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

It has been over a year since the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the coastal town of Natori’s Rikuzentakata district suffered immense damage and remains largely desolate to this day. With assistance from the local government, former residents have been relocated to temporary housing inland within Natori, and a temporary market also opened in February. However, within the disaster zone, some ruins and objects remain as memorials to mourn the painful past. Among them, both Rikuzentakata Junior High School and Elementary School once served as shelters for evacuees. The former now features a solemn post-disaster memorial monument, while the latter houses items salvaged from the tsunami mud, available for residents to claim.

Accompanied by Takashige Kono, an industrial revitalization “reconstruction support subsidy officer” from the Natori Chamber of Commerce, we ventured into Rikuzentakata. After the ruthless onslaught of the earthquake and tsunami, the once densely populated residential area is now only recognizable by its grid-like foundations and asphalt roads. Even Rikuzentakata Shrine, situated atop about 6-meter-high Hiyoriyama Hill, did not escape unscathed. According to official statistics, more than one-tenth of Rikuzentakata’s original population of approximately 5,300 perished in the disaster. For future development of the affected areas, the local government has designated parts of the coastal region as non-revitalization zones, and both Rikuzentakata Junior High School and Elementary School, which once sheltered evacuees, will be preserved as they are for public remembrance.

Upon arriving at Rikuzentakata Junior High School, a black memorial monument stands in the square in front of the school gate, where the hands of the clock behind it are frozen at 2:45 PM—the time the earthquake struck. Takashige Kono explained that the day of the earthquake coincided with the school’s graduation ceremony. The resulting tsunami reached a height of 1.5 meters, claiming the lives of more than ten students who could not escape in time. Two seemingly out-of-place student desks beside the monument were used by two grieving mothers who wrote their messages of longing on the desks once used by their children. These desks were later moved next to the monument for visitors to mourn and remember.

The gymnasium of Rikuzentakata Elementary School, which also once served as a shelter, currently houses items salvaged after the tsunami receded—mainly clothing, photographs, and students’ graduation certificates. After being cleaned by volunteers, these items are arranged by area for residents to claim. One of the most moving sights is the pile of small elementary school backpacks washed clean by mud, located at the back of the gymnasium. Without wanting to dwell too much on what might have happened, the heavy pressure in your heart continues to grow.