Evacuees Spreading
My very good friend in Yokohama came from Saitama prefecture. Michiko was born there. After she married, she's been living in Yokohama. But her brother still lives in Saitama and takes care of his pear orchards and rice fields. She said, a while after she married, one day she heard from her brother that a new high school had sprung up near their birthplace. The name was Kisai. That's an unusual name. Ki means horse riders and sai means west. During 70s and 80s, new schools were created all over Japan. Then many years went by, the bubble economy burst, and the population dwindled, and she heard Kisai High School closed down. So, that was the last time she heard about the school.
But once again, she heard the name during the tsunami news two or three weeks ago. 1200 people of Futaba town in Fukushima prefecture were evacuating to former Kisai High School. Michiko said her birthplace is among rice fields, and nothing much is there. I'm fascinated with country scenes. She said she never wanted to go back to live there. I kept asking her why. She added, "But, the town has water and everything. A train passes through the town."
According to Asahi newspaper of April 11, the chart shows the numbers of evacuees in each prefecture. The total number of evacuees from 9.1 earthquake and tsunami are 163,781. The rightmost top tile is Hokkaido, and it accepted 702 people. Going downward, Iwate is 48,736, Miyagi, 54,764, Fukushima, 25,669, Tochigi, 1669, Ibaragi, 879, Chiba, 863. The second rightmost tiles, from top to bottom, Aomori,975, Akita, 1881, Yamagata, 1913, Gunma, 2861, Saitama, 3514, Tokyo, 1367, Kanagawa, 945, and so on. Saga and Yamagata prefectures had offered to accept 30,000 people, but ended up with fewer people.
About Keiko
Keiko Amano is a bilingual and bicultural writer who lives in Los Angeles and Yokohama. She writes short stories and novels in English and Japanese. Her stories appeared in Eye-Ai magazine.
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Keiko’s Favorite Books
All the books by Flannery O'Connor
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another day of earthquake
About 5:30 today, I felt magnitude 4 or so earthquake. I was in a train, and the train stopped at the Minamioota station. The door opened. The train started to rock like a boat. It went on for quite a while, more than a minute. Some passengers got out. I heard an announcement saying to get back into the train, and it's dangerous to go onto the platform. I didn't know that. So, I told those passengers to get back in. We were there for three minutes waiting for the earth to calm down. Then the train resumed. Another day went by in the earthquake country.
Thinking about you on
Thinking about you on another earthquake day Keiko, several stores in Galway hang the Japanese flag to honour those lost and dead and for people like you, living in this period of great uncertainty. Best from Galway, Ireland, mx
Hi Mares,
Thank you for your words. This is the first time we are having so many earthquakes. The earth rocks on and off throughout the day. Writing is the only thing I can do for the people of the northeast. I hope to write something that readers cannot read on other places. I see problems in reporting this events on the U.S. and British newspapers. So, I hope to show my view through my blog. If you have questions, please let me know. I hope to be clear.
Well to be honest Keiko the
Well to be honest Keiko the news has died down here and sometimes I wonder if this terrible disaster ever happened at all....I will follow your blogs and I honour your brave, loving soul. mx
Died Down
Mares,
When I go to the Yokohama central library, I check The Times and Guardians, beside the New York Times and Washington Post. Lately, I almost see nothing on the earthquake especially on the UK news. But I've been disappointed with their articles often. Usually western journalists complain Japanese are vague, and I don't deny that tendency, but on this disaster, I think western newspapers are vaguer than Japanese news. I hope to describe the difference when I can and what I see and listen as clear as possible.
The Cherry Blossom festival
The Cherry Blossom festival here in Japan Town, San Francisco feels different this year.... lots of people coming together to pay tribute for a good cause, that is, to raise funds and help Japan. It's very touching to see how the Japanese here remain very calm and collected, yet through their eyes, there is sadness and despair. This weekend culminates the the Cherry Blossom festival and I look forward to being there even if only to lend moral support.
Moral Support
Rina,
I think that's very important. For sad events,
we tend to lose words. So we can use our imagination to keep them alive.
Right now, cherry blossoms are in full bloom. They've been falling down onto the river that runs from my place all the way to the library.