2024/03/07

I Saw the Japanese People’s “Way of Life” in the Disasters and Events at the Start of the Year
The following is an excerpt from Masayuki Takayama’s regular column in the March issue of Themis, a monthly magazine available exclusively by subscription.
This article, too, demonstrates that he is a journalist without equal in the postwar world.
It is an essential read not only for the Japanese people but for people throughout the world.
I Saw the Japanese People’s “Way of Life” in the Disasters and Events at the Start of the Year
Reflections on the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, the Aircraft Accident, Street Violence Involving Women, and Other Events
With the Heart in a Familiar Hometown
The beginning of this year was somewhat unusual.
On New Year’s Day, a major earthquake struck Noto.
The smiling faces of a daughter and grandchildren who had returned home for the holidays were buried beneath a collapsed house, while the grandfather stood motionless in the cold wind, his tears exhausted.
Torahiko Terada said, “Natural disasters strike when we have forgotten about them”—but why, of all days, New Year’s Day?
Even so, as the aftershocks continued, the survivors would not leave the sides of their collapsed homes.
They did not move even when Governor Hase, who had been outside the prefecture during the New Year holidays and returned feeling awkward, called out, “In any case, you must move to secondary evacuation accommodations.”
They were born and raised here.
Seeing them say, “I have no intention of leaving,” about this place filled with the days of their lives, I felt I had glimpsed something of the Japanese people.
The Japanese archipelago separated from the continent tens of thousands of years ago.
Separated from the rest of the world and, moreover, the only place in the world situated on four tectonic plates, it has seen earthquakes and volcanic eruptions constantly threaten people’s lives.
Tropical cyclones pass through the archipelago, and in winter, extratropical cyclones known as “Taiwan Bōzu” regularly appear.
Despite being buffeted by disasters of every kind, people have revered the nature that gives them abundant harvests and the scenery of the four seasons, and have helped one another in the face of its fury.
They do not want to abandon their familiar hometown simply because this disaster was so severe.
Others in their community feel the same way.
In the cold, neighbors from across the street and next door huddle together in a plastic-covered greenhouse, exchanging smiles from time to time.
It looked to me like the way of life the Japanese people have maintained since long ago.
I felt they were very different from people in another prefecture who, even when told, “It is safe here,” say, “No, I will evacuate voluntarily,” or “TEPCO should take care of us.”
To be continued.