A sense of displacement still haunts residents of what used to be the village of Yamakoshi, even though nearly a year has passed since the earthquakes of Oct. 23, 2004, devastated the Niigata Prefecture community.
The desire for unity appears especially strong among children. Elementary school pupils in Yamakoshi, which was merged with Nagaoka after the quake, are longing to return to their school.
The children are now studying in rented classrooms at the Nagaoka municipal Sakanoue Elementary School. Since Yamakoshi Junior High School was destroyed, a joint elementary-junior high school is being built where it once stood and will open next September.
After the quake, all the villagers were evacuated to Nagaoka and have basically not been allowed to return home.