“Technology supremacy brings about natural disasters- the 1st Hokkaido Earthquake
Volunteer -”September 9 ~ 12, 2018
Kobe International Sustaining Organization
Administrative Director Yoshio Iwamura<Introduction>
Hokkaido is the place of rich nature, so I have been fascinated by their landscapes, pastures and hot
springs since my young age. It is also the memorial place where I visited with my beloved wife in
1992.
There is a living testimony of the horse of Hokkaido.1
Horses that have been living with human beings as the only power to explore the land graduallydisappear with the mechanization in agricultural field. It is because of that tractors have been usedinstead of horses. An aged-horse has been used for years at a farmer, but it is just living everyday
now and kept by its owner since it became too old to do work. However, the family started to feelthat they cannot endure to see the death of their horse when the time comes, so they decided to sell
their horse.
When the family provided a good food for their horse on the day before, the horse seemed to realize
his situation. When the tractor came to take him, he touched his owner’s shoulder softly by his
cheek. And then the family was recalled their consciousness, and they noticed that their horse wascrying. The family could not move just like a stone but just watching at their crying horse.
Eventually the horse started to walk by himself on the footplate, and got on the tractor. He had notlooked back to his owner family again.
What a sad but beautiful moment is?
Fulfilling the end of life is important for people as well. What the important is how to do it.
One thing is to know own mission. And have a heart of appreciation for accomplishments of themission.
The second is to entrust yourself. When you entrust everything including your life and death, do notwaste to seek longevity, you will have the last moment of your life in peace. It seems that animals
that live in the nature also tell us not to be obsessed too much for life otherwise you cannot
overcome your death beautifully.
The third is, to treat the nature preciously like, “Human beings are living with the mountain Kamuy(a spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology), the water Kamuy and the Kamuy of nature. We musttake good care of it”.

1

2008. Satouchi, A. “Ainushiki Ecology Seikatsu”. Shogakukan. Book band.

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The famous Ainu Ekashi (= elder), Haruzo Urakawa [1938-] says so.2
The landscape of silos, pastures and horse grazing of Hokkaido is recorded in my deep heart.
It was impossible to imagine that the Ainu mosir (the quiet earth of human beings), which has been
taking care of the nature, has broken by the earthquake. I was in the Middle East when I heard about
the news of event, I was overwhelmed by the sense of despair, and I thought “This is the end ofJapan”. As soon as I returned to Japan from Beirut, I flied from Itami Airport to New Chitose
Airport on September 9 (Sunday), because I was worried about the damage of the village of the
Ainu people.

(1) New Chitose Airport became the base of the Japan Self-Defense Forces’ Seventh Division.
a. New Chitose Airport
The Japanese news articles that I heard in Beirut were as follows. “Among the gross agricultural
production (9.2 trillion yen) in 2016, Hokkaido occupied the top of the domestic market, and it was
13% (1.2 trillion yen). The raw milk, which is the raw material of milk and butter, Hokkaido takes
up 49% of the whole country’s output value.” (“The Nihon Keizai Shinbun”. September 7, 2018)“If the power outage in Hokkaido has occurred in the winter season that more electricity is needed
due to heating, there's a possibility that damage has become even severe.” (“Asahi Shimbun”.
September 7, 2018)
According to the summary of the Hokkaido Government, as of September 7, 11am, 7,339 people
were evacuated in 768 locations of evacuation shelters in 113 municipalities in Hokkaido.
Landslides, liquefaction phenomena and power outages across Hokkaido caused severe damage.
The New Chitose Airport, which was the starting place of Hokkaido trip with my wife, not what it
was used to be, and I could not find the spot where I kept my wife waiting because I returned to the
airplane for picking up something I left. It is because of that the airport was relocated to a newlocation. The airport which became a modern style seemed inorganic. It was unfortunate thatmemories have been erased. The feeling like warmth in mother’s womb has disappeared and only
the mechanized convenience was there. The aisle that connected to the airport from trap became noentry zone that was controlled by the Japan Self-Defense Forcess’ Seventh Division. That was astrict guard that no single traveler could approach. I felt like the knife of threat to me that of “和則両利(Wa-Soku-Ryo-Ri: Harmony-follow-both-benefit / 闘則倶傷(Tou-Soku-Gu-Shyo: Fightfollow-together-hurt)”, there is benefit if you harmonize together, but both will hurt if you fighteach other.
b. Power Blackout
The residents are still talking about the fear of aftershocks. Even near the New Chitose Airport, thefood shelves of convenience stores were all empty on 9th night.
2

