In Commemoration of March 11.

Hello.

The photo is one I encountered at last year's Tanabata Festival.

"This Tanabata decoration was handmade one by one by children from 188 elementary and junior high schools, special support schools, and secondary education schools in Sendai City, with the hope that each person will not forget the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, and will challenge themselves to create a green and rich hometown for our hometown (Sendai) that is progressing in reconstruction, looking toward the future."

That was written.

It moved me deeply.

I am from Sendai.

To be precise, my parents are from Sendai, and I grew up moving around Tohoku.

My grandmother, who was raised by the sea, taught me the Sendai dialect.

After the earthquake, that grandmother lived in evacuation for several months and then returned to a house that had been beautifully renovated with no trace of the flood damage,

"After all, our home is nice. It feels good."

(It means "After all, my own home is nice. It feels good.")

She said this with a smile and quietly passed away in that house three years ago.

Even as the vivid memories of the earthquake fade, the memories connecting me and the people of Sendai only become clearer.

"Dont slack off,"

my grandmother would probably say to me.

It means "Dont be lazy."

What I must do, what I can do for Sendai, I have to keep doing my best from now on.