Trip to Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan - Day 1
The month of september was a very busy one for me. My sincere apologies for the delay in posting the blog. I had commenced my new school after a five month break; and in the space of four weeks, I have taken part in many activities, the highlight of them being my week long trip to Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan. In this series of four blogs, I will be writing on my experience of my first residential trip in Japan.In my school, each residential trip has a unique theme. Each trip focuses on its theme but brings light to it in a fun way. This time the focus of my residential was giving back to the nature.
Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan are all situated in Miyagi prefecture, which is high up in the north of Japan. These places are situated in the area where the 2011 Tohuku Tsunami unleashed its fury. As a class, we were to start our trip on Tuesday and reach back home on Friday. As I am a new student in my school, I did not know what to expect out of this jaunt and was a wee bit nervous.
Finally, the day of the trip arrived!! We reached the school at 7 am in the morning. Feeling slightly queasy, I took leave of my parents and boarded the bus. On entering the bus, I found out it would take seven long hours to reach our destination. At 7: 30, we commenced our journey to the picturesque Miyagi prefecture.
I was enthralled by the scenery as the hours slowly ticked away. We started on the expressways with buildings on either side. Gradually, the scenery began changing into long winding roads, lush paddy fields and the crystal pure air invisibly filled in the background.
Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan are barely 200 kilometres away from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant, which got destroyed in the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, sending lots of nuclear waste and radiation into both the sea and air. Though the Japanese government have done a good job in containing most of the waste and controlling the radiation levels, residents who once lived in that area can never return back there; there are a number of electronic signboards alongside the road which constantly display the amount of radiation in the air. Another big question for the government is that they are running out of space for building tanks to contain the affected sea water. They have to work out the other places for containing the water as it could prove fatal if let loose.
Prior to reaching moriumius, we made two little stops, first at the Okawa elementary school, where out of 108, 72 children and teachers died because they did not evacuate when the tsunami arrived, destroying the school. Though it was at a considerable distance from the coast line, they did not expect the tsunami to reach that far inland.
We then stopped at the Ogatsu elementary school. Here, we met one of the teachers in the school; she told us an incredible story in which when the tsunami warnings were issued, the teachers were reluctant to let the children leave, as they too believed that the tsunami would not reach that far inland. As few parents who panicked, arrived at the school to pick their children up, one mother, who knew the dangers of the tsunami, changed everyone's mind by emphasising on the power of the tsunami. She led everyone out of the school and went high up to the mountains to escape the tsunami; and today, every single student is still alive. An unbelievable fact I picked up, was that the tsunami wave reached heights up till 10 metres!! I am sure that even today, all the students are deeply indebted to that one mother who saved their lives.
After experiencing a bitter-sweet emotion following our two stops, we boarded the bus and continued towards our first destination: Moriumius.
On reaching moriumius, we were warmly welcomed by the staff who run it. We found out that it is actually an activities centre to help us both like and give to nature more. We got more evidence when we learnt that the word 'moriumius' is actually an amalgamation of the words mori- forest, umi-sea, and asu- tomorrow. We also discovered to our delight, that there are a number of domestic animals who live in the site, including a majestic rooster, six chickens, a pig, quails and a goat named Belinda.
After putting our bags away and making our beds( a tedious task😂) we headed out to do our first activity, make miso soup. Miso soup is a traditional Japanese delicacy and our challenge was to make it without using gas for fire. We gathered a bunch of fire wood and struck light to it with a match. With the miso soup boiling above, we took turns in blowing the fire, so that it would not die. By the end, though my face was fully covered with soot, the miso soup was absolutely delicious. As they say, No pain, No gain!!
To summarise, I had a fantastic first day. Stay in tune for the following ones😃
Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan are barely 200 kilometres away from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant, which got destroyed in the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, sending lots of nuclear waste and radiation into both the sea and air. Though the Japanese government have done a good job in containing most of the waste and controlling the radiation levels, residents who once lived in that area can never return back there; there are a number of electronic signboards alongside the road which constantly display the amount of radiation in the air. Another big question for the government is that they are running out of space for building tanks to contain the affected sea water. They have to work out the other places for containing the water as it could prove fatal if let loose.
Prior to reaching moriumius, we made two little stops, first at the Okawa elementary school, where out of 108, 72 children and teachers died because they did not evacuate when the tsunami arrived, destroying the school. Though it was at a considerable distance from the coast line, they did not expect the tsunami to reach that far inland.
We then stopped at the Ogatsu elementary school. Here, we met one of the teachers in the school; she told us an incredible story in which when the tsunami warnings were issued, the teachers were reluctant to let the children leave, as they too believed that the tsunami would not reach that far inland. As few parents who panicked, arrived at the school to pick their children up, one mother, who knew the dangers of the tsunami, changed everyone's mind by emphasising on the power of the tsunami. She led everyone out of the school and went high up to the mountains to escape the tsunami; and today, every single student is still alive. An unbelievable fact I picked up, was that the tsunami wave reached heights up till 10 metres!! I am sure that even today, all the students are deeply indebted to that one mother who saved their lives.
After experiencing a bitter-sweet emotion following our two stops, we boarded the bus and continued towards our first destination: Moriumius.
On reaching moriumius, we were warmly welcomed by the staff who run it. We found out that it is actually an activities centre to help us both like and give to nature more. We got more evidence when we learnt that the word 'moriumius' is actually an amalgamation of the words mori- forest, umi-sea, and asu- tomorrow. We also discovered to our delight, that there are a number of domestic animals who live in the site, including a majestic rooster, six chickens, a pig, quails and a goat named Belinda.
After putting our bags away and making our beds( a tedious task😂) we headed out to do our first activity, make miso soup. Miso soup is a traditional Japanese delicacy and our challenge was to make it without using gas for fire. We gathered a bunch of fire wood and struck light to it with a match. With the miso soup boiling above, we took turns in blowing the fire, so that it would not die. By the end, though my face was fully covered with soot, the miso soup was absolutely delicious. As they say, No pain, No gain!!
To summarise, I had a fantastic first day. Stay in tune for the following ones😃
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