Surfers seek return to paradise
OTSUCHICHO, Iwate--In an attempt to revive a local beach known as a surfers' paradise, boarders are banding together to remove debris and wreckage that washed ashore after the March 11 tsunami.
Namiita beach has attracted many young surfers to Otsuchicho in recent times, helping to revitalize a town that was struggling with an aging population and a shortage of successors for its fishery businesses.
Local surfers want to restore the beach to its former glory, in the hope the ripple effect of their efforts will aid the reconstruction of the town as a whole.
"Right, let's clean up the sea," said professional surfer Hiroshi Sugimoto, 43, with garbage bag in hand. About 120 surfers had gathered at the beach--some from Iwate Prefecture, and others who had traveled from Chiba and Aichi prefectures--after being directly contacted by Sugimoto or seeing a call-out on his Web site.
Strewn along the 800-meter-long beach were pillars from destroyed houses, small boats, furniture, clothes and random household goods.
After offering a silent prayer for people who died in the disaster, the crowd broke into teams and started collecting the junk.
Namiita beach is known for consistent waves that are ideal for surfers of all ability levels, and attracts about 60,000 people per year.
Sugimoto, who was born in the neighboring city of Kamaishi, has been visiting Namiita since he was a middle school student. He opened a surf shop by the beach in 2003 and gives surfing lessons to local high school students.
He was the central figure in a group that started an annual surfing competition to draw young people to the beach and help to reinvigorate the town. The town government provided support in the form of prizes for the competition, which attracted fields of more than 100 surfers.
In the March 11 disaster, about 1,600 residents--more than 10 percent of the local population--were killed or went missing.
When the quake hit, Sugimoto was in his surf shop. After feeling a massive jolt, he ran up a nearby hill. From there, he watched, stunned, as the town was swallowed by tsunami.
In addition to the debris that was dumped everywhere, damage to the beach in the disaster included the destruction of stairs built for evacuation purposes.
"It's difficult to attract people to the beach now," a local government official said.
Sugimoto at first thought it would be difficult to go surfing at the beach again. But he changed his mind in late April, when his buddy and fellow surfer Yasuyuki Koike urged him, "I want you to start up the shop again.
Return To Paradise - News
OTSUCHICHO, Iwate--In an attempt to revive a local beach known as a surfers' paradise, boarders are banding together to remove debris and wreckage that washed ashore after the March 11 tsunami. Namiita beach has attracted many young surfers to
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Hope you have a great time on your hols... See you upon your return to the paradise-isle ;-)
'O reassured soul, return to your Lord, pleased and well-pleasing, and enter upon my servants, and enter my Paradise'.
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