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More than 2,500 people who were reported missing by residents of the areas affected by Japan’s 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami are still unaccounted for. Morbid as it may be, most of their families have no doubt given up hope of any sort of reunion, and the only possible comfort to come is a sense of closure should their relatives’ remains be found.
But on Tuesday, exactly seven years and six months since the Tohoku disaster, one of those missing people was found, alive and well. Actually, the 48-year-old man (whose name has not been released) is apparently in fine physical health, but his finances aren’t so robust, as in mid-August he submitted a welfare application in Shiga Prefecture.
Those of you with a grasp of Japanese geography might be scratching your heads right now, though, since Shiga Prefecture is located in the center of Japan’s main island of Honshu, just east of Kyoto, and is nowhere near the northeastern Tohoku region.
As part of the welfare application process, the man was asked to submit a copy of his juminhyou, a legal document certifying a person’s home address. Since the man wasn’t able to do so, the official handling his application had to contact the last municipality he had registered an address with, which was the city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.
However, it turned out that Ishinomaki no longer had a juminhyo for the man either. While he’d previously had an official address within the city, he’d become estranged from his family, and when a census investigation in 2007 showed he was no longer living in their Ishinomaki home, the city discontinued his juminhyo. Following that, the man moved from prefecture to prefecture, and how much communication he had with his family during that time is unclear, as is whether or not he was actually in Tohoku at the time of the earthquake. Apparently, though, his family was concerned enough that two months after the quake, in May of 2011, they reported him as missing due to the tsunami, ostensibly having been unable to contact him after the disaster.
Once officials in Shiga and Miyagi realized who the man applying for welfare benefits was, they notified his family, who have confirmed the man’s identity. Whether the man and his family will be reunited, and whether such a reunion will be marked with tearful relief or frustrated exasperation, is yet to be seen.
Sources: Kahoku Shinpo via Matome Matome, Kyodo via Livedoor News via Jin
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- One man’s mission to record the stories of Tohoku survivors “revisited” by lost loved ones
-- 57-year-old man acquires diver’s license to search for wife lost in tsunami
-- Tohoku man honors brother killed in tsunami with hundreds of blue carp streamers
© SiraNews24
12 Comments
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maybeperhapsyes
Maybe saw the chance to start over and took it.
Someone is alive who we thought was dead. Is this not a good thing?
Surely somebody out there is celebrating this news.
Goodlucktoyou
If 3 reactors meltdown and my house is smashed, and my neighbours dead, I would be on the first stagecoach out of town.
Disillusioned
He was not lost. He was hiding. You have to wonder what he was hiding from.
macv
my wife's from Ishinomaki, her family home and all possessions were destroyed her mother killed father MIA for over a month then found in a school shelter, we moved him to Tokyo to care for him, the old fellow who had served his country in the Japanese Air force 35 years died within a month. we never received any condolences or aid from anywhere, but at the tax office I had to pay some yen extra I was told 'For the victims of the Tohoku disaster' I said, 'My family are victims I"m standing right in front of you with my hand open ready to receive. I had to pay anyway.
Goodlucktoyou
@Macv. What happened to you and your family really touched my heart.
My advise is to put bad things behind you and think forward. Many bad things happen in life, but you must appreciate the fact that you and your wife are OK. Money is only money. But at least you both have each other. Enjoy tomorrow a new beautiful day.
commanteer
It was a perfect opportunity to disappear. He could have been in a life he wanted out of, maybe he owed a large amount of money he would never be able to pay, maybe he owed money to yaks... all kinds of possible scenarios.
TrevorPeace
I hope there's some follow-up to this story.
MikeH
@commanteer... yeah you are probably spot on about his situation! Unfortunately, most times the yaks recover their money from the family members if the borrower goes missing!
wistearia22
I think that this is definitely good news especially for people who are still searching the missing person. However, it is so mysterious that he had not contacted any of his friends and family.
coskuri
The man never chose to disappear, he had no clue he had disappeared till asking his juminhyo... Some relatives took the opportunity to report him as dead. Maybe they had some interest to do that.
What does "his family" mean ? Mum/Dad, wife and kids... or third cousin ? Given the circumstances post-disaster, 2 months is "rushing" to report him. I am surprised anyone could "off" him from juminhyo list already. I though that you had to wait decades after disappearance, unless you had a proof of death more tangible than "he's not called nor sent new year card to his auntie".
Ganbare Japan!
Its a miracle!