It's been a bit weird this last week. I've returned from Ishinomaki-shi and have been sitting in the office. My spring trip was strange to say the least. Two friends and I traveled from Miyazaki--> Tokyo----->Ishinomaki, Miyagi-ken and then back. First was the plane to Tokyo which had terrible turbulence and arrived in the late afternoon of the first day. We then caught the overnight bus which was super luxurious, but sadly, was still too small for me. No sleep for me..T-T. Met some awesome people going to the same program at the station. Before we came we decided on It's Not Just Mud (INJM) to work with. They have a reliable program and don't make you go to an orientation. We were promptly picked up and taken to the INJM housing. It's cozy and everyone works together to get things done. Then we were rushed off to start work. It was about an hour drive to our place of work and the word of the day was....WAKAME!! It's a kind of seaweed with three parts. A stalk, feather soft pieces, and the swirled root part. First you had to separate the spiraled pieces from the stalk. The spirals were then cut off the short stalk and collected in giant water bins. The stalks and soft pieces are then cooked/steamed until soft and dark green. The final step is cutting and peeling off the softest pieces from the stalk. These parts and worth the most and are the most difficult to get. We did this for TWO days!! It was fun, but my hands and face stung with salt water. We met lots of people who were affected by tsunami and we saw the destruction first hand. In many places you could still see the water lines on the buildings, and where the salt has killed the trees and plants.
Day 3 was gutter shoveling. In Japan gutters and large stones covering tunnels alongside the road. Each block has a small hole to let the water in. We removed the blocks and dug out the tons of mud and stuff that has been lodged in there for years. We founds many things including personal items, garbage, mud, shells, and lots of glass. We dug all day and then moved the bags to our starting place.
Day 4 We were in the same area as before but this time we just scoured the land picking up anything man made. From far away the ground just looks grey and deserted, but up close its a treasure trove of things that shouldn't be there. Foam, glass, roof tiles, toys, debris, shells, and much more. We found jewerly, house doors, electrical lines, and wallets. When they demolished what was left of houses they flattened the group with plows, crushing everything into the dirt. It was our job to remove it all. After work that day Yannick took us on a tour of the worst parts of the city. The first thing is notice is the already sparse housing becomes non-exsisting. Everything is gone and what left is in bad shape. There is a large bridge spanning the river and on both sides of it are giant car grave yards filled with cars that look new and some that are smashed flat. Pressed against the hill was a school that was hit bad by the incoming waves. The water filled this area quickly and smashed cars against the school where they then leaked gasoline. The school then caught fire. There are lots of sad things here, but the town is doing its best to keep up with everyday life. がんばぺ！！
Day5 The last day and we went to temporary housing almost 1.5 hours away. It was a school on a giant hill that HAD been damaged by the tsunami. Even though we drove so long inland, the water had rushed along the river spilling out onto the flat farm lands. Most of the land is now unfarmable due to being salty and sandy. There's no money to fix any of it. At the school we made lots of food for the families and children. We made sanwiches and inari zushi for everyone. Older people were learning how to tie bento boxes while we played with the children. All of the students wanted hugs. I carried a 4 year of girl around who would not let go. She was like a little koala and super sweet. Muqing as usual was chasing the students about while they slung insults at her rapid fire. Including calling her luffy and sanji from onepiece. There were some first grade girls that wanted piggy back rides all day long. We left that day exhausted and happy we could meet so many great people.
Everyday in Ishinomaki we went to a fabulous onsen that was always packed with people. We ended each onsen trip with ice cream and Q10 drinks. Dinner was amazing too! I'm not terrible at cooking, but I make extremely bland food. Always have, but the food here was awesome and super flavorful. I ate too much each night and slept really well even though it was super cold. One night it even snowed. The worst though, was the two earthquakes that happened while we were there. I have only felt one quake in Nichinan but there were two in three days there. The first was 15 seconds and a level 5, the second was a 7 and lasted about a minute. It was scary to be in an area devastated by quakes and just be sitting there enjoying dinner. Everyone just went about their business as usual.
The last day we got the night bus again and I actually slept this time. Our goal was to go to Tsukiji fish market, but we arrived too late. We got in at 5am and decided instead to get some fresh sashimi. from Daiiwa. It had a twenty minute line but we ate the best sushi I have EVER eaten. The tuna was amazing! It didn't even look like fish, and we got a full set for about 30Usd. Caught our plane from Haneda and arrived back in Miyazaki at 12:00.
