Moore’s family from her mother’s side are from Ishinomaki, a coastal city in northern Japan less than 100 miles from the epicenter of the 9.2 earthquake that rocked the country March 11. The town was also hit by a massive tsunami shortly thereafter. Officials of the city said more than 10,000 people remain missing.
Two of Moore’s Japanese cousins, Emiko and Hiroshi Motoki, who now live in Tokyo, were visiting her in Lebanon when the earthquake and tsunami struck. The family was woken early March 11 by phone calls and text messages letting them know about the disaster.
Immediately, visiting plans were dropped and the whole household was glued to the television news.
Moore’s relatives had owned and operated a fishing boat in the town until just a few years ago and still had many friends in the community. More than a week later, they are still trying to check on everyone they knew.
“We have no word (on what Ishinomaki) is like,” said Hiroshi Motoki in an e-mail. He and his wife returned to their Tokyo home Tuesday but have relied on news sources from outside Japan for most of their updates.
“We feel that the world (has) become smaller,” Motoki.
Moore said Ishinomaki had a population of about 160,000 people, largely centered on the fishing trade.
“The town had a huge open-air fish market where you could go and buy fresh fish and they would make sashimi or sushi for you right on the spot,” Moore said.
For Moore, the earthquake had an eerie similarity to her visit to the country during another catastrophe. Moore and her two siblings were visiting Ishinomaki to commemorate her mother’s death on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the United States.
Much like her relatives exactly nine and a half years later, Moore and her American siblings were in a foreign country glued to a television trying to garner information about a disaster back home.
“While we were trying to find out about the earthquake, Emiko (Motoki) turned to me and said ‘Now I understand what you were going through on 9/11,’” Moore said.
Moore’s mother Sumiko Tate (nee Yonemoto) met and married Moore’s father when he was stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Japan. The couple returned to the U.S. and settled in Lebanon. Moore and her siblings often visited their grandparents and relatives in Ishinomaki and Moore lived in Tokyo as an adult for two years.
Tate lived in Lebanon for 30 years, until her death in 2000.
“She was known as the sushi lady, because she’d always bring sushi to church functions and events,” Moore said.
Editor’s note: Emiko Moore is a contributing writer for Cox Media Group Ohio.
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