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Keiko Inoue Shun Sato no Aji Inoue
On 3/11
Would you tell me where you were on 3/11...
...what the situation was like at the time and about the rest of the day?
Well, I was here.
First, I was worried about my tenants, so I went to see if they were OK.
They told me they were OK, and told me to go downstairs.
When I went downstairs, I saw your building was flexing.
That was much scarier.
What was flexing?
The glass windows, you know, they were flexing.
Watching from here, it was like "What on earth is happening?".
You mean the mediatheque building was flexing.
Yes, the glass windows. Right, Miyuki?
They were flexing.
How?
Like this.
Up and down?
Yes. Yes.
I felt like "Gee!"
You see the big refrigerator over there?
That fell down. Its leg broke.
So I asked a pizza boy downstairs to bring a stone to lift it up.
Meanwhile, my tenants were worrying about me.
They said, "Come down quickly!" and came to take me downstairs.
Were there any aftershocks after you went downstairs?
No, not any more at that time.
There were many aftershocks!
Oh? Many....
Yes, so many.
See? I'm not the right person to talk to.
I'm not afraid of that sort of thing at all.
Not at all? No.
How about the 1978 Miyagi Earthquake?
At that time, I was at home.
I was running a lodging house for Tohoku University students.
So when the students came home, I just told them "Watch out, get away from here."
But that's as far as it went.
This time, you weren't afraid as you felt like the thirty-year earthquake had finally come?
No. I just felt that the predicted earthquake had finished.
Because this building was not damaged at all.
As the buildings next to us are big and have deep foundations, they protected this building.
It 's totally OK here. We even don't have any cracks.
All that broke were just two sake bottles here and...
...two wine glasses downstairs which were on a shelf.
No more damage.
Would you tell us again about the merit of sliding doors?
Sliding doors are good.
How are they so good?
Well, they don 't open in a quake.
Was it not because the door had opened and they dropped?
Broken inside?
Is it right you saw the bottles were being broken inside?
I've heard that all things inside a hinged door had fallen down.
After you cleaned up here and went home, I suppose there was no electricity.
What was your life like?
Life with lamps. No, no. Just kidding.
Candles? Yes, candles.
You used charcoal, right?
Oh, yes. Charcoal.... Charcoal.
I managed using charcoal for the time being.
I had some charcoal for tea ceremony.
I went about using them.
With brazier?
Yes.
So did you cook with a brazier and charcoal?
No.
You warmed yourself with it?
Yes....and I used it to heat food and boil some water.
3 months and 2 days since 3/11
What I suggest is that you buy a slip-proof mat at 100 yen stores and put it inside your shelves.
If you have a hinged door, it opens like this.
So you'd better fix a latch which you can get at 100 yen stores. That's all.
I bought some latches, because all the manga comics had toppled over.
That was tough for, well not me, our staff to put them all back.
Yes, I've bought some, not set them yet though.
All I want to say is buy this kind of latch at somewhere like a 100 yen store and fix them.
You mean, "Be prepared"?
Yes, be prepared. Appearance is not important.
One more thing. Don't show off expensive items.
That's important.
Well, I enjoy tea ceremony, but in the 1978 Miyagi Earthquake,...
...as I had been displaying my expensive ones outside, I lost all of them.
Only cheap items were left.
I learned that's not good.
This time I stored them in the back, so it was OK.
Well, I pretend that I have, though.
To not forget
well.... All you have to do is to remember the foremost problems you faced at the time.
The best thing is to remember what it was like.
I suppose everyone can remember, as long as they aren 't stupid.
So the important thing for us is to remember the challenges we faced.
Yes, I think so.
It's also significant for parents in terms of how they tell their small children.
You mean education is important?
Yes, education is important.
Rather than their hardships, I think parents should tell children now and again...
...about the importance of water and the spirit of mutual aid.
They should educate children that selfishness is wrong.