1991. Fujibayashi, K. “Ikiru Tanoshimi”. Kyoto Gospel Church.p.98.

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Even in Sapporo became a lawless area because of the situation that no signal, reverse driving andeach driver’s conscious sense became the traffic rule.
Although blackouts were resolved, it was a fatal to dairy farmers because they could not use any
electricity for nearly 40 hours. They could not use the machine to squeeze cattle’s milk, so dairy
cattle became sick because they could not give out milk. Dairy products became impossible to buy
while I was staying in Hokkaido. It was a big problem
Not only in Hokkaido, but also at the same time, the impact of Typhoon No.21damaged the power
supply between Osaka and Kobe City. It became unable to cook, to take bath and to use toilet. The
foods inside of the fridge were decayed. We could not charge our smartphones, so the safety
confirmation tools had become useless. We could not request for relief for own safety and we
suddenly experienced the inconvenience of living life like on an uninhabited island. Survival kit fordisaster was useless. When I tried to support the window that seemed to crack, I felt like my backbecame frozen by the strong pressure of wind and rain against the window.
Dams, which is aimed at supplying to the factory area, had been produced the structure of ahydraulic power generation, electrical power transmission line and power poles in urban areas.
Technically, the shortest way of preventing the blackout is that a “no pole pillarization” ispublicized.
Even a wind-power generation, electric wires are damaging birds in the sky, branches of trees andlandscapes. In Paris, London, and Taipei, undergrounding lifelines are 100%. Even with thetechnique of making the underground electric wires and direct burying, transformers are necessaryon the road surface, and we cannot respond quickly to the construction against the flooding risk.
Therefore, rather aiming a sky without power poles and electric wires in order to give a semblanceof improvement of electricity supply technology, it is necessary to change the base to create acommunity that independent from electric power.
We do like to utilize technology that humans take care of the Earth, without defects, damage andpain. However, it has been becoming that technology itself have threatened human’s life and giving
danger to security and peace, and have been ruined the whole life that has been built. Technology
has been certainly contributed as a flag of liberation from work hardships, physical labor andmonotonous labor. Humans felt that their past hardship was resolved and gained comfortableness bymoney games, investments and accumulations, without enduring. However, once wheels fall off due
to disasters, life collapse from the bottom. Once we undergo hardships for the first time, we realize
convenience, comfortableness and service that we have enjoyed is like a mirage. By rebuilding of
the house, treatment and double loan, you will be not able to find the hope to live. “Godly sorrowbrings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but
worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)

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c. Atsuma-chō
On the evening of September 9, I landed at New Chitose Airport. Temperature was different from
Honshu and cold air flowed. I wear same outfits at every disaster area and overseas area, and one
day before, actually two days before, the temperature in the Middle East was high and I sweated all
the time. I realized that I came to a northern land. I drove a rent-a-car and headed for Atsuma-chō
where produced the biggest number of casualties. It is common to drive a car by a speed of 100km
per hour on Hokkaido Expressway in Hokkaido. However, due to the effect of the earthquake, there
were indications of the 50km per hour limit. I drove a car toward Tomakomai (“To-makomai” inAinu language: the river with pond) that is opposite direction to Sapporo (“Sapporobe”: big dry
river). It was completely dark. There were few cars on the road. It was creepy. I felt a horror like theroad leads to the hell of “the other world” as it was. We headed to Atsuma-chō (厚真町) thatoriginally a phonetic symbol from Ainu word “Atsumato”. “Atsumato” means a place of wetland
where reed grass grows. Normally it is the distance that takes 40 minutes by car, but I felt like I was
driving for hours. Electricity had disappeared in the town on the both side of the expressway. I havebeen experienced same thing when I rush into the affected areas. I started to increase the power tograsp the steering wheel while I was asking to myself, “Do we not arrived Atsuma-chō yet?” Thesearching is still going at the area where the epicenter of Iburi region in the Middle Eastern part, so
I tried to find any sign of life, but there were nothing.

