Eideard

At age 39, Yoshiaki Suda, the new mayor of this town that was destroyed by last March’s tsunami, oversees a community where the votes, money and influence lie among its large population of graying residents. But for Onagawa to have a future, he must rebuild it in such a way as to make it attractive to those of his generation and younger.

“That’s the most difficult problem,” Mr. Suda said. “For whom are we rebuilding?”

The reconstruction of Onagawa and the rest of the coast where the tsunami hit is a preview of what may be the most critical test Japan will face in the decades ahead. In a country where power rests disproportionately among older people, how does Japan, which has the world’s most rapidly aging population, use its dwindling resources to build a society that looks to the future as much as to the past…?

So after the tsunami destroyed all 15 of the fishing villages that make up part of Onagawa, Nobutaka Azumi, then the mayor, proposed a reconstruction plan that seemed sensible enough: consolidate the villages. Having just a few centralized communities would save the town money, Mr. Azumi said, and perhaps increase their chances of long-term survival.

But the village elders fought back, saying they wanted the government to rebuild their ancestral villages so that they could spend their last years there. Younger residents, many of whom supported consolidation but were vastly outnumbered, were left grumbling among themselves.

After the mayor persisted, he was pushed out of office by Mr. Suda, who was backed by opponents of consolidation. Mr. Suda now says that all the villages will be rebuilt, including a hamlet with just 22 inhabitants and an island village whose residents are on average 74 years old.

“There were 15 locations, so there will be 15 locations,” Mr. Suda said. “We’re moving forward under the premise that there will be no centralization, though I’m thinking of asking them one last time if this is really O.K., whether their young relatives are in agreement.”

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Poems about the Japanese tsunami were among the winners at the country’s annual Imperial Palace poetry contest. Emperor Akihito and his family attended a ceremony in Tokyo, where the 10 winning poems were read aloud.

One winner, a 72-year-old tailor, wrote of his relief upon learning his son was safe after three days of uncertainty when an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan last March.

The theme for this year’s traditional five-line tanka contest was “shore”.

A tanka is an older form of poetry than the more well-known haiku, and follows a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7…

Never able to
Turn it back,
This reality
Feels so heavy on my shoulders,
Along this coastal path.

By Yueko Sawabe

The imperial family also offered their poems for the event. One of Emperor Akihito’s verses expressed his sorrow and horror in watching the dark waves of the rolling tsunami on TV news footage.

Next year’s theme has been announced as “stand up”, which could inspire poems of hope in a recovering Japan.

Bravo. I could see Obama sponsoring a poetry contest.

The next Republican in the White House – hopefully not in my remaining years – will probably have a contest for badges required for dissenters to wear in public. As part of the Patriot [sic] Act.

The first of a line of 17,300 cherry trees are at the high-water mark of the tsunami that devastated the north-east of Japan on March 11.

A citizens’ group from Tohoku came up with the idea of planting the trees every 10 metres along the 173 km of the coastline that was most seriously affected by the tsunami, which in places reached a height of more than 40 metres.

Cherry trees have long been seen as a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life and are commonly used in Japanese art, anime and film, but the volunteers who began planting the trees in the devastated town of Rikuzentakata on Sunday hope they will serve a different purpose.

In previous centuries, survivors of a major tsunami placed stone markers at the high-water mark. Those markers have since been forgotten or covered with undergrowth, leaving the people of the Tohoku region with no indicator of how far inland they needed to move when the magnitude-9 earthquake struck off the coast on March 11.

By planting distinctive cherry trees, the volunteers hope that more lives can be saved next time disaster strikes in this part of Japan. “It is our responsibility to preserve the memory of the great tsunami for future generations,” Takumi Hashizume, the leader of the Cherry Line 311 Action Committee, told the Kyodo news agency. “I don’t want people in the future to suffer the same pain.

Smart. Memorable. Easy to point out to future generations.

A Japanese company has developed a miniature version of Noah’s ark in case Japan is hit by another massive earthquake and tsunami – a floating capsule that looks like a huge tennis ball.

