ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi--A mortuary employee has pledged to take care of the remains of 117 unidentified people killed by the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami until all of them are returned to their families.
Ken Nakai, a 37-year-old employee at a mortuary in Miyagi Prefecture, has been in charge of returning the remains of disaster victims to bereaved families for more than 10 months. His job is filled with human drama, with families looking for their missing kin and the remains of loved ones waiting to be identified.
As of March 28, the city had declared 3,417 people dead or missing from the March 11, 2011, disaster. It is the largest figure among the municipalities most severely hit by the disaster.
Nakai clasped his hands in prayer with his colleagues, who run the mortuary, during a ceremony last month to mark the first anniversary of the deaths of the unidentified victims.
The tsunami flooded Nakai's house, but his wife, four children and other relatives were safe. A few days later he lost his job at the seafood processing company where he worked because the firm was going out of business.
It was difficult for him to find a new job during the aftermath of the quake and tsunami. He finally found a temporary job with the city hall in May and was assigned to the mortuary, where his main job is to hand over victims' remains to their bereaved families.
When he started work it had already been two months since the disaster. Still, more remains were brought in to the mortuary every day and many people continued to visit, searching for their missing family members.
Nakai said he was unsure if he could continue working there because of the extremely somber, depressing atmosphere.
In July, after he had become used to the job, he met a woman of nearly the same age. She visited the mortuary from Sendai, about 40 kilometers away, to look for her missing mother once every three days.
He remembered that she always brought a paper crane and a small bouquet to place at an altar and then left after seeing photos of the bodies and their belongings. Nakai exchanged greetings with her but hesitated to get too close and try to comfort her.
In January the remains of her mother were identified as a result of DNA testing.
The woman visited the mortuary a few days later and expressed her gratitude to Nakai, bowing repeatedly. She was in tears, but seemed to be relieved. Seeing her, Nakai felt bereaved families were relieved to have found the remains of their loved ones.
Since then, every morning when Nakai opens the container where the urns of the unidentified remains are stored, he offers a silent prayer with his hands clasped together: "Don't give up; keep waiting for your families. I will wait for them with you until the last returns home."
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April 6, 2012
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