we met Naomi-san on M4. she was nice enough to open her home, her heart, and her stories to our team. for my entire life, this was one of the hardest days for me. it was an emotional roller coaster because the stories we heard made me feel like i was right there on march 11th. it was a chilling day, and days to come for the victims. the chicken skin, the tears we were holding back, and the sharp pain in my heart still haunts me till this day. i think about it all the time but when i think about it in the middle of the night, i have a hard time going back to sleep. real stories by real survivors.
naomi-san and ryoko-san took us back to the elementary school where it got demolished up to the rooftop. all classes gutted out, debris all over the place, and walking through it felt weird. just totally lost for words.
can you believe kids once studied in this classroom? and can you believe school was in session at the time the tsunami hit?
this is where the story gets crazy. naomi-san’s son was at the school when the tsunami was coming. him, a group of kids, and a teacher made it to the rooftop. the water came up 40′ and the only safe place was here. did they know that it would be safe? no, it just happened and some great god was watching over these kids. it was snowing, there was no electricity, dark, cold, and probably pretty scary. they bunched together, kept warm, and waited for days for help to arrive. every building surrounding this elementary school was totally demolished from top to bottom.
luckily, the teacher had a lighter in his pocket so they used that vent for a fireplace and kept warm throughout one of the coldest nights in japan. see the chairs? it was left as is. nobody touched it since they were rescued and when i took this photo, there were some serious chills running down my spine. we were all speechless. it was as real as it gets.
this is my hero Minami-kun. at 10 years old, this brave kid lived through one of the scariest events in world history. a few days after, Minami-kun told his mother “mom, i will never cry in my life again.” we spent the night at the kimura-san’s house and just looking into this kids eyes made me a stronger person. i think about this kid all the time and what makes me so sad is that Minami-kun’s father is still missing. and so are some of his elementary school classmates.
if you think your life is tough, think again.
