My trip to Japan has been a majorly eventful one. I've visited three east Asian countries, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan, but Japan has definitely been the most alien. One reason for that could be the fact that Japan is quite disconnected from the Indian subcontinent, and in spite of a long history of foreign relations with India, the influence of India on Japanese culture has been a bare minimum. The motive behind my visit, along with 5 other delegates from IIT Madras, and 57 other students from other IITs and IIITs, was to observe the disaster affected areas in Japan, a programme organized and sponsored by the governments of India and Japan, as part of the Kizuna Bond Project, which is aimed at strengthening youth relations between the two countries.
The people here have been a delight to meet. It is not everyday that you meet people who greet you smiling almost always. I'm sure it does help being a foreigner, even a foreigner visiting India would be bestowed with a great deal of hospitality, but the Japanese take hospitality to a totally different level. As much as the Japanese are extremely nice to their guests, they are also a very diplomatic people, making them a unique combination. They are also sticklers for time, and if there is something that can perturb them, it is not sticking to or even lack of a schedule. They are an extremely hard-working group of people, something that has been observed a lot of times in the past as well, so much that it is no surprise that for a country that has always been hit by disasters, natural as in the March 2011 Tsunami, or the 1993 Kobe earthquake, or man-made, as in the Hiroshima Nagasaki twin-blasts, the country has not only survived, but also worked each time to climb up to the GDP charts in the world.
As someone who had no idea about the magnitude of the March 2011 Tsunami, what we saw here came down as a huge shock. The 9.0 scale recorded on the Ritcher doesn't really tell the complete story, since though this was the second biggest earthquake recorded in all time, the Japanese were well equipped by then to deal with it. What really devastated the people was the tsunami, which claimed 94% of the lives to drowning. You may view some crazy footage of the tsunami here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQfdl7y-blE. This is not a story of some random disaster which happened though. Disasters do happen. But this is the story of a country that rebuilds like none other in the face of disaster.
The Japanese realized very early that they are a country sitting on a volcano, earthquakes are like cramps here, they happen every once in a while. Maybe its due to the fact that they are so well prepared for disasters, fate decides to hand over to them those disasters which other countries would virtually be vanquished by. Cribbing apart, Japan has learnt to fight their disasters with a smile. A large part of my trip was spent in the town of Minami Sanriku, where all businesses were damaged in the tsunami. Nearly 10% of the town lost their lives, another 20% migrated out in search of a livelihood. In effect, the small and beautiful town, was demolished. It was a war waged by the sea. But the survivors were not going to cow easily.
People, irrespective of their losses, decided to fight their adversities head on. The tsunami destroyed livelihoods, they started off with a little help from the government, setting up businesses in their temporary shelters. The entire market of the town was reduced to these two buildings, but they strategically placed chose their target audience. Tourism was Minami Sanriku's biggest income, and it decided to work on it again. Though the markets were lost, the sea couldn't take the sun away from it. With its scenic locales, the rising sun at Minami Sanriku makes for one of the best sights in the country. They also started making their own relief funds. Advertising their slogan "Gambare Minami Sanriku" which means "Work Hard Minami Sanriku", they built themselves, and made the slowly developing industry up north of Japan famous across the countries, in the effort to rebuild their tourism industry. The impact of the disaster has been such that two years down the line, there is a lot of debris still to be cleared, but the town's tourism has almost reached the levels that existed before the disaster. What must be factored in here, is the fact that post the Fukushima nuclear leakage, various tourists, in particular foreign tourists, have been extremely apprehensive about coming to Japan, and anywhere close to the disaster areas, and places like Minami Sanriku, which fall under safe zones have been heavily disadvantaged because of this.
The most inspiring part of this trip has been the stories of two heroes. The first is Mr. Taka Hasi of the Takamasi co. at Onegawa, Miyagi prefecture, Japan. Takamasi co. was started by Mr Taka Hasi's grandfather, a company specializing in the fish cakes the Japanese call Komabako. Mr. Taka Hasi was working in the factory on the afternoon of the 11th of March, 2011, as on any other day. Little did he know that the waves were rampaging the city. As soon as he got news of the tsunami warning, he decided to not ship his fishcakes for the day, a decision that lost him 20 million yen, but saved the lives of those working for him. Also, he lost his grandfather to the tsunami, and his grandmother soon after. His company was shut down, and the town of Onegawa was reduced to nearly 60% of its initial population, with no businesses to support the town anymore. This was when Mr. Taka Hasi decided to start production again, to provide jobs to people. This would mean he would run his factory on debts, something that would be disastrous for his business. He has already borrowed upto the tune 180 billion yen, a debt he estimates he would spend his whole life repaying. In any case, he is unperturbed as this provides jobs to the people of the town. He calls this concept "social business", something that might not be profitable to him, but extremely profitable for the society as a whole. His efforts were hailed by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Younus (the founder of Grameen Bank), who paved a way for him expand his business to Bangladesh and Myanmar. The man says "I would die in my homeland, rather than abandon it for survival". Might sound unpractical, but he is making a difference to an entire town, a true hero!
