15 Years On: Former Mayor of Tsunami-Hit Town Seeks to Give Back

Minamisanriku, Miyagi Pref., March 12 (Jiji Press)–Jin Sato, who served as mayor of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, for 20 years, has been traveling across Japan to deliver lectures since stepping down in November 2025, hoping to share lessons on disaster preparedness and mitigation. “It’s my way of repaying the support we received from people across the country after the Great East Japan Earthquake,” says Sato, now 74. Soon after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck in March 2011, Sato was on the rooftop of the building housing the town’s disaster management office, together with municipal employees and local residents. More than 50 people are believed to have rushed to the higher location for safety, but only 11 survived, including Sato. Across Minamisanriku, 831 people lost their lives or remain missing. As night fell, the cold was severe. Soaked to the skin, he could barely feel his body. Using a lighter that one employee happened to have, evacuees managed to start a small fire with driftwood. That night stayed with Sato, becoming a source of his determination to rebuild the Pacific coastal town in northeastern Japan. In his following 14 and a half years as mayor, he held firmly to the belief that “as someone who survived, I have to rebuild the town.” To keep going, he repeated to himself, “Even if your spirit begins to break, hold on to your willpower.” Looking back, Sato says that rebuilding after such an unprecedented disaster was “like climbing a mountain with no summit in sight.” One of the most difficult tasks was relocating all homes to higher ground, a project he chose to pursue out of a simple conviction that “lives must never again be lost to a tsunami.” It took more than seven years to complete the task. With the town’s major reconstruction projects finished, Sato announced in September 2025 that he would retire. Fighting back tears, he said, “I have fulfilled my mission.” Even so, when he reflects on those years, he says, “There is nothing but regrets.” One that remains with him in particular is that women were not included in disaster response task force meetings. Several months after the disaster, female evacuees told him that relief supplies had not included sanitary products or properly sized underwear. “I realized the task force meetings and the management of relief supplies were handled entirely by men,” Sato says. “If women had been involved, the support would surely have been more attentive to their needs.” Sato notes that the town charter, enacted just six months before the disaster, became “the foundation of reconstruction, a spiritual anchor for the town.” Written in gentle language, the charter speaks of the richness of a town embraced by the sea and mountains. In putting its spirit into practice, Minamisanriku’s reconstruction placed strong emphasis on environmental conservation. Those efforts later earned the town international recognition, including from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and the Forest Stewardship Council. “Residents and industry groups came together as one and did everything they could,” Sato says. Now, 15 years after the disaster, Sato continues to speak not only about what Minamisanriku lost, but also about what it learned. After stepping down as mayor, Sato took on a new role as special adviser to Minamisanriku 311 Memorial, the town’s memorial museum. He now travels across Japan to give lectures, hoping that the lessons he drew from his own experience will help deepen disaster preparedness elsewhere. At the heart of the town, the steel frame of the former disaster management office building still stands to preserve memories of the earthquake and tsunami, a quiet yet powerful reminder of the scale of the devastation. “I want people (who visit the old building) to learn what happened in this town and turn that knowledge into action for disaster preparedness,” Sato says. “Also, I hope it will be a place where people can join their hands in prayer.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]