Ofunato

Turn us loose in downtown Morioka for half an hour. One of us buys diaries and a pen. Another buys a delicate pink rose. Another traipses all over the Morioka castle ruins memorial park, delights in a stairway that was surely used by archers and other warriors, and chats with a photo-journalist for awhile, then runs out of time and returns to our meeting place at a dead run. (Yeah, guess who.)

The photo-journalist has friends and family on the coast, and is amazed that man-made structures and man-planted pine groves are gone, but fragile-looking rock formations, naturally growing trees, and land formations are intact.

He's right. It may not apply everywhere, but by comparison, nature looks unscathed.

He also told me about the town of Taro. I had already heard that it's nearly wiped out, and had a very tall sea wall. He told me it was a double wall, and the tsunami broke them both. And that chunks of that sea wall had made the nearby sea impassable for ships and boats. Work is underway to remove the pieces.

Diary, Rose, and Park-Traipser. We three headed to Ofunato City today. Part of the city looks fine. A burger joint has a sign apologizing for their limited menu. Ingredients are harder to secure these days. Tunnels have only a third of the lights on, to conserve electricity. That's all you see.

The coastline brought fresh tears. Blank expanses. Destroyed industrial parks. The city government, thank God, was on higher ground. Residences, businesses, and industry took a severe hit. A major road is flooded out. We pulled into a lot beside a towering pile of debris to turn around. Eight months after the disaster and there's still a stench.

We went up to the Catholic church on the hill to look out over the city and pray. Behind the church is a Catholic kindergarten, blissfully untouched. One of the teachers told us that all of the children and their parents made it. How I needed that piece of good news.

We asked about the history of the city, and she suggested a church member in her 80s who is "a living encyclopedia." Her house was destroyed by the tsunami, and she donated the destroyed property to use for building a volunteer center. It opens in December.

A history knower *and* history maker. I like this lady already and I haven't even met her.

There's temporary housing here and there in the undamaged part of town, if you know where to look. There are also people living in their own houses but without jobs and with extra relatives taking refuge. They need some help too.

We asked a city councilman what people need. He said rice and fresh groceries. We'll be back next week with that, plus conversation and friendship.

Back to Morioka for now.