Another inspiring person is a lady from the tsunami warning alert team in Minami Sanriku who stood up on the disaster management building directing people on radios on routes to escape the waves, eventually losing her life to the waves as she coldn't escape the waves in time. Her sacrifice is held in great stead here, and it is said she saved upto 700 lives. On further probing, we were able to find many many stories of people who brought out the hero in them in the face of adversity. People who would die a proud death, rather than live a selfish life. Whether it is worth it or not is objective, but the truth is there are hundreds who owe their lives to these few. A trip that has been so much fun for me, has also brought out the human side in me, and made me realize that every day of our lives is unpredictable, and it is of utmost importance, to live a life that we could be proud of having lived, something that will be remembered for long, than living a small, insignificant one. It is true that in the land of the rising sun, the sun shall rise again! Finally, below is a song I wrote for the people of Japan in general, and MinamiSanriku in particular, set to tune with Jacob Alex, and performed by the team of Kizuna Bond Project at Minami Sanriku today afternoon. It is set to be performed at Tokyo once again on the day after tomorrow. I will upload a video of one of the performances when I get it.
Gam Bare Minami Sanriku
A dove that decides to fly high,
The spirit of humans looks upto the sky,
A branch of olives, a flag of white,
Nature's fury, with smiles we fight.
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi, (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi, (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi, (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Arigato Gozaimzu. (Thank you for the strong friendships made)
We will remember your losses for long,
We know that it will make you strong,
Travelling across seas, a thousand miles,
The pain vanishes, the sight of your smiles.
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Arigato Gozaimzu.
We hope that you will give up never,
A quality that will last forever,
To spread happiness, always seagulls flew,
The world is with,
Gambare Vasurenai,
Gambare Vasurenai,
Minamisanriku,
Minamisanriku.
The people here have been a delight to meet. It is not everyday that you meet people who greet you smiling almost always. I'm sure it does help being a foreigner, even a foreigner visiting India would be bestowed with a great deal of hospitality, but the Japanese take hospitality to a totally different level. As much as the Japanese are extremely nice to their guests, they are also a very diplomatic people, making them a unique combination. They are also sticklers for time, and if there is something that can perturb them, it is not sticking to or even lack of a schedule. They are an extremely hard-working group of people, something that has been observed a lot of times in the past as well, so much that it is no surprise that for a country that has always been hit by disasters, natural as in the March 2011 Tsunami, or the 1993 Kobe earthquake, or man-made, as in the Hiroshima Nagasaki twin-blasts, the country has not only survived, but also worked each time to climb up to the GDP charts in the world.
As someone who had no idea about the magnitude of the March 2011 Tsunami, what we saw here came down as a huge shock. The 9.0 scale recorded on the Ritcher doesn't really tell the complete story, since though this was the second biggest earthquake recorded in all time, the Japanese were well equipped by then to deal with it. What really devastated the people was the tsunami, which claimed 94% of the lives to drowning. You may view some crazy footage of the tsunami here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQfdl7y-blE. This is not a story of some random disaster which happened though. Disasters do happen. But this is the story of a country that rebuilds like none other in the face of disaster.
The Japanese realized very early that they are a country sitting on a volcano, earthquakes are like cramps here, they happen every once in a while. Maybe its due to the fact that they are so well prepared for disasters, fate decides to hand over to them those disasters which other countries would virtually be vanquished by. Cribbing apart, Japan has learnt to fight their disasters with a smile. A large part of my trip was spent in the town of Minami Sanriku, where all businesses were damaged in the tsunami. Nearly 10% of the town lost their lives, another 20% migrated out in search of a livelihood. In effect, the small and beautiful town, was demolished. It was a war waged by the sea. But the survivors were not going to cow easily.
