When you hear the word Fukushima,
a prefecture in Japan, what are the first few things that come into your mind? Perhaps,
you’ll say radiation, contamination, danger, disaster, and the list goes on. Without a doubt, these are the familiar terms
that are, most often if not always, associated with Fukushima after the Great
East Japan Earthquake last March 11, 2011. The whole world has thought of
Fukushima since then as a hazardous area or worse, as a wasteland due to the
calamity that struck the place on that faithful day. Little do they know that
Fukushima has been hastily recovering from that horrid incident and has tried
its very best to bring back the image that it once had before the catastrophe.
Personally, I am a witness to
that. Last March 18-27, 2013, I was given the opportunity to live in Fukushima
as I represented the Philippines in the Kizuna (Bond) Project. This project is
an initiative of the Japanese government which invited some Filipino youth to
visit Japan and experience its rich culture. For our batch, we stayed in
Fukushima as the main venue for the project. Ten days wasn’t enough for me to completely
understand Fukushima and its culture. But nonetheless, those ten days allowed
me to have a grasp on reality about Fukushima which is extremely contradictory
to what people all over the world generally assume.
The best resource of Fukushima is its people
In my stay, I was blessed to have met wonderful
people in Fukushima who came from various walks of life. It is very
heart-warming that people in Fukushima welcomed me in their place with wide
smiles and even random people who we just encountered on the street greeted me
with an Ohayo Gozaimasu (Good
morning) or Konnichiwa (Good
afternoon). The residents in the place showed utmost kindness to me even if I was
only a mere stranger to them. I even had
the chance to have a homestay with a Japanese family who welcomed me so warmly
into their house and treated me like their own family member. I realized then that Japanese are not so
different from Filipinos in how they truthfully care for each other in the
family.
With highschool students from Hisawa Junior High School
At the Asukasa Castle in Tokyo with JICE coordinators Yuki-sensei and Takusan-sensei
My Henmi Japanese family during my homestay. Meet my Obasan and Ojisan.
The food in Fukushima are safe and delicious
In all honesty, I never thought I
would love Japanese food. I didn’t have the chance to taste most of their
delicacies until I visited Fukushima. To my surprise, the food in Fukushima are
actually very delicious. The various dishes that we were offered with made us
want to grab more each time. What is
more incredible is that Fukushima has stricter food safety standards compared
with other developed countries. This then dispels what people think of
Fukushima food as contaminated due to the nuclear powerplant explosion last
2011.
Oishi food from Fukushima during my homestay with the Henmi family
Fresh strawberries from the Minamiaizu strawberry farm
Fukushima has wonderful tourist destinations
Although I visited Fukushima as a
participant in a project and not as a tourist, I still had the chance to
explore the area and visit some of its tourist destinations. I was able to
visit the Tsuruga-jo castle which speaks so much of the Japanese culture. I learned from there the historical
underground community that a certain place in Fuksuhima had way back when war
was dominant in the world. I also saw figures and objects that belonged
hundreds of years ago in Japan’s earliest civilizations. I also got to visit the Asukasa Castle in Tokyo where hundreds of tourists were around, wanting to get a good view of the beautiful Sakura trees (Cherry blossom trees) and ancient temples. But I guess any place
in Fukushima is a tourist destination, especially if you are a fan of snow,
since it snows in six out of twelve months in a year.
Underneath the shade of the beautiful Sakura tree at the Asukasa Castle in Tokyo
The historical Tsuruga-jo castle in Fukushima
Enjoying the snow at the Daikura Ski Resort
Realizations on the Fukushima visit
In sum, my realization from my
visit in Fukushima can be enumerated in three points. Firstly, I learned that
the greatest damage that the March 11, 2011 earthquake brought to Fukushima is
neither the loss of billions worth of properties nor thousands of lives, but
the harmful rumors that circulated all over the world after the disaster. These
harmful rumors or what they call as “Fuhyo Higai” are the major destruction
that crippled Fukushima. The destruction is not even measured by the dwindling
economy and tourism of the prefecture but by this man-made damage that steals
away their humanity. These harmful rumors affect them so much since it destroys
their self-image and confidence with themselves.
Secondly, I learned the truth
about Fukushima and that indeed, it doesn’t deserve to be affiliated with
negative terms which seem to define it right now. As a Kizuna delegate who
experienced life in Fukushima, I wish to share this truth to the maximum number
of people possible. I want this truth to be felt by other random people, hoping
that the correct information about the place will also be understood by people
other than myself or my Kizuna batch mates. By the very simple act of telling
the truth about Fukushima, I am giving life back to this hopeful prefecture.
Lastly, I learned that what
Fukushima needs from us or from other foreign countries is not monetary donation
or manpower, but a genuine understanding of their situation. It is by this
understanding which gives them hope and sustains their will to live life as
normally as they did before the great earthquake. The least that we can do then is to give the
people of Fukushima some respect simply because they deserve it. It is by this
respect and understanding which will give the residents of this prefecture
their well-deserved dignity - the one thing that is left to most residents who
have totally lost their loved ones and properties.
Fukushima was once devastated by
a seemingly unbearable disaster. It was enough. Let us not allow its people to
suffer another devastation made by false human rumors. The story of Fukushima
is not a story of tragedy, but of hope. It is not a story of despair but of
faithful promises for a better future. Their story is my story now, too. My
hopes are high that by this article, you as a viewer will read our story now
with deeper understanding in which you can also share to other people. After all,
what could be better than sharing the truth about Fukushima and knowing that
the words we say give life to this promising prefecture? Sasukene Fukushima!
Wearing of national costume at a theater in Fukushima
My kizuna batch mates wearing our Philippine national costume
Presenting our action plan to the Japanese government. This is what we're gonna do upon returning to the Philippines.