Deputy Mayer of Atsuma-chō, Yasuyuki Kondo

Around 11:30pm on 9th, there were office people who were working hard without sleeping andtaking rest at Atsuma-chō municipal office. When I offered about food distribution, they escorted
me to inside. Beside Social Welfare Council and Volunteer Center, there was a space of Relief
Center separately. Nearly 600 evacuated people were recorded there. I checked the necessaryamount of food ingredients. People were thoroughly perplexed by the first time experience tomanage six evacuation centers, where generally 100 people are in one place, 200 people are max.
We started to provide manpower and food ingredients.

4(2) The Sanctuary of Ainu Visita. Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum Visit
At the “Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum”, also showcases were broken and the first floor of themuseum was full of piled-up glass pieces. If you drive a car 45 minutes through Hokkaido
Expressway from Atsuma-chō, Nibutani exist in Biratori-chō. The Ainu word “Nimutai”, “the place
where tree grows”, is the original meaning. Upper northern Tohoku area, there are many places
where name from the Ainu language. Especially, according to the Office of Ainu Measures
Promotion of Hokkaido Government, about 80% of the names of municipalities in Hokkaido are
originally from Ainu language.3 Checking the reason why Kanji (Chinese character) of place’s
name in Hokkaido is difficult, there are place where originally were named by the indigenous
people of Ainu, so it seems that later Japanese people applied Kanji to match the Ainu word andpronunciation.
The father of Shiro Kayano, who I met, Shigeru [1926-2006]
gathered Ainu Mingu (folk daily tools and goods) for about 50 years
since the 1950’s, and he actively engaged in recording of the Ainu
language. Shiro, the son of Shigeru Kayano, is the director andcurator of “Kayano Shigeru Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum”. His
wife, Tomoko took our picture. The outer sides of the showcases
were collapsed by vertical vibrations. Shiro is still teaching the Ainu
language.
With Shiro Kayano

From September 13, the first floor of the museum will be restarted. It is a perfect place to feel thebreath of Ainu. Some people call Nibutani as the Sanctuary of Ainu.
In the 1965 data, it is recorded that 466 households and 2,313 Ainu people lived in Biratori-chō. It
is probably the area where the most Ainu people lived in Hokkaido.
Current director of the museum is the second son of Mr. Shigeru Kayano.
He passes down “yukar (Ainu epic poetry)” and “uepeker (Ainu folktales)” to the next generations.
“The Ainu” means “human” in the Ainu language. In the Ainu society, the word “Ainu” is used
only for person who really do good behaviors.
Therefore, even though we “和人(Wa-Jin. Samo in Ainu language. Means Japanese people)” inherit
genetic DNAs, we may not be called as “Ainu people" who do good things.
b. The Ainu that has been discriminated as “土人 (Do-Jin = native people, local people)”.
There is something I have been noticed while I was doing Hokkaido earthquake volunteer work.
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Many of the Ainu people lived alongside the river and seek the necessary materials for their lives. Also, as atransportation route for hunting and trade, the river was an important existence. Therefore, there are so many place’s
names that means “river (Pet)” and “stream (Nay)”.

