In the midst of unusual darkness

Today I came back from a short trip around Tohoku region which devastatingly suffered from the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami.

It just took my breath, as soon as I entered lower area of Iwate pref, especially around Kamaishi, more than half of houses and buildings were not where they were.

The sudden change of daily living scenery, for both visitors and residents, is too obvious and too complicated, to be described by words.

An old lady said, "I became stronger because of the things happened."

Before the EQ, she was about to quit her food store and enjoy her later life.

However, completely unexpected disaster changed the direction of her life completely.

Her shop became critical point of food source for locals right after EQ.

Even after a year has passed, the shop has been crucial to local people who are mostly old and not capable of moving around too far.

"Now I can't quit this shop."

There were some glitters of hope in her eyes.

It's often said

"What would you do if you lost everything like them?"

When I first heard of this question, I vaguely answered in my mind that I would probably feel devastated.

But the reality happening in this one of the most devastated place in the world is different from my hypothesis.

People are alive, they are really discharging their energy and encouraging each other, appreciating all supports they've got from outside their places.

It was me who's got cheered up.

I'll head off there again, in summer.