Engineering company Cosmo says its “Noah” shelter is made from enhanced fibreglass and could save users from disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March that devastated Japan’s northern coast and left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

The company’s president, Shoji Tanaka, said the capsule could hold four adults and had survived many crash tests…

The company said it had completed the capsule earlier this month and had received 600 orders.

We could just add this as yet another transition for disaster companies in the United States that started out with fallout shelters – then moved on to tornado shelters. This would be a natural except the likelihood of tsunamis on either coast isn’t exactly as frequent as Japan and other island nations along the Pacific’s fiery rim.

An anonymous donor has left a wad of cash worth $131,000 in a public toilet in Japan, with instructions it be used to help victims of the March earthquake and tsunami…

A plastic shopping bag, containing 10 million yen, was found on September 22 in a toilet for disabled people in the city hall of Sakado, a commuter town north of Tokyo, a city official told AFP.

The city will give the money to the Japanese Red Cross if the anonymous donor doesn’t reclaim it within three months, city spokeswoman Masumi Sekiguchi said.

She said a hand-written note was attached to the cash, reading: “I’m all alone. I have no future so let the people in Tohoku use it.”

Tohoku is the country’s northeast region devastated by the catastrophe that killed 20,000 people and triggered an emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

“There was no witness to the act and we cannot guess what kind of person has been involved,” she said. “We were really surprised. We also feel thankful for such kindness.”

The kind of person was an ordinary human being. Someone guided more by kindness than greed. Someone guided more by love for fellow human beings than gold.

An ordinary human being.

Tomoharu and Miki Saito

Ceremonies to celebrate divorces have gained momentum in Japan after the massive March earthquake and tsunami, followed by an ongoing nuclear crisis, caused unhappy couples to reassess their lives.

The ceremony to mark a couple’s transition to being single again costs 55,000 yen, includes a buffet meal and culminates with the ritual smashing of their wedding rings with a gavel.

Tomoharu Saito, who took part in Tokyo with his wife Miki days before they were set to file for divorce, said crushing the rings felt cathartic…

The ceremony also includes a “divorce dress,” and Miki Saito chose a daisy-yellow summer dress. In Japan, daisies are believed to symbolize an “amicable or platonic relationship.”

Designer Akiue Go said he created the dress with emphasis on the back for a specific reason.

“I designed this dress so the woman’s back looks the most beautiful when she turns around and walks away,” he said.

Hiroki Terai, a 31-year-old former salesman, spotted a gap in the market and pioneered the divorce ceremony two years ago. Since then, he’s celebrated more than 80 breakups.

Requests for the ceremony have tripled since the March 11 9.0 magnitude quake set off a massive tsunami.

“The March 11 disaster made many couples rethink their priorities. Some found that work was a higher priority to them than family, and this helped people gain the confidence to decide on a divorce,” Terai said.

“Those who want an amicable divorce are doing these ceremonies.”

All my divorces were amicable. I think one of them even resulted in a celebration.

But, then, I finally found the right woman for me.

Wen Jiabao, Naoto Kan and Lee Myung-bak at evacuation center in Fukishima City
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea publicly munched on farm produce grown near the stricken Japanese nuclear plant on Saturday in a show of solidarity with Japan’s recovery efforts.

Premier Wen Jiabao of China and President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea arrived in Japan on Saturday for a two-day meeting that was expected to focus on resolving differences over Japan’s handling of the nuclear crisis.

China and South Korea have criticized Japan for spilling radiation into the air and sea, and have banned imports of farm products from areas near the plant, citing what they call inadequate checks for radiation. Japan says the restrictions are unjustified.

Before the meeting began in Tokyo on Saturday night, the Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, took the leaders to visit a refugee shelter in Fukushima, 40 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Before entering the shelter, a converted gymnasium, Mr. Kan steered the group to a table displaying strawberries, cucumbers and other produce grown in Fukushima Prefecture.

The leaders, who did not appear to have been surprised by the photo op, smiled and nibbled gamely. “Very delicious,” Mr. Wen said…

Before meeting Mr. Kan, the two visiting leaders also paid separate visits to the city of Natori, which was devastated by the tsunami.