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You are not able to be with affected people without knowing about the Ainu. It is because that thebasic of our work is listening pains, sufferings, angers and mortifications of the victims.
“Hokkaido” is the name of the land that is named by the Central Japanese Government after the
Meiji era. Originally, the owner of the land is “Ainu people”. Kayano Shigeru spoke out. “TheAinu, the Ainu mosir has no clue about selling or lending our land to country Japan that named ourland as “Hokkaido” without any dialogue with us.”4
The Meiji Government stated the Ainu as “旧土人(Kyu-Do-Jin = old natives)” by the law and took
their land. Japanese people discriminated the Ainu in Sakhalin and Kuril Islands as “Do-Jin”. The
Meiji Government did not approve not only the nationality and family register but also any basic
rights. Only during the war, by the selfish government’s opportunism, the Ainu were sent to thebattle fields by the imperial decree No. 373 in 1932. However, the status remained as “Do-Jin”.
Based on the principle of Shoin Yoshida [1830-1859], the Meiji Government had been realizing theparadigm of “the Empire of Japan”. “The Empire of Japan” of the Restoration of Imperial Rule
restructured the feudal social status system and shifted the identity discrimination of the emperor,
royal family, peerage and common people from “士農工商 (Shi-Nou-Kou-Shyo = Samurai, Peasantfarmers, Craftsmen, Merchants. The four categories of the people)”. Furthermore, under that, thegovernment made the rank order of “新平民 (Shin-Hei-Min = New ordinal people. People fromdiscriminated communities)”, “Kyu-Do-Jin” and “Do-Jin”.5
Recently, textbooks are twisting the facts. Some history textbooks that are used in schools are
published from biased companies. For example, the history textbook of Nihon Bunkyou Shuppan
perverts the law to protect aborigine in Hokkaido in 1899 [Meiji 32]. It is written as “Thegovernment tried to change the life style of the Ainu into the agricultural-based one by giving theland to the Ainu people, since their life are based on hunting and fishing.” In fact, it was not “givinga land” but “taking up the land”, “usurping the land”, and this is the historical truth. In 2015,
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology gave endorsement to this distorted
content in history textbook.6 The government closed the way of living as a race of hunters inforests and rivers that were the place of their lives, and forced them to do “farming”. How was theearthquake to the Ainu mosir (the quiet earth of human beings) who has been discriminated?

4
5
6

1994. Kayano, S. “Kotsukaide Chyaranke”. The shakai shimpo. p.42.
2017. “Ainuminzokunoo Ikotsuwa Kokuhatsusuru”. Yondaigaku Goudou Zenkoku Shyukai. p.90.
2015. Tawara, Y. “Watashito Kenpo. Vol.168”. Yurususa! Kenpokaiaku / Shiminrenrakukai. April 25.
The comment by Itsuzi Tangiku, associate professor at Ainu & Indigenous Studies at Hokkaido University on Tokyo
Shimbun is, “It is a very strange statement. The Ainu had a traditional method of using the land that is based on ‘Iwor(hunting ground)’ for hunting and collecting. The government ignored it and taken away the land to distribute to the
Wa-Jin and gave remained lands where were unsuitable for agricultural farming to the Ainu. The evaluation on the law
to protect aborigine in Hokkaido, which has been studied so far, is wrong.” (2015. “Tokyo Shimbun”. April 16.)6

