Ishinomaki

Article by Patricia Nip

When I first met Mike Connolly in November of 2011, we were in the living room of a reclaimed house in Ishinomaki.  I had just arrived for a week of volunteering in the tsunami ravaged coastal region just north of Sendai.  During the grand tour, I was told that I was in good company because there were two other Canadians in the house that was serving as the headquarters for the volunteer group It’s Not Just Mud.  The first one that I met had been my ride from the train station, and now I was meeting the mysterious Mike.  As we were introduced, I couldn’t shake a strange sense of déjà vu.

A few days later, Mike and I were sent off together on a tsunami clean up request.  We made our way to what used to be the Kikuchi family’s small family business.  Their simple wish was to regain access to the second floor of the building, where their family had lived before the tsunami debris filled the first floor and made it impossible to access the stairwell.  It was during the course of our path clearing, potentially tetanus causing endeavours that the mysterious source of my déjà vu became clear to me.  Mike Connolly, was Mike-sensei… (more…)