want to know how small this world is??? first, want to introduce to our two lovely new friends. Masae-san on the left is the person that contacted me after i posted the missing boat i found in hawaii. she searched and contacted the owner for us. we’ve been emailing each other back and forth ever since. because of my lack of recognizing japanese names,i actually thought Masae-san was a man all this time. come to find out, Masae-san is a very determined woman that directs a non-profit organization called “It’s Not Just Mud.” she’s been helping the volunteering efforts in ishinomaki ever since the tsunami. an amazing person with a great big heart. to the right is Masae-san’s high school classmate Etsuko-san. she’s the english teacher at the We Are One Market in kitakami! she knows Naomi-san very well and teaches english to Hiyori-chan! it’s amazing what a small lovely world we live in. just more friends and a bigger world now in our Tohoku group of friends. thank you ladies for connecting us to the owners of the boat and thankfully leading up to a very happy ending.
Ogatu is another peninsula located near kitakami. super secluded and almost cut off to the outside world. no convenience stores, no gas stands, and no big shops. just jungle and pure untouched nature. the drive there was amazing. thank you Masae-san and Etsuko-san for guiding us there.
i was super stoked to venture into the unknown. a place i definitely want to visit again.
about an hour drive away from the city and driving through the mountains, you arrive at this little fishing village. a very small bay with breathtaking views. this is the exact place where the boat went missing.
wakame right on the shoreline.
if i lived here, i would be walking to the beach every morning and gathering wakame for my daily miso soup. the simple natural life.
this is the Abe-san couple. very happy retired japanese enjoying their peaceful and simple lifestyle.
we sat down, listened to the stories, and enjoyed the talk, tea, and snacks.
Abe-san is a retired tuna fisherman that has been working on tuna boats traveling from japan to mexico. he’s been to hawaii many times to refuel gas on the long journey to central america. an avid fisherman and waterman for practically his whole life.
Abe-san went to get his boat prepared on march 10th. he was planning to go out on march 11th to pick uni and wakame. then the tsunami came and his boat was lost at sea. Abe-san and his wife have been wondering what happened to it ever since. now, they know that it’s sitting on one of the most beautiful and secluded beaches in the world. it’s some sort of closure to a man that has been fishing for 50 years of his life. it’s a pretty crazy story when you think that his boat landed in hawaii this long after the tsunami. and it’s a pretty crazier story that i was the one to find it. and it’s a pretty craziest story how we are now all connected.
think we live in a small world? i surely do.
