This is how our current story began. Well actually, it began sometime earlier when Michie and I decided to move back to Japan to build a Bed and Breakfast on Ajishima. We even thought about starting some kind of intentional community or ecovillage. We arrived in Japan three weeks before the disaster, but were thankfully on the mainland visiting family and friends. We finally were able to move to the island in May because until that time, the ferries could not operate due to the debris in the ocean and the fact that the island sank 1.4 meters into the sea. This meant most of the docks sank as well and were unusable.
Eventually, a small temporary dock was built and crews of workers came to the island to get the utilities back up, and the clean up started. At first islanders gather up debris and burned it, plastic, wood and all. Then a demolition company came and gathered the garbage into several dumps to later be loaded on barges and shipped to Ishinomaki for burning, dumping at sea or recycling, or distribution to other prefectures in Japan for similar processing.
The tsunami debris has long been cleared up and shipped away, but our island is still covered in garbage from everyday use and improper disposal in the woods, fields, mountains and sea around us. I was able to get a job driving a dump truck for the demolition company last summer. They came back this year in January and I was able to start driving for them again. So, every morning I wake up, feed the dogs and drive a dump truck full of unfortunately destroyed materials from old houses demolished by my employer. After lunch I am free to walk about the island and gather up as much trash as I can. I take it to the dump, and this will be shipped off the island at some point as well.
I was inspired in part to clean up Ajishima because it is my home and will be until the day I die. I want to have a clean and safe place to raise a family and to start a community of like-minded people. I was also inspired by a worldwide garbage clean up project undertaken by millions of people in dozens of countries, which I researched after the disaster: Let's Do It World Clean Up. Check out their video below and webpage for more information. There is even a map of some garbage in Japan. I would love to map Ajishima's garbage if I have time before my EDE course.