before we left for mission 1, i heard about a local surfer in Miyagi prefecture that lost his whole surf shop to the tsunami. we found out who he is and where he was so that was going to be somewhere we wanted to go. i met ishinomaki local surfer Azumi-san for the first time. a really quiet, gentle, and strong surfer. Azumi-san is the one who told me “We Surfers are Strong so we will be ok!” those words will be in my mind forever. here is a guy that lost his whole shop, and sped away on his bicycle as the tsunami was approaching. he saw it all. but to have such a positive strong attitude, i was amazed.
when we went to see what was left of his shop on mission 1, this was all to be found. a destination deck patch. the whole city was flattened, then burnt by fire. this area is one of the hardest hit.
mission 2, we went back. everything was the exact same.
then.
on mission 3, i asked Azumi-san if we can go back to the shop so the others can see. he took us back and in his own amazement, they military just cleaned up the debris. he was happy, and so were we. to see anything moving in the forward direction brings hope and happiness. i’m not sure what Azumi-san is planning to do, but what ever he decides, we will support him. i met a great guy with a strong heart. i can’t wait for the day we can surf together. thank you Azumi-san for being such a good example of a POSITIVE SURFER!
