The Moment the Tsunami Came

December 23, 2024

When I talked with Yatsuko Yoshida, she always welcomed me with a calm strength that made it easy to forget she was 80 years old. She’s been running a small guesthouse in Rikuzentakata for the past decade, one she rebuilt after the 2011 tsunami.

She recalled the moment of the disaster. “I saw the utility pole wires swinging like jump ropes,” she said. “I didn’t understand what was happening. Then the tsunami came.” People were already fleeing to higher ground, but not everyone made it. Some went back, either to grab something important or to help someone else. Among them was her husband.

“My husband was running back and forth in our neighborhood, and I heard him shouting something.” She paused before adding, “The people who didn’t evacuate right away... they were the ones the tsunami took.”

To this day, that memory stays with her. “Don’t think—just evacuate,” she told me firmly. “Even if there’s money or things you want to save, none of that matters if you don’t survive. You’ll figure things out later. Everyone evacuated barefoot that day.”

Her words were simple, and maybe that’s what makes them feel so heavy. She speaks from the kind of experience no one asks for, but one that carries lessons the rest of us need to hear.