Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Interview with Florence Otsuki (Keeping a record of the Great East Japan Earthquake)
- I came to Sendai in 1984. - A long time ago.
- I have lived here for 28 years. - Your Japanese is fluent.
Florence Otsuki and Ryoichi Suzuki
I studied at Tohoku University. My husband is Japanese. And I have taught at universities.
After the quake, I traveled with French journalists as an interpreter to various places.
- Are you from France? - Yes. Sorry, I forgot to say.
- You seem like a native of Sendai. - Well, I've lived in Sendai much longer than in Paris, my hometown.
Life after the quake
- Was it hard? - Yes. I saw no cars on the street.
- I saw people walking with futons everywhere. - Walking with futons?
Me too. I stayed at my friend's home for 2 days.
I asked my friend because my house was in danger. I slept in my car for 10 days.
- Oh, I see. - In your car?
There were three of us, two dogs, and my mother-in-law in the car. It was terrible.
On the first night, we all sat up in the car because we weren't sure whether a tsunami would come again.
And we had no power.
My husband came home that night. Until then we had been in a parking lot with our dogs in a cage.
We were waiting outside in the snow until night. Then we got in the car, and turned on the GPS to find...
...something white floating on the screen. At first, it was blurred. Soon I realized it was a house.
We didn't know what on earth happened until night fell.
Indeed. People in Sendai weren't aware that a tsunami was coming although they should have known earlier.
Therefore we brought futons to my friend's house and stayed for 2 days.
My mother-in-law returned home alone. She is brave.
- She returned home? - We parked our car in a neighbor's parking space.
Our parking space was so close to our house that it would be dangerous if the house collapsed.
My mother-in-law slept at home and us in our car. Our car was completely covered by snow.
- With the engine on? - No. We had no gasoline.
10 nights sleeping in a car. It was too cold to sleep.
You couldn't even extend your legs in the car, could you?
Our car is a Noah. If my mother-in-law is with us, we can't recline the seats.
As we were only three, we could lie down side by side with a dog-cage on the front seat.
Recording memories on a blog.
I recommend you write down your memories for your children and grandchildren.
Before you forget it.
I was at a liquor shop in Wakabayashi-ku when the quake hit. The tsunami didn't come there but...
...in retrospect, I was in a dangerous place.
I wrote down what I did in the morning and what it was like that day.
I remember that it was sunny in the morning but it turned to strange weather in the wake of the quake.
I recorded what I felt and what happened. But it was all after electricity came back.
I couldn't contact my family in France for 3 to 4 days.
In France, a horrible disaster was reported. My friends know I live in Sendai.
When I got on the Internet, I was surprised to find hundreds of e-mails sent to me.
Have you replied to all of them?
It takes time. I have written a blog for a long time.
Because French people tend to associate Japan with Kabuki-cho, a gang town in Japan.
Typical pictures of Japan are neon signs, Pachinko, Karaoke and so on. But it is not true.
Swans migrate to Sendai and Sendai is a rural area. Japanese are not weird tribes living in the Far East.
They are ordinary people like you. Japanese are not necessarily geeks.
As people in French see Japan through comics, they regard all Japanese as geeks.
I would argue that it 's the French who are the nerds.
I own dogs and go to a river for a walk. I show landscapes of downtown Sendai on my blog.
I'd rather introduce rural areas of Sendai.
I try to show Sendai as a little more rural than it really is. I also like local festivals.
But this time, for my family and remembering the disaster, I recorded the details on my blog.
I've updated my blog twice a day after returning home.
I wrote what it was like in the town. It was bizarre. I saw no cars on the street.
It was quite silent. There are usually people and cars everywhere at this time. But there were no cars on that day.
I didn 't have to worry about being run over Even if I walked in the middle of the street.
I wrote whatever I noticed in my blog, like the ambience of shops and people even the most trivial things.
A bond with Suzuki-san
What brought us together? You came to us as an interpreter for Henry.
No. Milch, a French guy. Henry speaks Japanese.
- He is a handsome guy. - Yes, kind of.
- His wife is Japanese, from Nagoya. - Exactly.
I met him in a town and he wanted to see the temporary houses. So I brought him here because it is in my neighborhood.
Thanks to that, I had a chance to make friends with you. I often come here by bicycle.
We were asked for an interview. That was the beginning of our friendship.
- Was he reporting for Voice of America? - No.
- What media? - You have a lot of business cards.
He mainly reported for radio stations.
We went to various places for interviewing, from Taro in Iwate to Kesennuma many times.
Journalists usually go back home after the interviewing finishes. It's sad.
It's no problem for journalists because they are back in France. But I stay in Sendai.
Whenever I visit, I find someone I get along well with. In fact, Hisako who is living in Taro, sent me an e-mail, mentioning the Bon holidays.
When I visit someplace and people tell their stories, I make friends with them.
I go to see them when my husband is off.
For example, I called people in temporary houses in Kesennuma beforehand to ask what they needed.
Can you guess what they asked me to bring? I guess you never can.
- A Spanish textbook. - What?
One person learns Spanish as a hobby. So I took it.
Sometimes I took my hand-made cakes.
But since you are my neighbors, I might treat you differently.
Interview on August 19,2011 Filmed and edited by Yumiko Hayakawa