What Toku left behind March 11, 7:05

NHK reporters are often transferred.

If you're a reporter, you'll usually be transferred after about three years.

My first transfer was in November 2021, over a year ago.

From my first assignment in Okinawa to Iwate in the Tohoku region.

Moreover, it was a move to the Kamaishi branch office on the coast.

Norisuke Tokuda, also known as Toku-san, greeted me when I was completely unfamiliar with myself and literally didn't know what to do or what to do.

But Mr. Toku is no more.

(Morioka Broadcasting Station Kamaishi Branch Reporter Riho Murata)

38 minutes

Toku is from Oita prefecture.

He entered the Faculty of Engineering at Iwate University, but it seems he was not a serious student.

During his time at school he was into theater.

He didn't get enough credits to graduate even after six years.

From that time on, he started working as an assistant cameraman (lightman) at the NHK Morioka station, and later became a staff cameraman.

His turning point came in the fall of 2010.

A private correspondent at the Kamaishi branch office (then the Kamaishi Press Office) on the coast of Iwate Prefecture decided to retire due to old age, and Toku became his successor.

The correspondent turned the camera himself and collected information on the local area.

He also writes manuscripts and sometimes produces reports.

He said he was often confused at first.

March 11, 2011, half a year after finally getting used to work.

Kamaishi was hit by the huge tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Toku, who was inside the branch office at 2:46 p.m. when the earthquake struck, first headed for the floodgates of a nearby port, but the gates were already closed, so she went to an evacuation site on high ground.

So he started filming people who were evacuating.

A large tsunami warning has been issued, and people look anxiously at the sea.

And about 30 minutes after the earthquake occurred.

A huge tsunami hit the town with a roaring sound.

"It's 15:21. This is the state of the port of Kamaishi. Water is pouring into the city beyond the port.

"

While continuing to shoot, Toku was just absorbed in talking about the scene in front of him.

The recorded video is "38 minutes".

People who escaped to the roof of the building.

People screaming after being swept away from their homes...

The video was broadcast nationwide the next day.

A year later, the NHK special "38 Minutes ~Giant Tsunami Record of Life~" was broadcast based on the video taken by Mr. Toku, recording the lives of the people who were captured in the video.

“I want to see the reconstruction through to the end”

After the earthquake, staff reporters were assigned to the Kamaishi bureau in addition to correspondents.

Mr. Toku began covering the disaster area with a young reporter who was transferred.

After I moved to Kamaishi, most of my interviews were done with Toku-san.

Toku-san listened to any request I had, even though I didn't know right or left, without showing a disgusted look on his face.

He was also trusted by interviewees and introduced many people.

Mr. Toku loves canned coffee and cigarettes, and his squinting smile is impressive.

On the other hand, he was not very talkative.

Only once did he ask what kind of things he usually thinks about.

"How do you feel about staying in Kamaishi after the earthquake?

"

"That's right. It's because I took a picture of that tsunami. I have to see the reconstruction until the end."

I couldn't hear more.

I thought there was something special about me that I didn't know about.

why did you ask that?

In fact, at that time, I was at a dead end, not knowing how to deal with the disaster as a reporter.

I don't know the situation at the time of the earthquake, nor do I know the progress of reconstruction so far.

For me, when I ask people who have had a terrible experience to tell me their stories about the disaster, even though it is an interview, I feel like I am trying to dig into the past that I don't want them to touch. There were times when I wondered if I would be torn apart.

When I told him about my troubles, Mr. Toku said,

"Don't think about difficult things, just tell what you saw and felt."

He gave me a bright smile.

farewell

In October last year, Mr. Toku went to the hospital saying, "My stomach hurts."

He was diagnosed with cancer and decided to recuperate at his parents' home in Oita for treatment.

On the day he decided to leave Kamaishi, the interviewees who wanted to see him off gathered at Kamaishi Station.

“I will definitely come back to Kamaishi.”

Saying so powerfully, Mr. Toku held the hands of the people who had gathered.

"I will protect Kamaishi until Mr. Toku comes back," I thought strongly.

However, about a week later, I received the news that I was in critical condition.

The cancer had progressed to the point where it could not be treated, so he had no choice but to rest in Oita.

It was pitch black before my eyes.

Before I knew it, I was on my way to Koichi Katagiri, who runs a beauty salon in Kamaishi.

Mr. Katagiri and Mr. Toku have known each other for a long time.

He lost his wife and the unborn child who was in his womb at the time in the tsunami of the earthquake, and even now his grief has not healed.

Together with Mr. Toku, I proposed a project to introduce a song that supports Mr. Katagiri's heart.

After the interview, a few days before Toku first complained of poor health, Katagiri had the opportunity to talk with Toku alone for more than an hour when he bumped into him on the street.

Mr. Koichi Katagiri,

that time was a great time.

I didn't say anything special, but I thought that even after I became his grandpa, I would still be drinking with him and getting along.