c. Discrimination to the Ainu
After marriage, the Ainu woman had put tattoos around her mouth, which shape was like themustache of her husband. The Meiji Government issued a ban on March 29, 1872 [Meiji 5], toforbid tattoos. I think that was one of the eye-catching policies of “有司専制 (Yu-Shi-Sen-Sei =despotism by domain-dominated government)”, which discriminated the Ainu and Ryukyu people
as “Do-Jin” who have customs of tattoos.
The Ministry of Communications (逓信省:Teishin-shō. Meiji 4. Current the Ministry of Posts andTelecommunications), approved the “custom of Hokkaido Do-Jin” and printed the picture on thebottom of postcard at that time.
I stayed in the Middle East till September 9, and tattoos were not unusual even for leaders of thegovernments, bureaucracies, businesses and academics. If the technicism is useless, it is importantto have the point of view to welcome travelers from overseas in tourism. In present time, famous
overseas football and sports athletes cannot enter Japanese hot spring facilities even they wish to doit.
We must stop extending the interpretation of the “Article 4 and 5 of the Public Bath House Act”
which discriminates people with tattoos.
Many of Japanese people probably think about “刺青(Shisei =Japanese style tattoos)” and tattoos are awful when they see it atpublic bath.
However, I do like to think about it carefully. Even us, perhaps,
there is a possibility to be a yakuza by the slightest of event.
It is a problem to discriminate people as “same one” by theirappearance that who are regretting themselves as being a yakuza
and people who cut all ties with the yakuza group and living inright way.
Even the person who has tattoos, there are myriad of people
who are living in right pass. Even if the person has a previous
criminal record, if he/she repented it, it is just a “one second
Postcard in Meiji Period
before is already the past”.
The society must repent the bad propensity to give “pressure ofconform” by repeating past failures, mistakes and youthful excesses forever.
Please refer to the 4th Vanuatu Volunteer Report.7
7

The 4th Vanuatu Volunteer Report. April 7, 2018.
In 2011, it was regulated by the “Sumakaiganwomamori Sodateru Jyorei” to ask for hiding tattoos by T-shirts or
towels at Tama Coast in Kobe City.
I am, as a Kobe citizen, I realized the problems that had been obfuscating inside of my through the visit to Vanuatu thistime. I saw tattoos on many of young men and women in overseas, Cairns, Brisbane and Port Vila. I imagined thereason whether they do tattoos for just a fashion or their motivation is for a “sympathy (compassion, empathy,

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Even if it fails, community building that warmly welcomes everything is the foundation of “theResurrection of Rice Field, Mountain, and Bay”.

