- An old building in a city in northeastern Japan is still standing despite being severely damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
- The city has since undergone a large-scale uplift project and looks nothing as it did before the disaster.
- A man named Yuichi Yonezawa was saved by the building during the disaster and has preserved it as a reminder of what happened. He shares his experience with others.
On March 11, 2011, a tsunami hit Japan, and Yonezawa protected himself by holding onto the chimney on top of his 14-meter-tall building owned by Yonezawa Shokai. His parents and younger brother had been with him in the building earlier but moved to a nearby civic hall, where they were killed by the tsunami. The tsunami also washed away all their photos and other memories.
After the tsunami in 2011, Yonezawa realized that the Yonezawa Shokai building saved his life, and so he decided to preserve it as a memory of the disaster. He pays for the building’s upkeep by himself and doesn’t get any public funding. Since everything around the building has been changed due to a large-scale uplift project, citizens who remember the building are happy that it still stands.
Yonezawa shares his story of surviving the disaster with visitors who come to see the preserved building. A marker showing how high the tsunami rose has been placed on the chimney, about 20 centimetres below its top so that visitors can imagine the size of the tsunami.
“I don’t want people to feel the same way I did,” Yonezawa said. “I hope that when people face a similar situation, they will protect their own lives and survive.”
