Onward from Kesennuma, there are no more train services along the Sanriku coast. Replacing it is the BRT system, Bus Rapid Transit. I remember seeing similar system in the city of Jakarta and HeFei, China. There is also one in the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen. Not too long ago, someone got on one of the Xiamen BRT bus with some flameable material (kerosene?) and set the bus in flame causing fatalities. A BRT system is basically ordinary buses plying on designated lanes on road shared with the general traffic. The big deal with the BRT is in keeping the rest of the traffic flow out of the bus lanes. Normally there is a low barrier between the bus lanes and the rest of the traffic. Well, if you have experience the chaos of Jakarta traffic, you will appreciate that keeping the rest of the traffic out alone is a BIG deal.
Otherwise, BRT is not that different from other bus services. Singapore toy with similar idea, but in keeping with the city state of cooking up high concept solution for basic problems (satellite-based electronic road pricing, anyone?), the local BRT idea goes like this: a wide double-decker-like bus(occupying about 2 lanes), its lower deck hollowed out except the giant wheels for the rest of traffic to flow unimpied under the upper deck, where the passengers are.
Going by the map I have, the Ofunato BRT line was placed into service barely 2 months ago, about 2 years after 3-11.
The bus line ply between Kesennuma and Sakari, I made a stop in Rikuzen-Takata. It takes only about 30min from Kesennuma and Rikuzen-Takata, the only problem is with the frequency of the service, miss one bus and be prepared to wait for 1 to 2 hours for the next.The BRT bus was a big new bright red coach. While I imagine the original coastal railway line to be hugging the coast, the bus kept a ...respectful?...distance from the sea, although for most part, the bay and coves are visible from the bus.
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| The Miracle Pine on the Left |
The Japanese call it the 奇跡の一本松, miracle it is the solitary tree left after the tsunami in what was once a plain of pines. Looking at the tree, this song I used to have to sing in my army days kept playing in my head: Just like the tree standing on the waterfront, we shall not be mooove...Delta Delta all the way...We like it here we like it here, we found ourselves a home, a home, a home sweeeet home...1,2...3,4...1-2-3-4...
The R-T station is right beside a rectangular parking area, one of its edge flanked by what looks like small kiosks. I went into what looks like the information kiosk and left with a R-T visitor map. On the map, there are supposed to be the R-T tourist centre and a local produce and craft centre right near the busstop. "Surveying the landscape", I realize those small kiosks ARE the tourist centre and craft centre.
There was also a kiosk serving as the bus waiting room, the benches still smelling fresh new wood.
Another of the kiosk serves as the JR East Japan Rikuzen-Takata Station. I arrived outside its much-shortened office hours, so I couldn't check out what it was like inside. Walking around to the back, I was expecting railway tracks, or at least bed of gravels. But there was none, what I got was a slope leading to a wide road. I guess the BRT will be here to stay for the near future, a new railroad will take much longer, if at all. The JR station probably serves to handle ticket reservation for other part of the country.
I went back into kiosk again, first I asked if there is any place for lunch, I was told lunchtime is over and the place was rather far from the busstop. Then I asked about the old Rikuzen-Takata station. "No more", the young lady officer at the reception gestured to make the fact clear to me. "Can I visit the site, can I walk there, how long will that take." "That way, below this flyover, about 20min one way." She crooked her neck, on her face an expression of "you are welcome to try, but I wouldn't if I were you."
On the reception counter was a donation box for the "Save the Miracle Pine Fund". The town officials has a plan to keep the dying pine alive, which involve a solid gold core stem for the tree, which is being eaten away by the sea water that had seeped into the ground during the tsunami. The plan was supposed to cost up to millions of Yen if it went ahead. There were of course opposing voices, that that kind of money could be put to better use than to keep a tree alive. The fund never reach the amount feasible for the plan to go away, so it was scrapped. Luckily clearer heads prevailed. As with the fishing ship in Kesennuma, the reason for keeping the pine was for symbolic purposes and to generate some tourist money. But, luckily the voices of the local prevailed over that of other noises. I would think, restoring the livelihood of the townpeople should take precedent over other priorities.
Before heading down the steps from the flyover, I walk over to a quiet town higher up the slope. The quiet here broken only by a mobile grocery shop-on-a-van, its loudspeaker prompting the residents to come check out the merchandise. The houses here was sturdy, no sign of damage. They seems a proof of the general theory that if not for the tsunami, Japan were largely able to withstand the 3-11 earthquake.
Far out in the distance from the kiosks were the original R-T town centre. I looks to far to walk over and come back in time for the next bus.
On the road, heavy construction vehicles were coming from and going to the disaster site.
On the right of the road, temporary housing serving as the town commercial centre, with the usual colourful banners.
Right next to it was a slope, leading to the local high school. That seems to be a very distinct line, above of which were trees, and below of which were barren.
A large group of students in blue were making their way up the slope to the school. On the left, a LED road sign flashing the slogan: Ganbarou Iwate!
On the other edge of the busstop car park were rows of two-storey temporary housings. These are the town hall complex. Some of the officials were behind the row, puffing away, having their cigarette break. They were in their grey jumper suits, similar to the one the Prime Minister were wearing when he was giving press conferences during 3-11.
As I waited for my bus, there was a steady stream of locals visiting the town hall. I saw a banner with the word "Fighting!" on it, the only time I saw it used instead of Ganbarou. I guess since the Japan-S. Korea soccer World Cup, the South Korean has made Fighting their own.
Another banner advertise their "Challenge Day", the local sports event, as if restoring the town isn't challenge enough.
A fellow traveller checking out the plan for a new town centre coming up on the slope away from the sea.
About an hour after pulling into town, I left, the small kiosk shrinking into tiny kiosk as the bus makes it way towards Ofunato. That cluster of kiosks made me start thinking of the Unix kernel. Over there on the edges of the car park is the kernel of the Rikuzen-Takata new town (read on if you are familiar with the Windows-Unix rivalry, skip if you are only familiar with the Android-iOS-Windows rivalry). That area not bigger than a soccer field is the lightweight core of the new town, where Rikuzen-Takata will reboot. You may have know, the term "booting up" comes from "pulling oneself up with the bootstrap", sounds like a difficult, if not impossible task.
Well, you start by loading the tiny core of the operating system, and then work your way up. Similarly, the new town here is building its way up from these tiny kiosks. Rikuzen-Takata is pulling herself up with the bootstrap.
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