good morning. yesterday was one of the most rewarding days of my
life. even though i’ve been getting warned over and over to stay
away from the fukushima nuclear plant, our team had a mission. a
mission to meet the mayor of minami soma. if it wasn’t for the Mayor
Sakurai-san, i wouldn’t be where i am today. it was his courage that
gave me courage to come into a zone that not too many people want to
enter.
so we walk into the office and as soon as Mayor Sakurai-san walked in,
i felt the best vibe ever. from the handshake to the smile, i knew he
was a really kind man with a big heart. we sat down, we had a great
talk, and we were so happy that he gave us so much of his time.
we left, he called to say thank you. then he asked me where i was. i
told him that we were going to eat ramen at the only ramen shop open
in minami soma. Mr. Sakurai told me, “wait, i’ll call the owner and
get you guys a discount.” i thought that was really cool. of course
we said no thank you because the reason we ate in minami soma is to
support the businesses that have the courage to open at a time like
this. we ate ramen, which was really good. then on the way out of
minami soma, i dropped by the city hall to give him some “WE ARE ONE”
tshirts and stickers. he walked me out, thanked our team, and said
“see you later.” in english. i am definitely going back to minami
soma to meet the mayor again. and maybe i can teach him how to surf
someday?
while we were talking, he told us about the international media frenzy
that has been coming to minami soma after the youtube video he put
out. he named every country in asia, along with many other european
media stopping by. from america, CNN, the los angelas times, and the
new york times all did stories. i asked “what about hawaii?” he said
that i was the first. i’m pretty stoked on that.
before leaving minami soma, we drove around dropping off supplies to
the very few people we seen walking outside (which their not supposed
to do), or to people that are trying to get back to work (even though
they live right outside the evacuation area), and to the only
evacuation center in minami soma that houses 119 people. we emptied
half of our van and when we were leaving, we all felt good. drove up
to sendai, loaded up again, and now it’s to iwate.
the journey continues…..
photo by shinsuke matsukawa
