Contact Us

TOP > JAMCO Program Library > 732 days: The lives of 3 orphans post earthquake

Program

732 days: The lives of 3 orphans post earthquake

DC371311Documentary

3人で生きる 震災孤児 兄弟が歩んだ732日 [KHB]

|Length : 24min. |Year : 2013

March 11, 2011. The huge tsunami that hit in the Tohoku earthquake swept away the parents of many children, leaving large numbers orphaned. There are more than 241 children in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures whose parents were either killed in the disaster or remain missing. How did these children face the aftermath of the disaster, and move on without their parents?
Shohei Takeyama (19 at the time of the disaster), lives in Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture, and lost both his parents and grandfather to the tsunami. His younger sister Yuuki is a high school student, while brother Naoki is in junior high school.
"All I want is for us to live a normal life. At the very least, I want to give my brother and sister a normal upbringing. I feel it is what I should do for my parents."
Shohei decides to become his siblings' legal guardian. Initially, Naoki and Yuuki were taken to live at an aunt's home in Ishinomaki, but once Shohei turns 20, he becomes their guardian by law (as they are both still minors), in place of their parents.
A year after the disaster, they leave their home in Ishinomaki and move into an apartment together in Iwate Prefecture's Sendai City.
Yuuki enters the same university as Shohei, and is busy with study as well as part time work. Naoki has changed schools, and is taking the first steps toward high school entrance exams, while Shohei is in the middle of intense job hunting. He hopes to find work at a company with no risk of being transferred outside Iwate Prefecture, so they can continue living together.
The three siblings suddenly had their family torn apart forever on that fateful day. This is a document of the reality they face living without their parents over the two years following the disaster: holding the memories of their parents in their hearts, while supporting each other as a family.

Copyright Japan Media Communication Center All rights reserved. Unauthorized copy of these pages is prohibited.