10 years ago, it was the middle school graduation ceremony for the 15 year old me. If it had been like always, I would have played with my friends and returned home, but for some reason everyone went home without playing. When I was playing a game with my siblings, the earthquake warning sounded on the mobile phones.
When I first heard that sound curiosity was stronger than fear and together with my siblings I laughed and said “What’s that”. But right afterwards, a shaking that I have never experienced before began and I understood what the previous sound meant.
Before I realised it, my body moved on its own and right away together with my siblings I more or less opened the door of the house and my family managed to get outside uninjured.
At this time I realised the importance of disaster drills I did in elementary school.
Even when we were outside, the shaking continued. Parking cars were shaking violently, the windows of the building broke in one movement, the fences of the houses collapsed on the roads and also cars couldn’t move. In my home everything collapsed like the cupboards and various things were broken.
What was truly hard, was what happened afterwards. Because of the collapsing of the roads, it came to troubles with the food supply and the food vanished from conbinis and supermarkets. Also, when the explosion of the nuclear plant and the tsunami was shown on TV, there was a lot of anxiety and I thought “What will happen in the future?”
10 years since then. When I see “3.11” on March 11, I will remember this for sure.
Since coming to Tokyo at the age of 18, I wasn’t able to give something back to Fukushima, but after moving to Tokyo for the first time I was involved as a choreographer in the Great Northeastern Japan earthquake event “Fukkonsai” that is held in Fukushima every year. At this time, I once again understood that there are many people from Fukushima and from outside the prefecture who make an effort to support the reconstruction to enliven Fukushima. At the same time as feeling the significance of the earthquake through those people, I also realised that there are some places where the reconstruction hasn’t been completed yet, that there are people who still live in temporary housing and I saw that temporary housing with my own eyes. I came to understand that while I didn’t notice it had calmed down inside of me, it was still the same as before.
The damage caused by rumors is not as extreme as it was back then, but I still feel that we might be still not as accepted as we used to be.
During my Highschool years when there was a lot of damage caused by rumours because of the nuclear plant. I still often remember the one time when I boarded a Shinkansen from Fukushima and just accidentally touching a seat a little with my bag, was regarded as if something harmful touched them and it was whipped right in front of my eyes. There might be people who think of that as something impossible, but back then the image from Fukushima had become that bad.
Since then I’m working while searching for something that I could do. I think “if I become famous, I will make Fukushima’s image better” and I want to convey “Fukushima is such a good place”. Also, the feeling has become strong that I want to be helpful with the reconstruction.
What I can do is still limited, but if there are people who pay attention to my essay and if you learn a little more about Fukushima, I feel like I was able to grow a little since then.
I think if there are people who think it’s been 10 years since the Great Northeastern Japan earthquake already, there are also people who think it’s been only 10 years since the Great Northeastern Japan earthquake. However, even after 10 years have passed, there are still a lot of things we can do now. Of course, you can say that not only regarding Fukushima but also for the victims of various other places and disaster areas.
I think that we can understand and support each other a little more just by knowing even a bit about the disaster areas and doing what we can do even if it is small and just thinking about it. Furthermore, I myself also would like to continue to do what I can for my hometown and beloved Fukushima.
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