RESILIENCE“ARIGATO”
FROM JAPANKUWAIT

AUSTRALIA

Sanriku Railway, Iwate Prefecture
Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture

Kamaishi City,
Iwate Prefecture

FOR SUPPORTING RECONSTRUCTION
After the disastrous Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, which triggered a tsunami along the coast,
many countries across the globe responded by donating generous amounts of aid. Now, one decade later,
the time has come once again for Japan to give thanks to the world.

CANADA
Natori City, Miyagi Prefecture

Natori City was hit hard by the huge tsunami,
which caused unprecedented damage mainly along
the Pacific coastline where Sendai International
Airport is situated. Canada—no stranger tointernational exchange with the city—launched theCanada-Tohoku Reconstruction Project, providing
aid for the reconstruction of community facilities
in Natori in partnership with the provincial
governments of British Columbia and Alberta, andthe timber group Canada Wood.
In 2013, the project finished building the Donguri
Anne Public Library, followed by the Maple-kan

KUWAIT

JAPANCANADA

AUSTRALIA

morning market facility. Serving as a symbol for
post-disaster recovery, the Maple-kan pavilion
was constructed with Canadian timber on thesite of the Yuriage Harbor Morning Market—afamous attraction in pre-disaster days—which wascompletely obliterated by the tsunami and sincerebuilt. Local residents continually give thanks
for Canada’s support, making such comments as,“Having lost everything, we treat it as a giftfrom heaven,” and “Now that this Maplekan has been built we feel inspired to givelife another go.”At present, Natori’s fishing port has
succeeded in building back up the local
population of blood clams, reputed to be
the finest in Japan. In addition, the NatoriCycle Sports Center—which had operated
a roughly 4 km cycling route along thecoast before it was completely destroyed—
has also been rebuilt, giving cycling
Left: The Maple-kan, which has given so much hope and energy to residents.
enthusiasts and families a renewed chance
Right: The Donguri Anne Public Library offers a place of peace and tranquility
to the people of Natori.
to enjoy the coastline.

To honor the country, eight railcars bought with the aid have been
inscribed in Arabic with the words “We greatly appreciate the support
from the State of Kuwait” and decorated with Kuwait’s national emblem.

Following the giant earthquake, Kuwait gave
five million barrels of crude oil (equivalent to $500million) to Japan free of charge, with the monetaryproceeds donated to Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima
prefectures. A portion of the aid was used for therestoration of the Sanriku Railway, an important
lifeline connecting heavily damaged areas along thewhole 107.6 km length of the Iwate coastline. When
service was finally restored after more than three yearsof reconstruction work, local residents flocked to thestations waving Kuwaiti flags.
Aid from Kuwait was also being used to support
the reconstruction of affected businesses and schools.
Nihonmatsu City, which received the aid, wanted
to repay this kindness. Knowing that Kuwait had
previously won several Olympic shooting medals, thecity announced that it would host Kuwait’s Olympic
and Paralympic shooting teams for Tokyo 2020,
utilizing the city’s clay and rifle shooting ranges.
The city, along with students from the local Adachi
Higashi High School, has prepared a special menu
for the team based on Kuwait’s national dish, biryani,using ingredients cultivated by the students throughthe application of GAP.* Local residents are looking
forward to welcoming the Kuwaiti team.
The students havecreated avegetable-packed
biryani-style curry
and a consommé
julienne with onions
grown at the school“to help the Kuwaiti
team relax in Japan.”

Tsunami waves as tall as 9.3 m devastated Kamaishi
City, the birthplace of modern steelmaking thatdrove the Japanese economy,
which is also famous as a fishingand rugby town. Ten years
ago, when the disaster struck,
the Australian Scott Fardy,
then-member of the Kamaishi
Seawaves rugby club (and later,member of the Australiannational team), refused to beairlifted out of Japan against
the advice from his country’s At the “Welcome Back Fardy!” meeting,
Scott Fardy had fun mingling with the local
embassy in Tokyo, and instead residents.
remained in Kamaishi with his
teammates to continue assisting with heavy work suchas moving vital relief supplies.
In 2018, the city invited Fardy and his teammatesback to show them how the recovery efforts hadprogressed in what was dubbed a “Welcome BackFardy!” meeting. The players from Australia toured
the construction site of a rugby stadium destined
to be a symbol of post-disaster recovery in the mostheavily damaged area of Unosumai, and had somerugby fun with local residents. The following year saw
Kamaishi successfully become one of the host venues
for the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, during
which time the city became a bustling hub of activity.
“We live in appreciation of the support we havereceived, and want to say that we are working hardeach and every day to rebuild the area,” say the local
residents. Even now, a full decade after the earthquake
struck, memories of the generous aid received still
support the people of Kamaishi.
The Kamaishi
Unosumai Memorial
Stadium hosted amatch during theRugby World Cup
2019. It was theSanriku Railway,
rebuilt with aid from
Kuwait, thatbrought spectators
to watch rugby here.

*GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) are a set of principles, regulations, and technical recommendations applicable to production, processing, and food transport, addressing
human health care, environment protection, and improvement of worker conditions. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2007, “the guidelinesof Good Agricultural Practices for family agriculture”)