Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend

Entrance to the Takayama Beach Company

So, where did you spend your Canadian Thanksgiving weekend?  I spent it at a cabin, north of Tokyo, about 350 km.  It was one of the places where the tsunami of March 2011 hit.

The cabin itself did not receive any tsunami damage but it was twisted from the earthquake.  The VanderHaak's spent the past summer fixing the cabin up, and I was able to visit it this long weekend!  It was a great trip away from the city for the weekend!  

The Cabin

See where the rocks are? That part was swept away.

It was interesting how the tsunami was able to create immense damage.  If you have not been in this area before, you would almost never know that anything happened.  Once you begin to look closer, you start to see the signs.  Part of the breakwater was rebuilt because the huge wave broke through and over washing this part away.  

Part of a wall from a house

Brian and Bette told me that they have cleared much of the debris since the tsunami.  They separated the debris into specific piles and most of the piles are now gone.  That leaves areas of what looks like field.  When you walk through those areas where there are roads, you see the foundations of the houses/buildings that were swept away.  Some still have the mailboxes sitting there.  Many of the people who lost their houses have not had them rebuilt at this point.  Some may be squatting on their own property, others have moved to other places to live.

Rice Fields that contain salt water.

Another result of the tsunami is some of the nearby rice fields have salt water seeping in the ground.  That has not enabled the rice farmers to grow their rice.  When we went for a walk, we saw workers using excavators to dig up the soil.  It does not look like the fields will be rice ready for a while yet.  

The beach

When you stand on the beach, you see what the tsunami did on one side and then turn and look at the beautiful beach.  It can be difficult to grasp how that all happened and what that experience must have been for the people.  One morning as I was going for my jog, I saw an older lady, raking the ground, looking like she was preparing it for planting or looking for any personal items.  I also saw a man walk onto one of the places where there was only the foundation of a house and just stand there looking around.  The tsunami was about 18 months ago, but I am sure that it is still very fresh in the minds of many of those who lived through it.  It was a stark reminder to remember to continue to pray for restoration and healing.  

Sadly Monday, Canadian Thanksgiving came and we had to leave.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  This picture was taken at about 8 a.m.  It was a terrific weekend.  A much needed time away from the big city.  Now the weekend is almost over and it is back to teaching those grade six students, Bible, Math and Science, Tuesday.  I feel re-energized and am looking forward to continue to develop positive relationships with those students.