Smiling Palace Series (III) / Reflections and Remembrances After the Disaster — A School Building Preserved Intact at 2:45 PM

It has been over a year since the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. The coastal town of Rikuzentakata’s Namioka district suffered severe damage and remains desolate to this day. With assistance from local government, former residents have been relocated to temporary housing in inland areas of Rikuzentakata, and a temporary market opened in February. However, remnants and belongings from the disaster still remain in the affected area as memorials for people to mourn the painful past. Among them, both Namioka Junior High School and Elementary School, which once served as shelters for evacuees, now hold special significance — the former features a solemn post-disaster memorial monument, while the latter houses items salvaged from the tsunami mud, which victims can claim.

Accompanied by Toshinobu Takano, an industrial revitalization officer of the Rikuzentakata Chamber of Commerce’s “Recovery Support Subsidy Program,” we visited Namioka. After the ruthless impact of the earthquake and tsunami, what was once a densely populated residential area is now only identifiable by its grid-like foundations and asphalt roads. Even Rikuzen Shrine, located atop about 6-meter-high Hiyoriyama Hill, was not spared. According to official statistics, Namioka, which had a population of around 5,300, lost more than one-tenth of its residents in the disaster. For future development of the affected area, local authorities have designated parts of the coastal zone as non-revitalization areas, and the former Namioka Junior High and Elementary Schools — once used as shelters for evacuees — will be preserved as they are, to serve as sites for remembrance.

Upon arriving at Namioka Junior High School, a black memorial monument stands in the square in front of the school gate, with the hands of a clock behind it stopped at 2:45 PM — the time the earthquake struck. Toshinobu Takano explained that the day of the earthquake was also Namioka Junior High’s graduation ceremony. The subsequent tsunami reached a height of 1.5 meters, tragically claiming the lives of more than ten students who could not escape in time. Next to the monument are two student desks that seem out of place — these were used by two children whose mothers lost them in the disaster. The mothers wrote their heartfelt messages on the desks, which were later moved to the monument site as memorials for mourning and remembrance.

The Namioka Elementary School gymnasium, which also served as a shelter, currently stores items recovered after the tsunami receded. Most of these are clothing, photographs, and students’ graduation certificates. After being cleaned by volunteers, the items are arranged by district for the victims to identify. One of the most touching sights is at the back of the gymnasium — piles of small elementary school backpacks, muddy and worn, evoke an overwhelming sense of sorrow, even without indulging too much in speculation.