By Atsuko Hattori and Yoshitaka Okada | Secretary General and Board Representative
On October 10, 2015, an operation to build a temporary shopping arcade finally started on the raised land of 9,900 m2 which accommodates a temporary shopping arcade of ten shops and a parking place. This is what they have been waiting for a long-time, and shop owners are relieved to see the advancement. However, soon after hearing this good news, they encountered several unexpected problems. First of all, although the shop building is constructed by a subsidy from the SME Support Japan, a government-sponsored organization to help small- and medium-sized companies, they do not provide any facility at all to each shop, even the minimum decoration. They now find that they have to install all necessary equipment and shelves by themselves even for one year operation. It is a new headache that shop owners are facing.
Secondly, since the shop is located in a much higher place than the road, passers-bys are not easy to stop at the shop arcade. Thirdly, the temporary shop is established very close to the ocean where a dike for protection has not yet been completed at all. Even though the land level is a little bit higher than before, if they get another tsunami, they are very easy to be swallowed. Many of them actually experienced the awful power of tsunami, and feel very insecure remembering many lives that disappeared in front of their eyes at the disaster. They are feeling quite uneasy to stay in shops.
Lastly, a very disappointing factor is that no new shop, especially a restaurant, is joining them, which is to some extent understandable for a duplicated cost involved to be in a temporary shop. Despite soliciting many shops to join the arcade, none expressed its interest. The present shop owners feel that the existence of a restaurant is really important, since visitors tend to remain inside the complex for a longer duration than otherwise. When people from the Nihonbashi Rotary Club in Tokyo visited there in October, the shop served locally-produced fresh sea-weeds. They all expressed that a restaurant to taste this really-delicious locally-produced see-food should be there. Unfortunately, we cannot meet such demand. In September for a bicycle event of the Tour de Tohoku 2015, they served sea-food curry rice for 1,400 people. The shop was really crowded and many people tut-tut for the excellent taste of the curry rice. Opportunities to attract visitors are there, but visitors cannot be fully attracted without a good restaurant. On this issue, there is another serious problem. From the ocean in front of the shop arcade, many types of fresh see food, such as salmon, octopus, mackerel, etc. can be caught. But since all sea food processing plant was washed away, we are just purchasing see food even to serve during an event from neighboring towns, not helping to rebuild the local economy at all. In August, voluntary concerts performed by students from Anjo Gakuen in Miyagai Prefecture were also very successful to attract many visitors. However, organizing events to attract visitors to the shop arcade is becoming increasingly difficult due to diminishing donations and the shortage of helping hands.
We are pleased very much with the advancement in the construction of a temporary shopping arcade, but it is accompanied by ever increasing uncertainty and anxiety. Sometimes, we are relieved by some voluntary visitors. For example, 40 graduating high school students from Tsurugashima Seifu High School visited the shop for their last school trip. In the school, from April, they have been studying on disaster and recovery by finding out about life immediately after the disaster, emergency equipment that helped people to survive, change of life style caused by the disaster, and efforts for reconstruction. Students were very eager to learn from our experiences, raising many questions, while shop owners were really pleased to be able to help younger generation amid a situation where they are simply receiving abundant help from outside people. They felt dignity in the fact that they can be any help to others.
In short, they are still facing a situation where maintaining their living is still extremely difficult and where they have to live through with ever increasing uncertainty and anxiety.
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