6/28 Going Home

Our last bit of exploration in the morning brought us to a crowded underground passageway beneath Sendai Station

After a week of looking for a different flavor of coolish, these were found on the last day in the last five minutes of the last hour.

Not too thrilled to be going home

We took the train back to the airport. Not this train obviously

More goodbyes

Last meal in Japan

This took the sting out of saying all those goodbyes

A sight for sore eyes.

More goodbyes. Waiting for our rides. Back home, it's now quiet without my constant companions

6/27 Farewell Party

Our last night. No captions are necessary, just look at the smiles.

6/27 Shinchi Shoreline & Shoei JHS

We still had more time so we drove to the shoreline to see an area where many homes once stood

Huge empty spots all filled with debris or trash.

By the time we finished taking pictures, it was almost the end of school. Two future TALP delegates attended a nearby school and rather than head back to the hotel early, we were excited at the prospect of meeting them before they come to Hawaii.

Looking at the smiles, I'd say it was a worthwhile detour.

6/27 Hanakiyama Garden

Since both of our scheduled stops finished earlier than planned we drove up to Hanakiyama to visit a rose garden high above Shinchi.

The caretakers greeted us with apologies because all of its famous roses were out of season.

The remaining flowers (of other varieties) were still stunning

The host couple in the tea shop were so friendly. They even shared some homemade strawberry ice cream

Before we left, we combined our remaining gifts and presented them with some snacks and a calendar (that was coincidentally perfect -- Flowers of Hawaii)

6/27 Gangoya Temporary Housing

I quickly learned that this is a new community made up of displaced residents and that these are their new permanent homes deep in some fields behind the main city.

The residents all gathered in their community center awaiting our arrival

They were kind, generous and warm hearted

Some were very open about their experiences with the tsunami. Kristen points to where this man's house once was...beachfront.

6/27 Shinchi

After nearly a year, we were able to return to this quiet town in Fukushima with some of the friendliest people around.

Arriving at the town hall, we were escorted to the roof.

This miniature diorama had the new locations of some of the housing complexes.

We met the vice Mayor.

Part of me was disappointed that he was too busy to sit down with us. The other part of me was glad to skip that formality so we could do more.

6/26 Ogatsu

After an emotionally draining afternoon, we drove to Ogatsu, a small rural town in famous for its slate that was fine enough to provide a slate for Tokyo Station.

Daini Katsu Maru was found in East Oahu and returned to its original port after 4 years adrift due to the tsunami.

Amane and Kristen walk up from the beach to the slate cutting & preparing shop.

The slate production shop was nestled in a valley.