Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
August 19, 2011 Gamo, Miyagino-ku, Sendai, Miyagi
(on the car) 7-Eleven Mobile Food Vender Van
(on the shop sign) 7-Eleven Gamo Minami Store
Where were you on March 11, Mr.Aizawa?
7-Eleven Gamo Minami Store Yutaka Aizawa
When the quake hit, I had just arrived home.
I was done with most of the work I had to do, so I was heading home.
I had just gotten home when the earthquake hit.
I thought I would have to go back to the store right away.
I got on the car before the main quake stopped.
As I left right after the quake, it took only about 15 minutes.
I had expected that a strong earthquake would hit sooner or later.
So, what I did first was to make our staff members go home.
I had decided that we should open the store during the daytime.
After the two staff members left, I began cleaning the store.
But I couldn't possibly put things in order.
The earthquake's intensity had been too strong.
There was a lot of broken glass, and I found it impossible to let shoppers in.
So, I closed the store for the day.
When I got out of the store, I heard the sound of a tsunami warning.
The idea of a tsunami striking briefly crossed my mind.
I never expected that it would really happen though.
I put up a notice saying the store would be open the next morning.
And I asked shoppers there to come again the following morning.
I left the store soon afterward.
I guess it was around 3:40 pm.
The tsunami struck about five or six minutes later, I think.
Right, five or six minutes later. That was pretty close.
It didn't seem so tense. Actually, there was a traffic jam on some streets.
But we local residents usually take paths through paddy fields.
So I passed through smoothly without getting caught in a traffic jam.
I turned on the radio and heard that the tsunami was approaching.
I still wasn't anxious though I saw the picture Sendai airport was being hit by the tsunami.
As I was worried about my family, I went back home anyway.
I made sure that my children were back safe.
As I could think of nothing better to do, I began putting things back in place at home.
I started watching TV and knew that the store building might be washed away.
I went to the store the following morning. It was around seven.
I hastened to the store, but found that I wouldn't be able to get into the area.
The situation was terrible in Okada district.
There was mud all over and cars had been scattered here and there by the tsunami.
The police happened to be there. They were about to come up.
I was following the police officers and the fire fighters.
Water was still nearly my knee high.
I walked and finally got to the store.
I found that the store building was left standing.
Yes, there's a car shop there now. Most items in the store were swept away.
Two cars were stuck in its entrance.
It was such a mess I couldn't even go into the store.
Meanwhile, there was not much to do at home.
On TV, some stores had reportedly started supplying meals or selling goods.
I felt like starting something.
As you see, however, this area was badly affected.
And this place was a base for the Self Defense Forces.
They used this district as the local base for searching for victims.
Since nobody was around it wasn't such a good place to offer meals.
I was considering what to do.
One day, I was asked, "We are launching a mobile food van business. Why don't you join us?"
I said, "I'd love to."
I was the first person to accept the offer.
It took us a while to prepare for it.
About a month later, I began the service.
When local people came to check their houses...
...they stopped by the store and we chatted over various topics including our safety.
This temporary store was a place for small talk during the whole month.
Few people have come back so far, especially in this area.
Most customers now are the workers who are engaged in construction.
They come to buy their lunch.
It may sound strange, but I enjoyed chatting with the customers.
It was a different kind of business.
At first, I was eager to open the store as early as possible.
I just wanted to see our regular customers and sell them a variety of goods.
I reopened the store even though I thought it might be a little too early.
It was a sort of mission for 7-Eleven.
When earthquakes occur, stores must be open and we must offer to sell goods to customers.
That's the principle we always keep in mind.
I was feeling bad since I couldn't follow the principle.
We had expected earthquakes...
...and figured out how many people we could handle.
We were supposed to be ready.
I was feeling sad we had not carried it out.
When I started this, they thought that I would resume 7-Eleven there again.
But it would be quite difficult.
It's been 15 years since the store opened. We reached the 15th anniversary on July 5th.
I wish I could continue the business longer.
Then are you strongly attached to Minamigamo?
Definitely.
Shoppers from the neighborhood association and senior citizen's club helped us so much.
They often ordered boxed lunches from us.
They were very good customers.
A sense of responsibility brought you to launch this service. How have people reacted to it?
They were very glad this service had started.
I was very surprised that they were happy about the reopening itself.
Some people living in the neighborhood even shed tears.
They were grateful that the store was reopening.
Their reaction was kind of unexpected.
I began this service partly because it was just an unfinished task for me.
To my surprise, a lot of people expressed their thanks to me.