Three Years On…

On March 11 2011, Japan was hit by a major disaster. An earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred off the coast of Japan, causing the most expensive natural disaster in world history.

Three years on, Japan is still trying to rebuild from the effects of the earthquake and tsunami.

In February, I visited Minamisanriku, a town in Miyagi prefecture that was devastated by the tsunami. You can see a before and after video of the tsunami in Minamisanriku here

Minamisanriku is one of many towns along the Japanese coast that was affected by the tsunami. Due mostly to economic factors, much of the town that was destroyed is yet to be rebuilt. Understandably, there are many residents of Minamisanriku that do not want to return to live where their homes once were, preferring to live in the temporary housing provided by the government. The plan for Minamisanriku is to raise the ground level over 10 metres, so the buildings will be safe from future tsunamis. 

Still clearing old buildings before they can begin new construction.

This is what all of the buildings in the area look like, temporary housing structures scattered amongst cleared land.

Sections of the old train line, most of which was washed away. The train now no longer runs here, you can only get there by bus. 

Rebuilding is a slow, expensive process.

While I was there, I worked with a non-profit organisation called OGA for Aid, who work with the community to provide a range of services, from distributing aid, to economic enhancement though employing local people and creating local industry, and community revitalisation though community events and projects such as English lessons for students. This organisation is made up of people who are working tirelessly to help improve the lives of those in need. You can see more about the organisation here: http://www.ogaforaid.org/en/

Harvesting Nabana in one of OGA for Aid’s greenhouses.

I met the Mayor of Minamisanriku, Jin Sato. When he was asked what message he would like to send to the rest of the world three years on, he said, “Don’t forget about us. We are still here.”

Sapporo Snow Festival

Every year in February, more than 2 million people come to Sapporo to celebrate the さっぽろ ゆき まつり.

The festival involves many people from all over the world coming to Sapporo and creating snow and ice sculptures of all shapes and sizes.

Sapporo Snow Festival by numbers:

Number of Visitors (2013) : 2,367,000

Number of Sculptures (2014) : 199

Amount of Snow used: 32,000 tonnes

Many of the people who compete in the snow festival are amateurs, coming from places like Malaysia where there isn’t a lot of snow to practice on!

Some of the teams building their sculptures, using barbed wire, chisels and even chainsaws to carve the sculptures.

Some of the finished products of the smaller sculptures, can you guess which Japanese folk tale the last sculpture is?

As well as lots of smaller sculptures, big companies sponsor the festival and make the main features of the festival. This includes giant snow sculptures of buildings and streets of ice sculptures.

But the best part of the the festival is when they light up the sculptures at night. Every 15 minutes or so, they put on a light show projected on to each of the main sculptures, it was so pretty!

(Sorry the video is not very good quality… my camera died and I had to use my phone!)

Other parts of the Snow Festival… Eating a famous Sapporo lamb dish called Genghis Khan, a park which had been decorated and lit up by the local primary school, and ice sculptures at Lake Shikotsu which were all made using the lake’s water.

And finally… Not a part of the Snow Festival but pretty cool… On my way back to Tokyo I stopped at Zao Onsen to see a natural phenomenon they call ‘Ice Monsters.’

The snow and wind here are just right so that all the trees get covered in snow to make them look like this!