9) Moonlight

March 19, nighttime

It seemed like we could get some rest tonight, but there are a lot of people with fevers or with stomachaches, so we decided to take turns resting in the first-aid car.

I feel less lonesome in the gymnasium, where everyone else is, but I have no business acting like a baby.


The driver's seat was bright, so I went to check whether the light was left on, but it was actually moonlight, from a gigantic moon!! Is this just for tonight? Is it some kind of phenomenon? I think we would all feel a little less lonely if it were this bright every night.

People who can't sleep have come out of the gymnasium to see the moon, too. The moonlight is shining on them. They're smiling a little!

Please let smiles and happiness reach each and every person in the affected areas. Please never let any more sadness come upon them.


I think the medical supplies will be coming soon, a late-night delivery. I am enormously grateful to the people who packed the supplies and the truck driver who is bringing them here.


Tomorrow, a lot of people will be transferring from this evacuation site to another temporary evacuation site prepared by a different prefecture, so I hope to help with their preparations, too.

Today I talked to an old lady who was saying that it will be heart-wrenching to leave Takata, where she was born and has lived for ninety years. She said there was an institute called the Sea and Shell Museum in Takata, and her house was in the same neighborhood. Seeing the smiles of the tourists there was part of her daily routine.

She experienced poverty after the war, but she worked hard with her husband to build a house, and even bought a boat to go fishing. When they got old, they retired from work and had grandchildren and were quietly enjoying their lives without any extravagance, and then this earthquake happened.

"We could start over again like we did after the war, but we're not young any more," she sobbed. I can understand how strongly she wishes not to leave this place so well that it hurts.

Even if it is a temporary evacuation, it will be enormously stressful for the elderly to transfer to different prefectures or to leave Takata, more than we can imagine. But if they can be promised the kindness of the people there, and a warm place to stay and food—then all I can say is, hang in there, just for a little longer!!


Now I'm sort of loathing going back to Tokyo, too.





Next entry: 10) Tomorrow will be better than today.





Translated March 28.
Original entry in Japanese: 9、月明かり