Hearing the news of his critical condition, Mr. Katagiri dropped his shoulders and said,

Mr. Koichi Katagiri

Why do all the people I wanted to be with forever disappear before me?

I wonder if some kind of unbelievable miracle will happen.

Two days later, on November 10th.

Toku passed away.

he was 53 years old.

It's only been a month since we last interviewed Mr. Katagiri.

Too suddenly, Mr. Toku disappeared.

I really want to know

I was too shocked to do anything.

I continued to work, but it was natural for me to be with him all the time.

I couldn't accept that.

“I should have listened to more stories.”

“I wish I could have worked with Toku more.”

Every time I told people who knew Toku and who interviewed me about his passing, tears welled up in my eyes.

However, as I continued to talk with Mr. Katagiri and other people who had a close relationship with Mr. Toku, I began to think that I wanted to know more about Mr. Toku so that I would never forget him. rice field.

What have you been thinking and what have you been thinking about as you continue to cover the disaster area of ​​Kamaishi?

What came to mind was the NHK special "38 Minutes -Giant Tsunami Record of Life-", which Toku was involved in covering.

Let's go meet the people Toku interviewed in this program.

I wondered if there might be an answer there, so I searched the program materials of the time.

Connections born in "38 Minutes"

The first person I met was Ikuko Yoshida.

Yoshida had lost her husband, Shigeru, in the tsunami that day.

In the 38-minute video taken by Toku, Shigeru was seen walking toward the harbor instead of the high ground.

Shigeru, who was a volunteer disaster prevention officer, said that he was attacked by the tsunami without being told by anyone to close the floodgates.

Ms. Ikuko spoke while looking back on her thoughts at that time.

Ikuko Yoshida

Her husband had a strong sense of justice.

Sometimes she wonders why she went to close the floodgate instead of running away.

However, I can only thank Toku for taking the last picture of her husband.

Mr. Toku interviewed Mr. Yoshida again two years ago, the 10th anniversary of the earthquake.

Knowing Yoshida's desire to convey her husband's last appearance to her grandson, Toku saw Yoshida watching her "38 Minutes" video with her grandson. are interviewing.

She told me that Yoshida-san and Toku-san had exchanges outside of her interviews.

Ikuko Yoshida

must be a busy person, but she always did what I asked her to do.

He always delivered what I asked for to my front door.

Then I bought a can of beer as a thank you and left it at the entrance of the bureau.

No one really was that kind.

I lost someone dear to me...

I was able to meet another person, Sakae Kato.

Kato, who ran a long-established hardware store with her husband in Kamaishi City, lost her husband, Tetsusaburo, in her tsunami.

Tetsusaburo let Sakae and her disabled son go to higher ground first, and is believed to have been hit by the tsunami while he was closing the shutters of his shop.

Mr. Sakae Kato

For several years after the earthquake, I had no real feeling that my husband had passed away.

It may be correct to say that she has avoided thinking.

I think that interviewing (for the program) was a necessary task for me as well, in the sense of remembering her husband and facing her properly.

When Tetsuzaburo was found dead, Mr. Toku and others handed him the gift envelope with the crew name of the program.

He told me that he would like to return the gift to Toku's family.

Mr. Sakae Kato

Around the time of the earthquake, there were a lot of mass media, but Mr. Toku was unusual among those people.

he was a nice guy

He's still young and he's dead.

I had no idea he was unwell.

He should have called out to him more.

Sense of guilt

I wonder what kind of thoughts Mr. Toku has faced with the interviewee.

Among the materials for "38 Minutes," I found a "coverage note" written by Toku in a booklet for NHK film crews after the program aired.

On it was written the anguish Toku-san held in his heart.

On that day, Mr. Toku started shooting on a hill.

Just before the tsunami hit, he was interviewing a man who was nearby.

After the interview, the man returned home from higher ground to save his mother and was swept away by the tsunami.

He found out about it later, and Toku said he felt guilty.

(From the report)

I instantly thought it was my fault, I thought.

He feared that if he hadn't listened to the interview, the person might have gone back to his home before the tsunami hit and brought his mother back to the evacuation site.

No, I tried to make the excuse that I wasn't forcibly detaining the person who refused to be interviewed, but somewhere in my heart, something like sediment with a bad aftertaste remained.

If I try to ignore it, I can do it, but suddenly I remember it, and somehow it becomes heavy.

What weighed me down the most was that as long as I continued to live in Kamaishi, I might run into family members and friends of those who died somewhere.

At that time, what should I do if I'm dismissed as your fault?

I spent the summer and fall after the earthquake while thinking about such things.

We asked Mr. Nozomu Ishida, the director at the time who interviewed Mr. Toku with Mr. Toku for "38 Minutes," about Mr. Toku's situation at the time.

Nozomu Ishida

At the time, Toku was quite troubled.

