Standing here in the midst of this
bustling modern street, it's difficult to imagine that this town - the town of
Onagawa - was once on the front line of the tsunami that struck on March 2011
At 2:46 in the afternoon just 15 miles from where i'm standing now a magnitude
9 earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami which swept through the bay and
washed away the entire town. In the space of a few hours the tsunami with waves of
up to 15 metres high destroyed 70% of Onagawa's buildings and claimed the
lives of 827 people, almost 10% of the town's population. Looking at the images
of the aftermath you might easily wonder how the locals here could have possibly
hoped to recover from such a disaster and yet from the debris of the tsunami
Onagawa and many towns along the coastline have not only come on to
quickly recover but gone on to thrive and succeed with a stronger sense of
community and a renewed spirit of entrepreneurship. Seven years have passed
since the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan wreaked havoc upon the
Tohoku coastline, but the echoes of the disaster still live on through the
people whose lives were forever changed by it. I've come to the towns of Onagawa and
Kesennuma and the Tohoku coastline to hear the inspiring stories of those who
are breathing new life into the region. From an eccentric mayor who brought a
town together, to entrepreneurs and even Japan's most famous actor who have
chosen to start new businesses in the region. To the owner of an award-winning
in who tragically lost her family but never stopped looking forward to the
future. Because they are people who have such a
positive mindset about the future I think that there's going to be amazing
things that are going to be happening here going forward. Yosuke Kajiya owns his own workshop
called the "Glide Garage" designing handcrafted luxury guitars. Originally
from the distant island of Tanegashima at the Japanese mainlands southernmost
point Yosuke moved a thousand kilometers north to the town of Onagawa to start his new business. His innovative guitar known as
the "Questrel" is unique for not using any screws or glues, instead using the
same traditional Japanese carpentry techniques used to build shrines and temples, where wood is carefully carved and slotted together. So it doesn't use any screws on the neck joint? No, no screws and no glues. Oh my god so on the back there's no screws, no nothing. And you're the only company in Japan - in the world - who's doing this and using this system? Yes. It was desgined in collaboration with Ken Okuyama, one of Japan's most celebrated industrial designers who previously masterminded
the Enzo Ferrari. So the guy who's designed Ferraris is designing your guitar? Yes. You know they must be good then. Between the guitars famous designer and
the unique production method the Questrel has been selling for up to
$7,500 to enthusiastic buyers keen to get their hands on the exclusive
instrument. Glide garage is one of the new innovative companies that sprung up
in the heart of Onagawa town; rather than rebuilding the old town the people of
Onagawa invested their reconstruction budget,
starting from scratch and building a modern town center and aiming to turn it into
the hub for the local community and the air of change has attracted entrepreneurs
like Yosuke to relocate to a typically isolated fishing town. Next door to the Glide Garage is an equally
innovative business acting as a showroom for the unusual sight of the Danborghini. Produced from 500 pieces of corrugated cardboard and on a one-to-one
scale, the Damborghini is the brainchild of local business owner Hideki Konnou.
It's also a clever play on words given that Danboru is the Japanese word
for cardboard. Hideki owns a corrugated cardboard company and in recent years
he's branched out into producing toys and model replicas from a giant Gundam
robot to an impressive ATAT walker from Star Wars. I wanted to find out how he'd
got involved with the new towns development. With Lamborghini's blessing the Damborghini soon became Onagawa's unlikely mascot helping to reinvigorate
the town's image and remarkably even leading to Hideki meeting the Emperor
himself when he paid a visit to the region. Hideki's inspiration for the Damborghini came from his long-held dream of owning a supercar - a dream that
seemed far away when he and his family were forced to move to prefabricated
housing after their home was damaged by the tsunami. However seven years later and with business booming and he's finally been
able to get his hands on the real thing. Slightly better than the cardboard
version. Becoming the mayor of a town that's been
almost completely destroyed is no easy task and yet Yoshiaki sooner put himself forward for the challenge the months
after the tsunami in his home town of Onagawa. I met him overlooking the
construction site of the new waterfront which is still being terraformed and raised several meters as a preventative measure for future Tsunamis. Whilst Yoshiaki trying to attract new people to Onagawa in the nearby city of Ishinomaki there's an entire industry attempting to attract younger
generations to their profession through some unusual entrepreneurial initiatives.