“The warm feelings of the two leaders came through in their visits to disaster areas and an evacuation center,” Mr. Kan told reporters. “I’m glad they came.”

No doubt import restrictions to China and South Korea will be reduced following this meeting. The interesting bits will be – what else is resolved over the weekend?

The earthbound disaster has pushed Japan’s economy into an artificial recession. Individual Japanese corporations have started working their way out of the context of parts suppliers and individual enterprises both being handicapped by the damage to physical plant and infrastructure. Collective effort will be welcomed – no doubt – to aid Japan’s recovery.

Buy your genuine survival shelters here!

Police in Taiwan are investigating a self-proclaimed prophet whose doomsday warnings on a blog have caused panic.

The man, identifying himself as Teacher Wang, said Taiwan would be struck by a magnitude-14 earthquake and 560ft high tsunami on 11 May.

More than 100 cargo containers have been bought and set up in a mountainous area of central Taiwan. Police said they were investigating if the blogger had conspired with a container business to defraud people.

“Teacher Wang” suggested people live in such containers to survive the disaster, which he said would kill millions of people and split the island in half.

Taiwan’s famous Taipei 101 skyscraper and the Presidential Office building would be toppled, he warned.

More than 100 cargo containers have been discovered in the town of Puli, Nantou county. Workers had been hired to fit them with doors, windows and air conditioning, says the BBC’s Cindy Sui in Taipei. The containers cost about $5,500 each, once water and electricity are included, our correspondent adds…

Officials say Japan’s recent devastating quake and tsunami may have led fraudsters to exploit people’s fears.

The police have not been able to trace “Teacher Wang“, who had touted his theory to TV reporters but insisted his face not be shown.

The authorities have removed his doomsday warnings from the internet.

The best – which means most profitable – doomsday preachers have learned to be less explicit and focus disaster scenarios which have happened previously. To Nervous Nellies that sounds reasonable enough to get the juices flowing – along with the dollars.

Cars, tractors, boats and the occasional entire house have been spotted floating on the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the aftermath of the March 11 Japanese tsunami triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

The largest “island” of debris stretches 60 nautical miles (69 miles) in length and covers an expanse of more than 2.2 million square feet, according to the US Navy’s 7th Fleet, which is closely monitoring the floating rubbish.

“It is very large and it’s a maritime hazard,” Lieutenant Anthony Falvo, deputy public affairs officer for the US Navy’s 7th Fleet, told the Daily Telegraph. “The damage it can cause is anything from piercing the hull of a ship to leaving dents or getting wrapped up in propulsion systems.”

Experts have reportedly estimated that it could take up to two years for the floating tsunami debris to hit Hawaii and three years for the West Coast.

The US navy is currently working with civilian construction companies from Japan on attempts to start removing the floating debris from the ocean.

We look forward to American media coverage of the landing of the debris from this disaster on our shores. Sensationalism never misses a chance at the ghastly. Fox News probably has someone already stationed on the coast watching for bodies.

A dog rescued off the Japanese coast floating on top of a house is on her way back to her owner Monday.

The dog wagged its tail and jumped up to a woman described by local media as a relative of the owner as she collected her to deliver back to her family for what promises to be a warm reunion.

It turns out the lucky dog’s name is “Ban,” and she was originally living in Kessenuma before being separated from her master after the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent fire that swept through the coastal village…

An employee at the Miyagi Animal Care Center told CNN by phone that the owner had been staying in a temporary relocation center in Sendai since being evacuated from Kessenuma.

The 50-year-old man reportedly recognized Ban after footage of the brown and black dog was shown being hugged by Japanese rescue workers while being unloaded from a boat in Shiogama Port this past Friday.

Japanese Coast Guard teams had spotted Ban during a helicopter patrol over debris fields nearly two kilometers off shore. When a patrol boat got the hungry and shivering dog, they found no identification on her other than a brown collar.

Best news I’ve read, today.

Regular readers of this blog know how I feel about the importance, positive effects of humans and their companion relationship with other animals. Fortunately – for our species – I think most people feel that way.