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Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com
Masanori Sato, 34, looks at the empty land where his village used to be in Minamisanriku, Japan on Feb 4, 2012, near his half destroyed house. The 2011 tsunami swept away 34 houses in the village. Only three survived including Sato's house.
Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com
The remains of the town hall stands in Minamisanriku, Japan on Feb 5, 2012. The March 11, 2011 tsunami swept away the entire town, killing over 800 including 20 who were in the building at the time it struck.
Kuni Takahashi
Masanori Sato plays a guitar in his debri-filled-house in MInamisanriku, Japan on March 31, 2011 following a massive earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan on March 11.
Kuni Takahashi reports:
Masanori Sato, 34, is the son of a Shinto priest from the village of Minamisanriku in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture. He has been thinking about the future of his community in the Nagashizu district since the tsunami on March 11, 2011 swept away 34 houses there -- leaving only his family’s house and two others standing.
“At first I didn’t have a clue where to start, but I slowly began to see things clearly after moving out of the evacuation center into temporary housing," Sato said recently. "I felt myself settling down a bit. I want to put our village together again. The land has changed but the people are not all gone. We are talking about reviving our community just like it used to be – including both good things and bad things.”
People from all over the country came to the disaster-hit area to help last year --providing food, medical services, cleaning up, etc. The townspeople were impressed by the volunteers' selfless attitude and Sato said they made enormous contributions during the first stage of the recovery. Though the number of volunteers had dwindled, there are still a few helping with the reconstruction and supporting seniors in temporary housing.
Now the focus has shifted to long-term recovery. Sato and his neighbors are hoping that the government will allow them to rebuild their community on a nearby hill because Nagashizu is situated too low for rebuilding now. His family is still living in temporary housing about 2 miles away while they continue the renovations needed to make their house livable again. Even if the government approves the new site on the hill, they expect it to be three to five years before the community can resettle on new land.
But Sato is willing to wait.
“Being a tsunami survivor changed my way of thinking. I guess I learned from it. I realized how important the community is to help each other. I was too selfish before.”
- More from Kuni Takahashi on the survivors of the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
- Slideshow: Then and Now - the 2011 Japan tsunami in pictures
Kuni Takahashi, a photojournalist based in Mumbai, returned to his native Japan in 2011 shortly after the earthquake and tsunami. He recently revisited some of the people he met there— as well as some of the people that msnbc.com profiled in its After the Wave series -- to find out how they were doing nearly a year after the devastating natural disaster.
Leave a Comment:
It still hurts my heart to look at these images and to hear the voices of the survivors. Such resiliancy and hope is beautiful.
The Japanese people are among the strongest and hardworking people I have seen. The Tsunami devastated their nation, but the speed of recovery is astounding, (look up the one year before and after pictures online). There were many brave people in the Katrina efforts, but nowhere near the Tsunami cleanup, the US could learn and thing or two from this nation.
Diana, I am living in Japan and can't agree with you more.
Japanese people coming together to help is just amazing. My students have donated their time and money.
Total respect for everyone.
I will pray for those people in Japan who are suffering in ways we can't imagine. The devistation
in their lives , loss of homes and family members and way of life as it was only teaches us how
quickly it can change. God bless and heal the lives of the people in Japan with your everlasting
love. Amen
My company was approved for building process in japan The people do not ant to move from government supplied housing for if they do they loose all benefits that the government is giving out. We had modular designs for the communites and they would have been in homes now
just like us huh
Home Now, Yes they would be in homes, but look at the mind set. There are always some who would rather live off the government than do-it-themselves. I believe we should look at this as a way to make people accountable for what they get and how long they get it. It always comes at the expense of others!
I will continue to pray for the people of Japan and have sent financial aid, but all nations should look at this and learn.
If we are going to send billions of dollars over seas we should help people like this. Not afghanistan and pakistan.
"There, but for the grace of God go I"
I have a deep respect and admiration for these people and their culture. They weather the storm and deal with the hardships without and anarchy and violence as opposed to the scumbags in the Katrina aftermath!
I visited Japan a few years back. Tokyo is their New York City times ten for crowding and activity. The taxis had white doilies on the seats and hand rests and the cab drivers wore white gloves! I played a game looking for a piece of litter somewhere on the street or in an alley; never found one single peice in two weeks of travel!
We've deteriorated into a people with no respect for ourselves let alone others. We've become Nation of scumbags who appologize to the world for our beliefs. . And the current administrations policies are accellerating our decent into this abyss. Careful what you wish for....you just may get it!
I agree with you Olde Yankee, Japanese are well-deciplined people, raised and nurtured with so much respect for their elders and authority. These values are almost...... I said almost gone in the western civilization.
olde yankee, we haven't existed very long as a country, we have a lot to learn.The vague generalities you make are at best not very helpful. Self respect starts with "self" and calling people "scumbags" is a judgement. I defend your right to say what you like. But when you say"we", you're not speaking for me. I'll do that myself.