A little over a week ago, Japan was a prosperous and calm nation but today, the battle continues to prevent a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. Search teams still comb the tsunami wreckage for the injured or the dead. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless and if that weren't enough, the world's third largest economy could be facing a financial meltdown as well - All in just a week. Just after the quake struck last Friday, Dateline reporter, Toshi Maeda, in Tokyo grabbed his camera and drove north for this very personal account of his nation in crisis.
REPORTER: Toshi Maeda
Nine days ago, my country changed forever! I was at home in Tokyo when the earthquake hit and even here, 300km from the epicentre - it was terrifying - it seemed to go on forever. When the initial shock passed, I felt that as a reporter, I needed to head north to the quake zone to see for myself what had happened. I stopped by my parent's place to let them know I was leaving Tokyo.
My mother was kind of worried - she thinks that since I'm driving towards the nuclear power plant, I might be exposed to nuclear radiation and she was kind of nervous and to be honest, I'm a bit worried and I don't want to make them worry. Back at my own home, my plan to go north was even less popular.
REPORTER (Translation): You’re annoyed because my job as a journalist comes before my job as a father… and a husband.
GOLDA, REPORTER’S WIFE (Translation): It’s because you are irresponsible and always leave the work to me.
My Peruvian wife Golda was furious that I would leave her and our baby girl, Luna, in the middle of this chaos.
REPORTER (Translation): It’s okay to do my job, right?
GOLDA (Translation): I don’t want to talk to you, just do your own thing - like you always have – you don’t care about anyone else.
Despite the scolding, I decided to go. We don't know exactly what is happening, but apparently up north, some residents were exposed to levels of radiation 1,000 times higher than normal. And as for my family situation, my wife was still upset and worried, so I don't know, if I'm doing the right thing. I mean, as a journalist, maybe I'm doing the right thing. But as a husband, as a father - I don't know.
I'm heading to the town of Oarai on the coast, but it is slow going. The freeways up towards north are all closed, so I'm taking the local roads. The Government spokesman is having a news conference right now at 5.22 in the morning and he is explaining about the planned energy saving power outage and he admits that the government expects some degree of chaos. Chaos isn't something that we are used to in Japan but we are having to adapt quickly.
Finally, I've found a gas station that does have gasoline. Probably it's going to take an hour. I finally managed to fill up the tank and I'm glad I found gas when I did. Some of the cues at the gas stations are kilometres long - I can't seem to see the end of this line. When I finally get to Oarai, it is easy to see just how far the tsunami came inland - the streets are still covered in silt and mud. Down at the port, the power of the tsunami is obvious.
Hundreds of cars and boats were floating all over this area when the tsunami waves hit. This boat travelled past the break water, into the downtown area 600 metres from here. At the local noodle restaurant, I find the owner, Yoshio Kimura, cleaning up. He said that the tsunami actually came in many stages.
REPORTER (Translation): How long did the first, second and third waves last?
YOSHIO KIMURA, RESTAURANT OWNER (Translation): Probably the wave lasted ten minutes each time it hit but those ten minutes felt like 30 minutes – I hoped the water would go away soon but it lasted ten minutes each time. The water kept flowing in and out, rolling in and out – it was really scary.
At that same time, towns all along Japan's north-east coast were being pounded by tsunami waves.
REPORTER (Translation): It must have been scary?
YOSHIO KIMURA (Translation): It was scary - the faces of my wife and children were the first things that came to my mind. I automatically thought – I must save them first.
Thankfully, Kimura's wife and children all survived. Nearby, I find four siblings trying to make their sister's house liveable again. Many of Japan's small towns only have old people left in them, so they are carrying most of the burden. At midday, two of the families set off to make lunch for the rest and along the way, they tell me about their sister's ordeal. She was trapped in her house by the tsunami.
WOMAN (Translation): She went back inside to pick up something, she hurried to get out but then she couldn’t. She got out the window in water this deep.
Another aftershock just hit this area. I'm amazed at how strong and resilient these old people are.
ANNOUNCEMENT (Translation): This is an emergency message from the Oarai Anti-Disaster HQ.
Luckily, this announcement is just lifting the current tsunami warning. While the women make lunch, I catch up with one of the brothers, Takao Izaki. Until yesterday, there was no electricity here.
TAKAO IZAKI (Translation): I could not watch TV - I heard it was bad but I never expected this bad. It’s just incredible. The scenes from Ishinomaki and Onagawa are shocking.
Even though I've covered many natural disasters in the past, the pictures out of the north have shocked me too.
TAKAO IZAKI (Translation): We are in one of the luckier areas – if we think about the Sanriku region, there, towns like Onagawa were gone almost completely.
There are deaths here in Oarai too but nothing like the tolls further north. Even so, the survivors in this town are still at a loss.
