“KIZUNA Cake –Never Be Photographed”
A reporter, Asahi Shimbun  Hideyuki Miura

My “family” awaits there. A hardheaded “father,” a caring “mother,” and my dear “little brothers” and “little sisters” are all there.

On March 11, 2011, I was in Tokyo, where I was working then. First thing I did on the very next day was to head to Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture, a place known as the “Town of Tsunami” for having been devastated by tsunamis multiple times in the past. The town was buried in rubble, and an endless number of bodies were scattered all over.
From that day for about one year, I lived with the local people of Minamisanriku as a temporary resident newspaper reporter. It may be more accurate to say that I had survived there. Reconstruction and recovery efforts were made at a snail’s pace, and we lived in a gymnasium and evacuation center. We were not able to get enough food, and the water shortage lasted till the subsequent summer. “Hang in there,” “We will recover together.” Those were the words we exchanged to encourage each other, and thus we became a “family.”

On March 11, 2014, I visited the town of Minamisanriku again. As I became surrounded by many people with smiles on their faces, my “little sister,” who has all grown up, gave me a surprise handmade cake which she had baked. It was decorated with a letter, “KIZUNA,” – a kanji character that represents a bond. Unbeknownst to me, my vision became blurry. Hey, don’t you give your “big brother” a hard time…

Hard and difficult, painfully sad, yet warm and cozy…that’s the kind of town Minamisanriku is.