(3) Change in the values is required.
a. The largest industrial area in Japan, “苫東(Tomato)”
The place where had a great damage from the earthquake was the biggest base of the economic
great power country, Japan. “Tomato” is the largest industrial base that locates in eastern part ofTomakomai, Hokkaido. The place where the leading factories, which carries the Japanese economy,
are intensely focused on was shaken. Tomakomai City has the largest industrial development area
(12,650 hectares) in Japan, “Tomakomai-Toubu = Tomato”. Paper and pulp industry is stand out
from any place. Tomakomai factory of Oji Paper produces about 30% of paper of newspapers inentire Japan. It is a port industrial city where diversified companies exist, such as petroleum
refining, chemicals and automobiles.
In terms of distribution, it contains an international hub port Tomakomai Port and New Chitose
Airport.
Japanese industrial power earns some respect from the world. However, the number of times ofreporting about Japan in newspapers, magazines and mass media in Southeast Asia and the Middle
East is decreasing. Meanwhile, articles of companies of China, Korea and India, infrastructure
export and project are becoming noticeable. It probably just like a flux and reflux of the tides,
Japanese overseas travelers feel very deeply about the fact of that the value of Japanese yen has
been lost.
It is very hard for Japanese regime to forget the past glory, and the attitude to keep seeking the
dreams toward ever-increasing economic growth looks very painful. I am not the only one to ask
myself what the true wealth is.
This time, the disaster that strangles the Japan’s economic supremacy gave shook to “Tomato”. It
made us realize that it was a signal to let us notice that we should stop for a while and think about
people’s happiness, livelihood and human rights rather than pursuing economic growth.
b. The Ainu view of the world
In October, 1997, a dam was constructed in this sanctuary place. Because of this dam, the place
sympathize, sorrow)” toward the indigenous Māori.
Māori language female teacher Erana Te Haeata Brewerton (then-60-year-old) has tattoos on her lips and chin.
On September 8, 2013, she was refused to enter the hot spring facility in Eniwa City, Hokkaido due to her tattoos.
Even she explained about her tattoos are “It is just like a family crest that express my mother and ancestors”, but she
was not accepted. The Ainu women also have tattoos. However, the ban on unilateral custom in 1871 by the Meiji
Government created discrimination and has been afflicting the people of Ainu.
(2013. Hirata, T. “Shyukan Kinyoubi”. October 11 Issue.)8where the newly created boat launch ceremony (Chipusanke) was holds in every year of August 20
has been submerged. This boat is a dock boat that is made from age of hundreds of years Salix
bakko, and it is 1m in width and 10m in length. Chipusanke is a very important ceremony for the
Ainu, so it is very bad thing for them that the place is submerged. Therefore, Shigeru Kayano,former House of Councilors and others turned to a court to invalidate against an expropriation ofland for dam construction. I think that if this dam is constructed, my eternal dream and wish to callback salmon to the Saru River (originally from the Ainu word “Sara, Yoshihara”) will becompletely closed. I think that no single salmon will come back again to Nibutani forever. How
many times does the Japanese Government want to take away the land from the Ainu?8
Originally, it was in the 1970’s when the construction survey of Nibutani Dam has begun. As
pump-priming measures for the dull air of Hokkaido economy, the purpose was to build securewater lines for industrial areas in the eastern part of Tomakomai. However, few companies enter theindustrial zone, and 70% of the lot for sale is untouched. After all, the purpose of the dam haschanged to power generation and flood control measures. If ended up like that, the dam would be
unnecessary.
In March 1997, the Sapporo District Court gave a decision that the expropriation of land of
construction was illegal, but they did not ask for the demolition of the dam.
The scenery that coexistence of nature and humans is described in Revelation chapter 21verse1 as“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed
away, and there was no longer any sea”. However, the mountains in the Yoshino district of Atsumachō were “fluidized” by the earthquake and caused death by asphyxiation for 36 people. The traceof “fluidization” that was caused by a debris attack to the Japanese larch forest, “liquefaction” ofTomato- Atsuma Thermal Power Station, and debris flow due to the “dam” extended to great areafrom Sapporo City to Tomakomai City. There are sediment control dam, flood-control dam andlandslide dam.
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to thepresent time.” (Romans 8:22)
Paul Tillich [1886-1965] gives warning that “Is nature completely forced into compliance tohuman’s will and arbitrariness? This technical civilization and the proud of mankind have beenbrought enormous devastation to original nature environments, the earth, animals and plants. It has
restricted pure nature to a small scale, and has occupied everything by dominance and heartlessdevelopment. In worse, many of us lost an ability to coexist with nature.”9“Reconciliation” is used when resolving conflicts that hard to resolve due to conflicting countries,
wrangling stake actors, and differences in nationalities, religions and skin colors. However,“reconciliation” should also be used to resolve the wall between “humans” and “nature”. Therefore,
8

1994. Kayano, S. “Kotsukaide Chyaranke”. The shakai shimpo. p.50.

91948. Tillich, P. “Nature, also, Mourns for a Lost Good”. The Shaking of the Foundations, Charles, Scribner’sSons. p.79.
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humans are responsible for environmental contaminations, radioactive contamination and abnormal
climates.
c. Intimate community where everyone helps each other.
After the meeting with Deputy mayor Yasuyuki Hondo at the Atsuma-chō office, I visited thedevastated damaged place at Sakuraoka and Yoshino. The Atsuma Dam also prohibited going
through due to the severed road.
Houses, cars and bam were buried in the ground. Although Mr. Toshikazu Imada (83 years old),
who is the owner of the opposite slope of the mountain in Yoshino-chō, is currently cultivating
vegetables on farmland, he feel deeply pain for the damaged area where he was born and grow up.
Harumi Takahashi, Governor of Hokkaido, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Atsuma-chō on
September 9 (Sunday) by bus. We visited the Second Kurashiki Municipal Fukuda Elementary
school Okayama Prefecture before them. But this time, we reached after them. The purpose of thevisit, activities and “縁 (En = relationship)” with the victims are quite different.
In the Yoshino district of Atsuma-chō, the majority of the 41 victims in Hokkaido were buried
under debris. Probably they would have been in heaven when they realized.
As soon as media people gained the information at the local office, they gathered together in the
Yoshino district and focused on taking pictures. Therefore, they did not look at the untouchedmiserable houses of the “Sakuraoka district” where is behind the Yoshino district. As a result,
throughout the media reports, only same contents of information delivered to regular citizens.
There are many tragedies other than the Yoshino district that the government does not obtain. At
the time of Kumamoto / Oita Earthquake occurred, only “Masuki-chō” was reported and few
reporters went to see “Souryo area”.
While only the Yoshino district was reported, people are indifferent to the tragedy of completely
destroyed house in Sakuraoka district. Mr. Kazuo Nakata (76 years old) also died in the Sakuraoka
district.

