who was standing on the roof of a condominium building saw me and shouted “stay there”. The owner of the house I escaped to, was also trying to find a better place to take refuge. The same man in the condominium invited us into the building and we were saved. It was a perfect timing. Two days later, I crossed the railroad track and headed back to my home. On the way, I exchanged information with the people that I passed by. I thought the entire Ishinomaki had been gone. I felt like I was saved by an invisible forth. I passed my food first to the elderly. The people who lived on a hill opened their homes for refugees. My family members were safe so I thought I need to focus on my workplace first. Women were flexible and prioritized matters need to be attended. Most of my coworkers were women and they improvised and took care of the details using their life skills. They were sanitarily conscious and for an example, came up an idea to use the swimming pool water to flush the toilets. I also cooked meals for the victims at a local school kitchen; using propane gas; asked for vegetable donation from the local farmers and self-defense force crews who were there for relief mission; as well as checking the whereabouts of students (a week after the disaster). I volunteered to handle the task of accepting and managing a number of victims who escaped from the destroyed area including the patients from Japan Red Cross Hospital. I was disappointed in the local township government office for its inefficiency. Two things were important to me then, I first wanted to protect myself, and secondly, I wanted to share the food with the co-workers who lost homes. My focus was to find what I could do to help making things better. I want to enjoy working in my area of expertise. In 2011, to accommodate the demand in the area, I established an NPO which provides a space for children with mental disabilities and autism to learn art. Each student draws different pictures. I get comforted by looking at them. I live my own life, not just copying others. I love the universe, the sky, and living matters. The universe created humans. We maybe are the dewdrops of the universe. I want to fly freely. I have been drawing six-year-old girls. I feel your whole persona is determined during the period from the moment you are born before you turn six years old. I think you are going back to the beginning when you die. When I was a child, I was quiet and didn’t talk at all. I was watching other children from an adult perspective thinking they were all childish and noisy. I have a strong desire to draw now. It recently came to me that “I was born to draw six-years-olds, that’s it!” When I was still not sure about my decision, I took a trip to Hawaii by myself. When I bathed in the abundances of sunshine from the sky, it assured me that I was doing what was right for myself. Having disability is not an unfortunate thing. I value the importance of family and being happy together. You must love yourself. In 2014, I came to many intuitions. Unhappiness in people doesn’t mean to lose things or to die. It is when the negative aspect of human being surfaces, such as betrayal, abandonment, or loneliness without having a warm family. People may feel like giving up in the situation like that. When you try to be a person who are needed by others and live your life truthfully, good things would happen eventually. Under the candle light, the family members came together in one room after being separated with the chaos and felt each other’s warmth. It’s warm to be together. All we need is to stay together. We quartered an orange and shared. I called it happiness. I want to devote myself in drawing for the rest of my life and draw 1,000 pictures before I die. I have full of themes and insights.