Anniversary coverage of the disaster has started on TV. It's near the bone and and sometimes hard to watch. Brings it all back. A lot has happened in a year and yet it seems like yesterday. I was talking to someone at work yesterday and he was saying the same thing: the tsunami, no water, electricity or petrol - it only seems like last week. Vivid memories stay in the mind playing tricks on your sense of time.
I was wondering how I should spend the anniversary. But the burghers of Koriyama have it sorted. We're going to have a matsuri, 'Let the World Know Koriyama is Well Festival!'. It's to be held in the station square and environs and there's going to be music, dancing, comedians, a tug of war and stalls of B-grade gourmet food. B-grade gourmet? It's the best (there are serious competitions for this) of B-grade cuisine, i.e. cheap, everyday food such as yakisoba, raamen, yakiniku and much more. The local radio station will be covering the festivities, parts being broadcast nationally. Nishida Toshiyuki will be appearing at one of the shows at the Belle View wedding hall on Route 4.
こおりやま元気発信フェスティバル
The people of Koriyama are frontier folk. The area was arid scrubland until it was developed in the late nineteenth century by lower ranking samurai from all over the country who found themselves suddenly unemployed when the Shogun gave up power and the feudal system broke down. Unlike those living in the castle towns of Aizu, Nihonmatsu, Sukagawa and Miharu, the people of Koriyama are tough and unsophisticated. So why bother about radiation? Let's get on with life and show the world we know how to have a good time! That seems to be the message. And I for one will certainly be there.
Girls Day today. Slushy underfoot after yesterday's heavy snowfall. Hope to go skiing tomorrow.
Anne
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