Flags show fishing communities resolve to rebuild (JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

A flag is tied to a piece of driftwood in Oya-Motoyoshi district
of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on April 3. (Koichi Ueda)

A flag is raised where Koya Miura's house once stood, in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi
Prefecture, on April 2. (Gen Hashimoto)

Choei Ito spreads out a flag in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture,
after removing mud from it. (Masatomo Norikyo)

By MASATOMO NORIKYO Staff Writer
All along the Sanriku coast from Iwate Prefecture to Miyagi Prefecture, brightly colored flags are flying over the rubble of former fishing ports and villages.

In happier times, before the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake that devastated the coast, these flags signified large catches of fish.

Today, survivors of the disaster are hoisting the flags to mourn for fishermen and their family members who have died and to show their determination to rebuild their communities.

In the Oya-Motoyoshi district of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, about 80 percent of the 250 fishermen's households lost their houses on March 11. Three days later, fisherman Iwao Okoshi, 44, living near the fishing port there, found a red flag in the rubble and debris.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104170110.html

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