"God's Door Opened!"/Interviews with Kobe Residents
Following is an anthology of comments and accounts by those who suffered in the Great Hanshin Earthquake. It was compiled by Takashi Tsumura, a writer and practitioner of Chinese healing who lives in Kobe. While the quake, its effects and aftermath were extensively reported in the mass media, this is different in the way it presents a collection of personal views and perspectives. Tsumura gathered the comments for a year, beginning directly after the quake struck.
voices-1
[Memories]
voices-2
["God's Door Opened!"]
voices-3
[Water-Fetching Days]
Enter your opinions, comments and questions in the comments page.
[Tsumura Interview on the Quake's Aftermath Part 2]
["earth" A Sensibility for Living in a World in Constant Flux by Shin'ichi Takemura]
Winter 1996
A memorial ceremony followed by a discussion at the Sugawara Market Place in Nagata
[Dr. Taniguchi, Dept. Of Psychoneurology, Osaka Kaisei Hospital]
[Article in The Kobe Shimbun, April 11, 1995]
[A childcare volunteer]
[A pediatrician, Kobe Central Civic Hospital]
Evacuation drills serve as occasions to "replay the experience." This is role-playing. By giving themselves the chance to replay what occurred again and again, a form of healing takes place. Not to forget, but to confront what happened; and to not stop seeking the true meaning of the event helps in the whole city's healing.
[A businessman interviewed on a temporary shuttle bus service]
[An artist]
[A volunteer in Nagata Ward]
It was the religious leader Wanisaburo Deguchi who said that "Kobe" means
"God's Door." Many who didn't even know that were heard to say, "God's door opened!"
[Chuo Ward resident whose family was buried in the quake]
[Residents of Higashi-Nada]
Experiencing the great force of Nature, people were filled with mystical,
extraordinary emotions.
[A government statement ]
The City of Kobe convened a press conference to deny a belief many
people shared that the quake was the result of the construction work for the
Akashi Bridge, one of whose ends lie near the epicenter.
[A volunteer in Hyogo Ward]
At every condo and apartment complex, people were meeting for the first time, digging out bodies, helping one another. What would the next chapter in
their stories be?
[Article in the Kobe Shimbun]
[A musician who returned to Kobe from India]
The quick response and efficient delivery of much-needed goods by the
Yamaguchi Gumi yakuza group received coverage in the international press. But that only
lasted a short while, and then they were gone. The Vietnamese in tents in
Koma Park in Nagata Ward were frightened by rumors of a coup d'etat led by
the Self-Defense Forces. In March, a huge banner was set up across a major
pedestrian walkway. It read, "We thank you, SDF." But it was gone within a
few days, and it still remains a mystery as to who put it up and who took it
down.
[Notice at a Port Island apartment complex]
[Sign in civic hall bathroom]
[Sign in Higashi-Nada Ward temporary toilet]
"EM" stands for "Effective Microbes," and was popular for some time among
livestock farmers. It was used as a toilet deodorant in the most heavily
damaged areas of Kobe. It creates an odor resembling ripe fruit.
[A housewife in Chuo Ward]
[A local assembly member]
[A housewife in Nishinomiya]
[A taxi driver in Nada Ward]
Discussion about a one-minute "lights out" on the anniversary of the quake
is going on. A one-week "Water Out" would probably be more effective to make
people remember and to "Replay the Big One."
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["earth" From Kobe to the World by Takashi Tsumura]