The profession of being a fisherman is becoming less and less popular to
younger generations and with that in mind the local fishermen have launched a
brand known as "Fisherman Japan" to showcase the more exciting and
adventurous aspects of the trade. Last year they launched a somewhat
unconventional service that went viral online called "Fisherman Call". So the idea is if you're a lazy student
or somebody who's struggling to wake up in the morning you choose the time you
want to be woken up and select your fisherman and then the next morning the
fisherman who's out there somewhere working in the Pacific Ocean will drop
you a line - yes pun intended - And wake you up and maybe even show
you what he's caught. I mean it does sound a bit gimmicky and yet there's
something quite nice about connecting two different people from different
backgrounds and professions through the difficult daily task of waking up in
the morning. My next stop is Kesennuma a port town further north which suffered
extensive damage and I've come to hear how Japan's most internationally
recognisable actor Ken Watanabe came to open his own restaurant in the town in
the years after the tsunami. Unfortunately Ken Watanabe isn't here
today he's off around the world somewhere making a movie but every day
he sends a fax to the restaurant for customers to read so you can get some
sort of connection with him nonetheless and this is a book of all the messages
he sent recently and this is today's one and it reads. It's weird to think Ken Watanabe is out there somewhere in the world and he
sent that to welcome in the winter season. I asked the manager Megumi what
was Ken Watanabe's motive for getting involved with Kesennuma and how the
K-port came to be. And of course the inevitable question; How often does the man himself visit the cafe? After the tsunami many people from
around Japan and internationally came to volunteer during the difficult years of
the region's recovery. Like me Nisshant Anu came to Tohoku as an English teacher
on the Japan exchange teaching program After teaching he returned home to the
US but has since come back to Kesennuma to work for the local tourism department.
I wanted to find out what factors have led him to return. So the first apartment I lived in, in Kesennuma was actually right behind a place called the Yatai Mura which is the recovery village temporary housing establishment for
people who had lost their businesses in the tsunami. So there's maybe like 15 or 20
different shops and restaurants. I'd have to walk through to get home. Walking through the Yatai Mura on my way home people would be like "Hey Nisshan! Haven't seen you around in a while!" "Are you doing alright? Sit down, have a drink. I've got a fish for you man." "Come eat this fish" and
then I'm like oh this is beautiful I'm home. If you spend time in Kesennuma
it's a mindset you'll find in abundance a friendly optimistic attitude that can
often feel the odds with the scale of the disaster and what the people have
been through. Ichiyo Kannou is the energetic owner of the Tsunakan minshuku a traditional Japanese bed and breakfast. The Tsunakan has a reputation that stretches far beyond Kesennuma and Tohoku on account of Ichiyo probably being the world's friendliest person. In 2011 her entire home was destroyed by
the tsunami however her and her husband - a prominent
local fisherman - rebuilt it and elevated it several meters and reopened it as the
Tsunakan. It quickly became popular with famous faces including Ken Watanabe
often visiting and winning numerous awards along the way. Wow. Ken Watanabe he sat right here and then apparently
he fell asleep like this. Ichiyo became a pillar of the local community in the years following the tsunami. Just as Ichiyo and her family were putting
the disaster behind them tragedy struck again in 2017. One day Ichiyo's husband, eldest daughter and son-in-law went out fishing
and their boat overturned all three of them lost their lives in the accident.
For several months Ichiyo contemplated on the future of her
business before deciding to reopen the Tsunakan and continue doing what she loved. When people think of the Tohoku coastline
often they still picture those same images we all saw on our screens in
March 2011 but today if you visit the region you'll find that quite the
opposite, that people carry a strong sense of optimism for the future.
Their stoic attitude towards the worst imaginable circumstances is not only
inspiring but a testament to the strength of the human spirit.
Obviously a disaster is not a positive thing but I think the unique spirit of
the people here is that they've sort of taken the disaster and taken the positives
away from the disaster. The disaster happened and there's nothing we can do
about that but where do we go from there.
With the general tone of the video I was completely taken off guard by that woman's story. She survives the tsunami only to have her family killed in a boating accident. My heart hurts. She has a very interesting way of dealing with that. Live right now and don't look back upon the tragedy until you are much older.
Abroad in Japan's clearly getting paid to do videos now, but if that keeps him making videos good for him and us.
Quality stuff.
This was really one of the most emotional videos I've seen in a while.
I feel so bad for that woman, that she had to through losing her town and after that losing her family, and at the same time I'm so proud of her for being strong enough to still be cheerful and do what she loves.
Great stories, great production, great video.