People, irrespective of their losses, decided to fight their adversities head on. The tsunami destroyed livelihoods, they started off with a little help from the government, setting up businesses in their temporary shelters. The entire market of the town was reduced to these two buildings, but they strategically placed chose their target audience. Tourism was Minami Sanriku's biggest income, and it decided to work on it again. Though the markets were lost, the sea couldn't take the sun away from it. With its scenic locales, the rising sun at Minami Sanriku makes for one of the best sights in the country. They also started making their own relief funds. Advertising their slogan "Gambare Minami Sanriku" which means "Work Hard Minami Sanriku", they built themselves, and made the slowly developing industry up north of Japan famous across the countries, in the effort to rebuild their tourism industry. The impact of the disaster has been such that two years down the line, there is a lot of debris still to be cleared, but the town's tourism has almost reached the levels that existed before the disaster. What must be factored in here, is the fact that post the Fukushima nuclear leakage, various tourists, in particular foreign tourists, have been extremely apprehensive about coming to Japan, and anywhere close to the disaster areas, and places like Minami Sanriku, which fall under safe zones have been heavily disadvantaged because of this.
The most inspiring part of this trip has been the stories of two heroes. The first is Mr. Taka Hasi of the Takamasi co. at Onegawa, Miyagi prefecture, Japan. Takamasi co. was started by Mr Taka Hasi's grandfather, a company specializing in the fish cakes the Japanese call Komabako. Mr. Taka Hasi was working in the factory on the afternoon of the 11th of March, 2011, as on any other day. Little did he know that the waves were rampaging the city. As soon as he got news of the tsunami warning, he decided to not ship his fishcakes for the day, a decision that lost him 20 million yen, but saved the lives of those working for him. Also, he lost his grandfather to the tsunami, and his grandmother soon after. His company was shut down, and the town of Onegawa was reduced to nearly 60% of its initial population, with no businesses to support the town anymore. This was when Mr. Taka Hasi decided to start production again, to provide jobs to people. This would mean he would run his factory on debts, something that would be disastrous for his business. He has already borrowed upto the tune 180 billion yen, a debt he estimates he would spend his whole life repaying. In any case, he is unperturbed as this provides jobs to the people of the town. He calls this concept "social business", something that might not be profitable to him, but extremely profitable for the society as a whole. His efforts were hailed by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Younus (the founder of Grameen Bank), who paved a way for him expand his business to Bangladesh and Myanmar. The man says "I would die in my homeland, rather than abandon it for survival". Might sound unpractical, but he is making a difference to an entire town, a true hero!
Another inspiring person is a lady from the tsunami warning alert team in Minami Sanriku who stood up on the disaster management building directing people on radios on routes to escape the waves, eventually losing her life to the waves as she coldn't escape the waves in time. Her sacrifice is held in great stead here, and it is said she saved upto 700 lives. On further probing, we were able to find many many stories of people who brought out the hero in them in the face of adversity. People who would die a proud death, rather than live a selfish life. Whether it is worth it or not is objective, but the truth is there are hundreds who owe their lives to these few. A trip that has been so much fun for me, has also brought out the human side in me, and made me realize that every day of our lives is unpredictable, and it is of utmost importance, to live a life that we could be proud of having lived, something that will be remembered for long, than living a small, insignificant one. It is true that in the land of the rising sun, the sun shall rise again! Finally, below is a song I wrote for the people of Japan in general, and MinamiSanriku in particular, set to tune with Jacob Alex, and performed by the team of Kizuna Bond Project at Minami Sanriku today afternoon. It is set to be performed at Tokyo once again on the day after tomorrow. I will upload a video of one of the performances when I get it.
Gam Bare Minami Sanriku
A dove that decides to fly high,
The spirit of humans looks upto the sky,
A branch of olives, a flag of white,
Nature's fury, with smiles we fight.
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi, (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi, (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi, (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Arigato Gozaimzu. (Thank you for the strong friendships made)
We will remember your losses for long,
We know that it will make you strong,
Travelling across seas, a thousand miles,
The pain vanishes, the sight of your smiles.
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Arigato Gozaimzu.
We hope that you will give up never,
A quality that will last forever,
To spread happiness, always seagulls flew,
The world is with,
Gambare Vasurenai,
Gambare Vasurenai,
Minamisanriku,
Minamisanriku.
4 comments:
Great stuff, uve proved that cross-cultural interaction is not just a boardroom buzzword :)
I'm only glad I got the chance! :) It was all set up, just had to walk in and it had to happen! :D
I'm envious man... Epic stuff. And, as you mentioned in your post, humbled...
Humbled indeed! :)
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