Sakuraoka District in Atsuma-chō

Nobody knows whether people can receive 3 million yen totally or not according to the Disaster
Relief Act as a devastated damaged area, as same as the case in Mabi-chō in Kurashiki City,
Okayama Prefecture. However, even 3 million yen for the demolition cost, vehicles and rebuilding
the house is provided, it is too unmercifulness to ask people for self-responsibilities to do the rest.
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It is not the time for the country to pursue luxury, such as the Olympic Games, Linear, and the
Osaka Expo, without doing “empathy” to the sufferings of the affected people.
The target of the gospel of the Christians is the poor people who are affected, lost properties,
houses and belongings. “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy arecleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matthew11:5) The translation by “the Orthodox Church in Japan” of “the good news is proclaimed to thepoor” is “the poor people deliver the good news.”
The affected people, that is to say, among the poor people, “the good news” is living. I hope thatJapan will grow out to share the grace of God that values “the Lost Coin” and “the Lost Sheep”.10<Conclusion>
This year, 2018 is the year with many natural disasters. The Osaka Northern Earthquake in June,the concentrated heavy rain in Kobe in July, the western Japan concentrated heavy rain in July 7th(22 people out of 42 victims by the concentrated heavy rain in 2017 in Fukuoka City, were found in
Haki-Masue, Asakura City). 51 people out of 227 victims were found in Mabi-chō Kurashiki City inFukuoka Prefecture. Following the hot summer heat, Typhoon No.21 attacked in September. And 36
people out of 41 victims by the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake were found in Atsuma-chō.
In order for Japan to survive, the change in the core values are required. It is not the technology,
economy and military supremacy, but “the Resurrection of Rice Field, Mountain, and Bay”. Shall
we reconsider the Satoyama (community-based forest), local fields and local sea? The word
“renewing”, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing ofyour mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing andperfect will (Romans 12:2)”, in other words, we must wake up at the time of change. “Change(Greek word metamorfw/ [Original word meta, <<change>> + morfh, <<create the form>>])”
must not only for the appearance, but also do fundamental change for the invisible soil, air andunderground water. In other words, we should restore the nature of the Japanese archipelago justlike the butterfly larvae transform to the pupa and change completely to the butterfly.
It is the turning point for the disaster relief to open the door of the Volunteer-dō (the principle wayof volunteer) that is consisted of gratuities, voluntarism and dialogues without relying on the Japan
Self-Defense Forces, Social Welfare Councils and Volunteer Centers. I hope that it will be thecountry to protect people’s lives, livelihoods and human rights rather than budgeting 230 billion yen
for the Aegis Ashore.

10

2017. Murata, M. “Kirisutokyoto Shyakaigakuno Aidade”. Koyo Shobo. p.16.

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< Acknowledgements>
I appreciate with my gratitude to Vice-director Michiya Murata that not only for letting me to quote
his book but also editing and correcting typographical errors in this report.
Pastor Hiroyuki Yamagata in Kushiro, where is even far from Atsuma-chō, he encouraged me bytelephone call as soon as I arrived in Hokkaido.

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