On April 9th (Saturday) and 10th (Sunday), 2022, an event was held in Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture, involving site visits and interviews related to the town's reconstruction. Through encounters and interactions with many people from Minamisanriku Town, the event provided two days for each participant, both from within and outside the town, to reflect on Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent reconstruction. This article will share what we saw of Minamisanriku Town "now" and the state of the town through the event, and we hope that as many people as possible who read this article will be inspired to actually visit Minamisanriku.
INDEX
Industries that will revitalize Minamisanriku
■ Oiyoshi Kamaboko Shop
Oizen Shoten, a long-established company founded in 1880 that manufactures and sells "Oizen Kamaboko," had its factory in town swept away by the tsunami during Great East Japan Earthquake. After that, they quickly resumed operations at a temporary factory in Tome City, which is adjacent to the town, and six years after the earthquake, they built a new factory at their current location (Iriya district in town). The new factory is not in danger of being swept away by tsunamis, and various measures have been taken to protect against animals and insects, as well as to ensure that employees can work comfortably. The Oizen Kamaboko factory has also been equipped with a tour route, and it is said that children often visit it on school field trips. Since its founding, Oizen Shoten had focused its strategy on souvenirs, but in response to the decline in tourists due to the recent spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), they have started a new challenge.
Adding new value to souvenirs
"Sendai's famous confection, 'Hagi no Tsuki,' can be stored at room temperature for about 10 days. If kamaboko (fish cake) could also be carried around at room temperature, we could offer new value to our customers," thought President Yoshiya Oikawa. With this in mind, he decided to team up with a rival company and conduct research and development while sharing technology. After much trial and error, they succeeded in making kamaboko without preservatives and in a sterile environment, and succeeded in developing a long-life product that can be carried around at room temperature.
"Kamaboko is a nutritious food high in protein, and it keeps well at room temperature, so it can be sent to disaster-stricken areas," President Oikawa stated emphatically. I was impressed by this idea, which I felt was born from his experience of being affected by Great East Japan Earthquake and overcoming various difficulties. In addition, I was impressed by Oikawa Shoten's active efforts in food education and SDGs.
■Minamisanriku YES Workshop
Minamisanriku YES Kobo is a workshop and shop created by renovating a building that was previously used as a special classroom at the now-closed Iriya Junior High School. It aims to contribute to the utilization and recycling of local forest resources, create new industries and employment opportunities in the town, and foster a place for people to connect. The initiative was started by Tadashi Abe, a town hall employee who took early retirement after Great East Japan Earthquake. Takehiro Omori, a town native who had been working for a company in Tokyo, returned to the town after the earthquake and joined the workshop's activities in 2012, and now serves as Representative of Board of Directors. At Minamisanriku YES Kobo, you'll find a wide variety of handmade products full of love and ideas from everyone working there, including the shop's mascot character "Octopus-kun," warm wooden goods made from locally sourced timber, and silk cocoon crafts.
The world of the company's mascot character, "Octopus-kun," embodies the desire of Representative of Board of Directors Omori to "gently support those who are trying their best." In today's society, where various information is flying around, people sometimes feel that their efforts are in vain, or that being told to "try harder" puts pressure on them. Omori wants to give these people the strength to keep trying by "gently supporting" and "gently watching over" them without pushing them too hard. This worldview was born from Omori's own experience as a member of the last generation of the job-hunting ice age, when job hunting was more difficult than entrance exams.
I want to change the revenue structure of the forestry industry.
"How much do you think a 50-year-old cedar tree, 18 meters tall and 30 centimeters in diameter, would cost? At today's timber market value, it's only 5,000 yen," says Mr. Omori. Despite the fact that properly managed mountains protect towns from disasters, absorb CO2, store water, and are indispensable to our lives, the number of people involved in forestry continues to decline. In today's information society, Mr. Omori and the people at his workshop are adding value to a 5,000-yen tree and getting it to those who want it. They hold wood education workshops to help people learn about mountains and plan and develop various products that make wood feel more familiar. They also hope to increase their recognition as a manufacturing workshop in the future.
I was impressed by how passionately everyone at Minamisanriku YES Kobo and Oizen Shoten is promoting initiatives that are strongly focused on SDGs and contributing to society.
People I met in Minamisanriku
The former deputy mayor and the storyteller who was a high school student at the time.
We spoke with former Deputy Mayor Kenji Endo and storyteller Keiji Sato, who was a Shizugawa High School student at the time, about various events during the earthquake, immediately afterward, and up to the present day. Mr. Endo told us that he "felt firsthand that it is possible to lose everything in an instant." Mr. Sato shared that "his grandfather encouraged him to go to university so that he could gain the skills to work for the town 10 years from now, looking 20 years ahead." The stories of these two men, who were in completely different positions and age groups during and after the disaster, were deeply moving.
Minamisanriku Town has suffered from tsunamis many times throughout its long history, so residents' awareness of and preparedness for disasters were already quite widespread even before Great East Japan Earthquake. Damage forecasts and hazard maps were distributed to every household, and progress was made in strengthening self-defense organizations and registering vulnerable people in times of disaster. The town as a whole had taken considerable measures, such as evacuation route guidance signs and remote control of floodgates. Despite these circumstances, why were so many lives lost? Everyone thought they had responded adequately according to their training, but the earthquake and tsunami struck on a scale far beyond imagination. For example, I heard stories of people who had evacuated to higher ground and were looking out at the sea in relief when they were struck from behind by the tsunami that had surged up the river. Now, standing on higher ground, what unfolds below is a new town where reconstruction has progressed, with raised embankments and rivers neatly maintained. Seeing the town, which looks so different from the pre-earthquake scenery seen in photographs, fills me with an unbearable sadness when I think of the residents who have lived in this area for so long.
Feelings I want to convey
Former Deputy Mayor Endo, having survived a near-fatal tsunami, wants to continue sharing his experience. Sato, who was a high school student at the time, believes that her generation must lead the recovery and future development of Minamisanriku. I was deeply impressed by how each of them, in their respective positions and roles, thought about Minamisanriku, its residents, and visitors, and shared their stories with us.
(Design: PACIFIC CONSULTANTS and Kengo Kuma & Associates Design Joint Venture)
We will report on the events of the second day in the next article.