TAKAO IZAKI (Translation): It’s impossible to tell… take this house, I don’t think it will be liveable again, I’m not sure what they will do.
I followed them to see what the relief operation looks like. It's small but effective. This handout has been organised by the local city council and most of the food and water has been donated by nearby businesses. In the public hall next door, I find about 100 people taking shelter.
WOMAN (Translation): My youngest is one year old.
REPORTER (Translation): It must be hard for you and the baby – what’s your house like at the moment?
WOMAN (Translation): It’s uh…. Because of the after shocks I can’t go near the house. There’s a river near by so I can’t go because a tsunami could hit again any time.
A medical team has turned up and nurse Saori Wakiti is not happy about what she's seeing.
SAORI WAKITI, NURSE (Translation): They are going to be under great stress, so I warn them about the stress and the sanitary situation is not good – we must stop infection spreading.
It's terrible to see old people now live and sleeping on a floor with 100 others night after night.
WOMAN (Translation): I wish at least the elderly could get some private space. I’m not getting much sleep.
OFFICIAL (Translation): A new tsunami warning is on, but we think it is safer to be here – please stay here on standby.
KAYOKO NAGASE (Translation): Our last supper, another tsunami could come and sweep us all away.
Kayoko Nagase's spirit hasn't been broken by the disaster, even though the house was. When the current warning has passed, we go outside to chat.
KAYOKO NAGASE (Translation): Don’t you film me – not so close, I’m not beautiful enough for a close up shot. We’ve got an earthquake, tsunami and radiation – it’s a triple punch. What more could we ask for? Nothing could be worse.
The nuclear reactor crisis is on everybody's mind.
MAN (Translation): Of course we are worried, there seems to be a southerly wind, it may blow it away from us but it’ll land elsewhere in Japan. People there will be affected – in the north, they will be. I don’t know what to say – either way, someone will suffer. We have been advised not to get wet in the rain. If radiation was visible we would know more – we don’t know what it will look like when it comes.
As the days have passed, we watched the crisis at the Fukushima power plant in horror. We've seen the updates on TV - not sure whether to believe the power company's statements or even our own government. With reactor after reactor exploding and radiation levels rising, it is like the country's worst nightmare is coming to life. I still can't believe it's happening, and neither can anyone else. Kayoko Nagase has taken me to see her ruined house. At last, my mother's flashlight has come in handy. Nagase-san points out her husband, who helped to build one of Japan's nuclear reactors in the early 80s.
KAYOKO NAGASE (Translation): He died of an illness, designing the Monju reactor was his final job, he was exposed to radiation when young so he would get skin infections even from one hair falling out. We were worried about having a child – the first thing he asked the nurse was whether the baby had a full set of fingers and toes.
She's painfully aware of the lasting legacy of nuclear accidents. With gas supplies uncertain and radiation spreading from the ruptured power plant, I know it is no longer safe for me to continue north. So I turn back to Tokyo. When I get back, my wife, Golda, is at breaking point.
GOLDA (Translation): I think that I’m done with Japan, I can’t do any more here – there could be an earthquake any time, the situation isn’t good.
Golda is incredibly worried about the safety of our beautiful little girl, Luna, so she wants to move to Ireland, where her brother lives.
REPORTER (Translation): How long are you planning to be away from Japan?
GOLDA (Translation): I don’t know, I don’t want to come back here.
REPORTER (Translation): You’ll never be back?
GOLDA (Translation): No.
REPORTER (Translation): What do you want me to do?
GOLDA (Translation): Well, what do you think you should do as a father? Humanly speaking, what do you think you should do?
REPORTER (Translation): Okay.
For foreigners, it is easy to leave and I understand why so many of them are, but my parents and my whole society is here, so leaving is a very complex decision for me. Golda can't go yet anyway because we don't have a passport for Luna so I head down to the registry office to start the process of getting one. For now, we are all stuck here no matter what happens at the nuclear reactors.
It looks like it is going to take about a week or so for them to process all of the documents and get my daughter a passport. So I hope that nothing major will happen over the next week in Tokyo.
MARK DAVIS: That report from Toshima was produced by Aaron Thomas in Tokyo and we learned that Toshi has just secured a passport for his daughter but the family is still in turmoil tonight, unsure of where they may be heading. Check the Dateline website for more on the story including before and after photos from the disaster zone and a behind the scenes look at the challenges of putting that story together. That's at SBS.comant au/datelinement and he adds that if he possibly can, family movements aside, he'll update his story as the situation changes in Japan. So keep an eye out for that on the website.
Reporter/Camera
TOSHI MAEDA
Producer
AARON THOMAS
Editor
MICAH MCGOWN
Translation/Subtitling
HIROKO MOORE
PILAR BALLESTEROS
Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN
20th March 2011