On January 11th, members of Vegalta Sendai, a J-League team representing Tohoku, visited the Minamisanriku 311 Memorial.
As part of a disaster-stricken area visit project that is carried out every year during the J.League off-season, on this day they visited the Minami Sanriku San San Shopping Arcade and Heisei no Mori Sports Ground in addition to our embassy, and also held a social gathering at Irimae Elementary School in the town. At our embassy, they watched the learning program "Evacuation can mean the difference between life and death," after which our staff gave them a tour of the facility.
As they watched the video about the Disaster Prevention Center and Masashi Asada's works, they seemed to be thinking not only about the tragic events that occurred immediately after the disaster, but also about the progress that Minami Sanriku has made over the past 11 years.
The learning program also involved lively one-minute dialogue between the players, encouraging them to think about "what is needed and what they can do to protect what is important to them."
Yamada Hiroto, who was an elementary school student in Nagoya at the time of the disaster, said, "I remember being very scared when I saw the tsunami on TV," and added, "In the learning program, there was something that said, 'We had been preparing for the disaster for two years.' Thinking about that, I felt that we weren't prepared enough." He seemed to be on his toes.
Koji Hachisuka, a long-time player for Vegalta Sendai, said that until now there had been few opportunities for players to discuss and think about the issue together. "I think there are still not many players who have checked the evacuation sites and evacuation routes for the areas where they currently live. I thought it was important to take this opportunity to check with each other."
Although Director Ito Akira was not in Sendai at the time, he still remembers being unable to contact his friends immediately after the earthquake. He commented, "It made me realize once again that something terrible had really happened. I want to do my best to be of help to the local people, and to become a force and symbol of recovery."
For some of the athletes who visited the museum this time, it was their first visit to the disaster-stricken coastal areas. We are pleased that they have taken the time to visit and show their sympathy to the disaster-stricken areas, even as we approach the 12th anniversary of the disaster.
We would like to continue to work on reconstruction together with Vegalta Sendai and move forward with the Minamisanriku 3/11 Memorial.
Thank you very much for visiting us.