Banner image - Akiko Iwasaki welcoming me back to the Houraikan hotel after my 300+ kms solo hike from Kesennuma to Unosumai, Oct 2024
IN SEARCH OF RESILIENCE ON THE NE JAPAN COAST
As both a therapist and a writer I have become deeply interested and connected to stories of recovery and healing in the aftermath of the March 11th 2011 Great East Japan Disaster. Across seven years of visits I have encountered extraordinary and inspiring stories and made deep friendships, and hope to bring those stories of trauma and recovery and hope to my writing, my public speaking in schools and adult settings and to my therapy work. From the radiation recovery area around Fukushima to Unosumai in Iwate, I have been humbled both by the scale of the disaster and associated pain, and by the power of the sense of hope, the sense of humour and even joy that I have found there.
Following the death of my brother, Marcus, in Nov 2022, I knew I had to return to be with some of these inspiring friends and stories, and was led by Akiko-san to the legendary Phone of the Wind in Otsuchi Bay. For the past decade and more countless bereaved family and friends have made their way to this disconnected phone box in a garden overlooking the ocean and made calls to connect themselves to lost loved ones. As part of the research for a forthcoming non-fiction book about the disaster and lessons from the recovery, I decided to solo hike 300+ kms of the Michinoku Coastal Trail along the tsunami inundation coastline. The meetings with old friends, the making of new ones, and the chance to meet Phone of the Wind creator Itaru Sasaki were - I believe - genuinely life-changing.
Above: Akiko Iwasaki welcoming me back to the Houraikan Hotel, Unosumai at the end of my hike. Akiko-san was caught in the tsunami as she sought to help guests on to the hillside behind her hotel. Trapped under wreckage she believed she was dying, but miraculously escaped the grip of the wave - and then sought not just to rebuild the Houraikan, but dedicate herself to the recovery of the whole community. She was a key figure in the campaign to build the Kamaishi Recovery Stadium as part of the efforts to bring the 2019 Rugby World Cup to Japan. Every evening Akiko-san still re-tells the story of the day of the disaster, lessons to be learnt from the tsunami, and radiates joy, goodwill, fun and hope to all.
Below, Kanno Ichiyo of the 'Tsunakan' - Ichiyo-san has had to deal with so much - the tsunami and personal tragedy - and yet radiates an incredible generosity of spirit.
When Kanno Ichiyo and her family survived the 2011 tsunami they must have thought they had faced the worst they could face. Their house - thanks to its concrete foundations - still stood when other neighbouring houses had been washed away and neighbours lost to the tsunami. Even then, their walls and floors were gone, the house wrecked, and all the equipment for their oyster fishing business lost to the water. Students from all over Japan, volunteering in the clean up operation, asked to stay under the intact roof of their house, and Ichiyo and her husband gave shelter to some 500 student volunteers in that first year, building a network of supportive contacts and friends. They opened the house as a minshuku lodging, naming it 'Tsunakan' - a pun on the family name and business that also sounds like Tuna Can…
And then came a second tragedy - Ichiyo-san's husband, daughter and son-in-law were drowned in a fishing accident. After initially being lost in grief, Ichiyo's network rallied around, and Ichiyo became determined to reopen the Tsunakan guest house and connect again. Now she receives visitors from all over Japan and the wider world and embodies an extraordinary joyful resilience. 'I'm living for four people,' she told me, and held her hand to her heart. 'They're right here.'
Menkoi Iwate TV feature on my hike to the Phone of the Wind. In Japanese only!
IN SEARCH OF RESILIENCE ON THE NE JAPAN COAST
As both a therapist and a writer I have become deeply interested and connected to stories of recovery and healing in the aftermath of the March 11th 2011 Great East Japan Disaster. Across seven years of visits I have encountered extraordinary and inspiring stories and made deep friendships, and hope to bring those stories of trauma and recovery and hope to my writing, my public speaking in schools and adult settings and to my therapy work. From the radiation recovery area around Fukushima to Unosumai in Iwate, I have been humbled both by the scale of the disaster and associated pain, and by the power of the sense of hope, the sense of humour and even joy that I have found there.
Following the death of my brother, Marcus, in Nov 2022, I knew I had to return to be with some of these inspiring friends and stories, and was led by Akiko-san to the legendary Phone of the Wind in Otsuchi Bay. For the past decade and more countless bereaved family and friends have made their way to this disconnected phone box in a garden overlooking the ocean and made calls to connect themselves to lost loved ones. As part of the research for a forthcoming non-fiction book about the disaster and lessons from the recovery, I decided to solo hike 300+ kms of the Michinoku Coastal Trail along the tsunami inundation coastline. The meetings with old friends, the making of new ones, and the chance to meet Phone of the Wind creator Itaru Sasaki were - I believe - genuinely life-changing.
Above: Akiko Iwasaki welcoming me back to the Houraikan Hotel, Unosumai at the end of my hike. Akiko-san was caught in the tsunami as she sought to help guests on to the hillside behind her hotel. Trapped under wreckage she believed she was dying, but miraculously escaped the grip of the wave - and then sought not just to rebuild the Houraikan, but dedicate herself to the recovery of the whole community. She was a key figure in the campaign to build the Kamaishi Recovery Stadium as part of the efforts to bring the 2019 Rugby World Cup to Japan. Every evening Akiko-san still re-tells the story of the day of the disaster, lessons to be learnt from the tsunami, and radiates joy, goodwill, fun and hope to all.
Below, Kanno Ichiyo of the 'Tsunakan' - Ichiyo-san has had to deal with so much - the tsunami and personal tragedy - and yet radiates an incredible generosity of spirit.
When Kanno Ichiyo and her family survived the 2011 tsunami they must have thought they had faced the worst they could face. Their house - thanks to its concrete foundations - still stood when other neighbouring houses had been washed away and neighbours lost to the tsunami. Even then, their walls and floors were gone, the house wrecked, and all the equipment for their oyster fishing business lost to the water. Students from all over Japan, volunteering in the clean up operation, asked to stay under the intact roof of their house, and Ichiyo and her husband gave shelter to some 500 student volunteers in that first year, building a network of supportive contacts and friends. They opened the house as a minshuku lodging, naming it 'Tsunakan' - a pun on the family name and business that also sounds like Tuna Can…
And then came a second tragedy - Ichiyo-san's husband, daughter and son-in-law were drowned in a fishing accident. After initially being lost in grief, Ichiyo's network rallied around, and Ichiyo became determined to reopen the Tsunakan guest house and connect again. Now she receives visitors from all over Japan and the wider world and embodies an extraordinary joyful resilience. 'I'm living for four people,' she told me, and held her hand to her heart. 'They're right here.'
Menkoi Iwate TV feature on my hike to the Phone of the Wind. In Japanese only!