Even when he was communicating with the man's bereaved family, he seemed to be at a loss as to what to say.

The other party told me, ``Don't think that it was your fault,'' but even so, it seems that it was impossible to escape from the guilt.

That's why it's hard for Toku to go to those people regularly after the show, and I think he couldn't do it.

A sense of guilt is etched into Toku's heart.

I wonder if that was the connection between Mr. Toku and the people in the disaster area.

“Things that spill over”

トクさんが亡くなった1か月後。

住んでいた部屋を引き払うため家族が釜石を訪れた。

一緒に荷物整理などを手伝った時、トクさんが書いたある舞台の脚本を見つけた。

大学時代に演劇に心酔。

かつては役者としても舞台に立ち、釜石に住むようになってからも細々と脚本を書いていたという。

その中のひとつに、被災地を題材にしたものがあった。

タイトルは『雨女』。

手書きで原稿用紙56枚分。

震災の翌年には演劇仲間によって上演されたという。

中には避難所暮らしをする女性たちのリアルな姿が生き生きと描かれている。

舞台は、避難所で下着などの洗濯物をおおっぴらに干せないという女性たちが、洗濯物を干しに来る場所。

誰かが洗濯物を干し始めると必ず雨が降ることから、誰が“雨女”なのか、ただただ言い争いを続けていく。

コミカルに進んでいく物語のところどころに、震災によって変わってしまった日常が何気なく織り込まれていた。

例えば、登場人物の女性たちの「自分は雨女じゃない」と主張する台詞。

『あたしが何日、全壊した自宅の後片づけに通ったと思ってんの？そのうちたった三日くらい雨が降ったからって何？』

その後、女性たちは口論の末、自分こそが“雨女”かもしれないと言い出していく。

『旦那がいまだに行方不明ってだけじゃ不幸が足りない？それとも、不幸な女には雨がよく似合うってか？』

津波が来る直前に生徒を家に帰してしまった女性教師。

津波が来たときは雪が雨に変わっていたと話し、こう続ける。

『私、なんであの子とお母さんを帰しちゃったんだろう。三十分、いいえあと十五分、学校にとどまっていたらって…。雨をみるたび考える。それでも、私は雨女』

震災が人々の心や暮らしに大きな影を残した現実を表したこの脚本を読んで、わたしはトクさんが何を思って釜石を見つめてきたのか少しばかりわかったような気がした。

多くの犠牲者が出て未曾有の大災害と言われた東日本大震災を伝えていく。

それが“報道”の役割だとしても、それだけでは、どうしてもこぼれ落ちてしまうものがある。

それこそがトクさんが脚本の中で描いた、そこで生きている一人ひとりの気持ちであり、“日常”の姿だったのではないだろうか。

多くの人が、震災で大事な人や生まれ育った家を失った。

それでも、生き残った人たちには必ず、明日は来る。

常に悲嘆に暮れているわけでもなく、笑ったり泣いたり怒ったり、くだらないことでけんかしたりしながら、ただただその日を生きている…。

震災によって生まれた“罪悪感”を抱えながらもトクさんは、被災地を特別な場所として捉えるのではなく、そこで生きている人たちのありのままの姿を見つめ伝えていこうとしていたのではないだろうか。

「難しいこと考えずに、君が見たもの感じたものをそのまま伝えればいいんじゃないか」

あの時のように、トクさんが語りかけているような気がした。

“誠実に仕事をする”

『38分間』の取材記をトクさんはこう締めくくっている。

（取材記より）
『誰に許されて、あるいは何の権利があって、私はこの人の悲しみや苦しみを晒しものにするのだろう？』というような思いは、多かれ少なかれ被災地にいるかぎり、どこに行ってもついて来ました。

どうやら、その思いというか罪悪感みたいなものは、大げさに言えば報道というものが本質的に抱えこんでいるもののようです。

（中略）いま思うのは、せめて誠実に仕事をしようと、当たり前と言えば当たり前のことです。

テレビというものが、どうやら残酷な面を持っていることも事実だし、そのことについて思い悩むことがこれからもあるのでしょう。

しかし、私は撮りはじめてしまった。

今さら降りたりするのは、今まで撮らせてもらった人に申し訳ないとも思います。

それが仕事というなら、せめて全うしろと言われているような気もします。

釜石を撮ったんだったら、最後まで見てけと。

今は、そう思ってます。

迷いを抱えながらもトクさんは、小さな何気ない日常を記録に残していこうと取材を積み重ねた。

先入観のない、素直な目線で、人々が生きている証を記録すること。

トクさんはわたしに大切なことを教えてくれた。

そして「次はおまえに託した」。

そう、トクさんに言われているような気がしてならない。

私は震災当時を知らない。

だからこそ「知らないという目線」で、トクさんの思いを胸に走り続けたいと思う。

盛岡放送局釜石支局記者
村田理帆
2018年入局
沖縄局を経て2021年11月から現所属