6/22 Shiogama, Matsushima, and Onagawa

After breakfast at our hotel in Sendai, were hopped into a small passenger van for a short drive to a boat port in nearby Shiogama. Our driver, Nasuno-san, educated us about the extent of the devastation in several of our stops. We watched a short video of the tsunami coming down the very intersection we had stopped at. From the Marine Gate port in Shiogama, we boarded a boat to view the 200+ islands of the neighboring Matsushima Bay. Last year Logan and I participated in a similar trip, but our seating caused us to miss seeing out of the larger windows. This year we were privileged to stand on an observation deck and get a full 360° view. Our driver met up with us as we ended the boat tour in Matsushima. He showed us before and after pictures of some of the shops in his hometown of Matsushima and accompanied us to Zuigan-ji, a nearby temple, and a beautiful garden called Entsuin. Everyone was starting to run out of steam, by Logan and David stopped at a nearby ice cream vendor that offered some of flavors of ice cream. Logan opted for jelly fish while David had the whitebait. Hilarity ensued. That burst of energy held us through till a late lunch. Some of had some fried oysters while others had the tempura. We rested and regathered our (jet lagged) senses before riding the van to our next stop.

As we passed through Ishinomaki, our knowledgeable driver showed us places where the recovery effort was still in full swing. We were escorted to an unscheduled stop at a school where we learned that the school's principal eschewed the school's evacuation policy and had the school's 200+ student population evacuate to the gym instead of staying near the older school building that didn't do so well against the tremors. We saw an illustration of the swirling tsunami waters entering the gym and drown 13. It was humbling to hear the story and even more humbling to actually meet one of the survivors by a random coincidence at an abandoned train station where we had stopped to take pictures. His story of leaving the gym to fend for himself for two days in the middle of March when he was still in elementary school was inspirational.

We had a fancy dinner at our hotel. Among the things that were served were: scallops, anko & kasago fishes, and whale sashimi. Everyone was a good sport about trying new things. It was a fun event with Chihiro, Ai, and Shoya from last year's camp.

We were then invited to their school where their class had a fun night of charades, a skit and cultural exchange planned. It was sad to leave knowing that we wouldn't be returning. The warmth and hospitality that we felt there made this one of our favorite stops this year and last year.