An engineering scholar at Toyohashi University of Technology in Aichi Prefecture is helping to restore cultural assets damaged by the March 2011 tsunami in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, in an effort to make them "a symbol of reconstruction" in the coastal city not far away from his hometown.
Hideo Izumida, an associate professor at the university, was born and raised in Misato, Miyagi Prefecture, some 60 km south of Kesennuma. Watching news of the devastation of Kesennuma, which he has known since childhood, Izumida, 57, felt as if the many fond memories he held of his hometown had also been swept away.
In May last year, he traveled to Kesennuma by himself, hoping to do something to help restore the fishing community there.