Kurikoma, Japan, May 2014

Very unfortunately, two years before the infamous 2011 disaster along the coast, that area was also hit hard by a monstrous earthquake. It devastated the entire region. Landslides ripped apart the face of mountains, and villages and farmhouses were shattered or completely devoured by mud. Even the patterns of water changed, causing sources that had been in existence for centuries to dry up and new ones to appear elsewhere. At that frightening time a friend and his hiking partners were trapped in the mountains as their trail shook into oblivion. Even today he speaks with gratitude about the rescue helicopters that transported them to safety. And now he never ventures into the mountains without enough supplies to last for several days.

Despite those horrific events, the survivors immediately picked up their lives and focused on rebuilding. It has taken more than five years, but slowly the locals and government have cleared up the debris and are bringing life back to a sort of normalcy. In fact, the amount that has been accomplished is impressive.

Usually in rural Japan the variety of houses is a fascinating pleasure of discovery. But now with farmhouses and entire villages reconstructed, everything is new, and most often uniform. But even so, they still maintain the tidy dignity of Japanese farm life.

Being part of a collective culture, many Japanese feel a deep necessity to help their people in need. That support may not be as direct as the outpouring of the assistance that happened in 2011. But even so, individuals do all they can to help fellow citizens in trouble. One way that this is expressed is, surprisingly, through tourism. Now that many of the roads have been repaired and places are slowly beginning to reopen, people from far away are kindly choosing to go to the Tohoku area for their vacations.