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My story goes back to June of last year, just three months after the disaster. At the time, I was serving as the Ambassador of Japan to Ivory Coast, a position that also covered Togo. President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo was to pay an official visit to Japan. I was asked to come back to Tokyo to accompany him during his trip to Japan. In a series of official events, President Gnassingbe had an audience with His Majesty the Emperor and had a bilateral talk with Prime Minister Kan. After that, he went to an evacuation shelter in Saitama. He met those who lost their home by the disaster and expressed his sympathy to them. He distributed T-shirts to raise the spirits of the victims.
Then, President Gnassingbe turned to me and said hesitantly,
�gAfter meeting the survivors, I have a strong desire to visit the disaster area and see the damage with my own eyes. I am supposed to visit
Kyoto this weekend, but could I change my schedule to visit the disaster area instead?�h
At the end of his trip to Japan, President Gnassingbe was scheduled to visit Kyoto. He was to experience Japan�fs history and culture. I felt that while this sudden schedule change might be troublesome for the temples and tea houses, where people were waiting for President Gnassingbe, it was very important to allow him to visit the disaster area. For President, there would be other opportunities to visit Kyoto. However, now was the only chance to see the devastation firsthand. The officials who had arranged the schedule in Kyoto, including arrangement of our bullet train tickets, hired cars, and other preparations understood the President�fs wish, and re-arranged the schedule for our new destination. In spite of the sudden change in plans, the town of Watari in Miyagi Prefecture accepted our visit.
We arrived in Sendai station and went by car to Watari with Mayor Kunio Saito. As far as the eye could see were homes and fields destroyed by the tsunami. Only the foundations of houses remained. Trees had been pulled up by their roots. We found fishing boats and train cars washed up and flipped over in unexpected places. Telephone poles had been snapped like wooden chopsticks and the rebar inside had been ripped out by the currents. This awful scene continued as we drove on and on through the vast field. The power of nature was unimaginable.
President Gnassingbe was speechless at the site of the destruction. However, he wasn�ft just shocked by the sight of nature�fs power. Throughout the devastated area, we saw construction equipment that I thought must have come from all over Japan. A huge number of diggers, bulldozers, and cranes were pressing forward with the clean-up efforts. Countless dump trucks were busily going back and forth like a line of ants. The debris was separated and sorted into huge piles several hundred feet tall. One pile was for scrap wood, one for concrete rubble, one for steel girders. There was even a pile just for wrecked cars.
President Gnassingbe said to me,
�gIt hasn�ft even been three months since the disaster, and the clean-up has already progressed so far. Moreover, it�fs being done in a systematic and orderly manner. Even after this disaster, the people of Japan didn�ft give up. They immediately began reconstruction with all their energy. I am amazed at resilience of the Japanese people.�h
We then went to Arahama fishing port. Mr. Shinetsu Kikuchi (Chairman, Miyagi Prefecture Fishing Cooperative Watari Branch; Currently President of the Miyagi Prefecture Fishing Cooperative) received us there. That port was once one of the major suppliers of live fish to Tokyo. However, the port we saw was mostly buildings that had been unthinkingly destroyed. Only the ruins of the breakwater and the wharf remained. Other than us, not a soul was to be seen. There was not one fishing boat floating in the harbor. The surface of the water was still, and only the afternoon sun dazzled overhead.
A public announcement started, and sirens rang out. President Gnassingbe, Mayor Saito, Mr. Kikuchi and I all lined up and prayed silently. That was June 11th. Exactly three months earlier, the tsunami had rushed onto land.
Mr. Kikuchi told us what happened on that day. He remained in the harbor until the very end, and escaped to the top floor of a reinforced concrete building. Just beneath where he stood, the tsunami enveloped the building. Although the interior was completely destroyed, the top floor was spared. He escaped by the skin of his teeth. His life was saved, but his means as a fisherman were completely lost. His boat, the port, the facility to process and ship fish, were all gone.
�gAll of the boats were washed ashore on the tsunami,�h
Mr. Kikuchi said, pointing at the empty warfs.
�gBut fortunately, nearly all of my fellow fishermen survived. Without boats, nothing can be done, so we dragged one boat from land back to the water.�h
He said the fishermen alone have combined their strength to move the boats. He and his team decided not to ask the authority for help, because cranes and the like were needed now to move the accumulated rubble.
�gJust yesterday, we finally went fishing on that boat,�h
he said, gesturing with his right hand,
�gWe could fish! We caught five flounder.�h
Smiling broadly, Mr. Kikuchi seemed elated.
President Gnassingbe, standing right beside me, was deeply impressed and said in an interview with a local newspaper who accompanied us,
�gI was very surprised at the strength of the people here in this devastated area. They are facing this great difficulty, but they are not grieving over their misfortune. They have already started to think about what to do next, and move forward to the future!�h
We went back to Tokyo. The next day, on the way to Haneda International Airport, where the President was scheduled to take a special flight back to Togo, he said to me,
�gI thought I�fd regret not going to Kyoto where I�fd been hoping to visit for a while. But now I am sure that I made the right choice to visit the devastated area. I thought that I would see misery and sadness in the devastated area. However, what I found were people working hard toward reconstruction. People who believe in their future!�h
He added,
�gWhen I return to Togo, I will tell this story to the people of my country and also tell them 'Work with hope toward the future, like the Japanese people!'�h
Hearing these words from the President, I was very proud of the Japanese people.
I told this story in my speech at the ceremony commemorating the one year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The President�fs words made me aware that the Japanese people are looking toward the future. Each one of the Japanese people opened his or her eyes to his or her own real strength after experiencing the huge disaster. Young people learned the value of volunteer activities and the importance of solidarity. It will become Japan�fs driving force toward the future.
�gJapan will rebuild itself as a truly strong country!�h
With this remark, I concluded my speech.
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