Words that Senichi Hoshino conveyed in the disaster area (Part 1)

Words from Senichi Hoshino in the disaster area (Part 1) March 17, 20:59

It was an interview that didn't seem easy to realize.

2016, five years after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The plan was to have Senichi Hoshino, who retired from Rakuten's director, see the disaster area.

At that time, Mr. Hoshino was suffering from lower back pain, and I thought he would be refused.

However, he received an application for my interview.

She tears at the stories of the people she met in the disaster area, encourages her, and presents a colored paper with the word "dream" written on it.

There was an undecorated figure of Mr. Hoshino, who was famous as a warlord.

Mr. Hoshino often said to the people he met, "Let's endure."

After the interview, the words remained in my heart forever.

Why did you choose that word?

Even if you want to ask the person directly, you can no longer hear it.

Then, if you talk to the person you met at that time again, you may be able to get the answer.

I decided to visit the disaster area for the first time in 6 years.

(Yuki Matsumoto, Network News Department)

Direct interview with "fighting general"

Senichi Hoshino.

He is a well-known Showa pitcher.

During his active career, he was active in the Chunichi Dragons, and after his retirement, he was appointed as a director at the Chunichi, Hanshin, and Rakuten teams.

Among them, in the 2013 season when he was appointed as the director of Rakuten, his team's first league victory and the best in Japan, and the appearance that encouraged the disaster area affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake is still vivid in the memory of many people.

January 25, 2016.

A hotel in Tokyo.

In front of Mr. Hoshino himself, I was the most nervous in my 10 years as a journalist.

At that time, one year had passed since I was in charge of Rakuten at the Sendai station.

Until now, when I interviewed Mr. Hoshino, a veteran reporter was always around me, and it wasn't the atmosphere that a chick reporter like me could ask a question.

I would like Mr. Hoshino to see the disaster area five years after the great earthquake.

And I want you to forgive the accompanying coverage.

That's why I came from Sendai to a hotel in Tokyo to apply for coverage.

I'm crazy about it and I don't remember what I explained or how.

Did you keep talking unilaterally for 10 minutes?

Mr. Hoshino suddenly looked at me and said only one word.

"Oh, I understand. Do the details with public relations.

"

Is this OK?

Mr. Hoshino was slowly drinking coffee, with me sweating on his back and confused.

The Rakuten staff member who was in charge of Mr. Hoshino recalls the interview at this time.

Mr. Kentaro Matsubara, Rakuten Baseball Team

It was an honest impression that I would receive it.

After retiring from Rakuten's director, Mr. Hoshino rarely responded to long interviews, let alone on location.

The reason why Mr. Hoshino received two replies was that he wanted to visit the disaster-stricken area at the timing of five years after the earthquake and have it burned into his eyes.

I'm sure he felt he was "meaningful" to go to the disaster area.

Tears shown by the warlord

"Eh !! I

'm crying !?"　

Mr. Hoshino shed tears and choked the words.

I was listening to the storyteller of the earthquake.

Mr. Hoshino visited the Yuriage district on the coast of Miyagi prefecture.

Here, Yuko Tanno talked about the tsunami.

She didn't seem nervous just because Mr. Tanno was a big star, and she explained the damage caused by the tsunami and the current state of reconstruction.

Mr. Hoshino seemed to listen to such an explanation.

However, she says that Mr. Tanno is on the way.

She said, "If my child was alive, he would be the same age as Okoye, who would join the team in the draft."

"Eh? Did you lose your son?"

Mr. Hoshino's expression changed completely.

"That's right, I was swept away by the tsunami ..."

"Why can I speak so brightly?"

In other words, Mr. Hoshino suddenly turned his back on the camera.

He was crying.

"I can't do this ..."

The tears that the "fighting general" showed are still burning in my mind.

After a while, Mr. Tanno concludes his explanation by saying to Mr. Hoshino, who has finally settled down.

"I was really wondering if our son died and we could survive, but we still have to keep talking about what happened here."

Miracles will happen, so let's endure

Next, Mr. Hoshino visited the children who were practicing baseball at the former Yuriage Elementary School, which was no longer used after the earthquake.

The children were not told to visit in advance.

There is a word that Mr. Hoshino told the children who were confused by the sudden visit.

"It happened that no one expected Rakuten to be the best in Japan. If you do it desperately, a miracle will happen if you do it hard. So now," Let's endure "and" I can endure it. ""

Children Was listening to Mr. Hoshino's words with a serious expression.

One letter of "dream" written on colored paper

During the filming, I visited a sushi restaurant in the temporary shopping district at that time.

This sushi restaurant was washed away from a store in the coastal area and was reopened here.

I asked the general to taste Yuriage's famous ark shell.

However, on the day of the location, Rakuten's exclusive public relations told me that "Mr. Hoshino may not be good at shellfish."

As a reporter, he has never lamented his lack of coverage as much as this time.

Even so, when I opened the lid, Mr. Hoshino ate a bowl full of ark shells, saying "It's delicious!".

He really stroked his chest.

After eating, Mr. Hoshino talked with General Koetsu Hisa over the counter.

"Did you want to quit (the store)?"

"I decided to quit, to be clear."

"What is your desire to return to the original place?"

"There is."

A thought for reconstruction that the quiet general talks about.

Mr. Hoshino asked me to bite each of those words.

And, as a thank-you, I handed over a colored paper with a single letter, "Dream".

Whenever Mr. Hoshino wrote his autograph on Shikishi, he decided to write only one letter of "dream" in large size.

The question that remained in my heart

The series of interviews was successfully broadcast as a special feature of the news, and Mr. Hoshino was pleased.

I was wondering if there would be another opportunity to interview, but just two years later, Mr. Hoshino quickly traveled.

After finishing this interview, the question in my heart remained.

That is the true meaning of the word "let's endure" that Mr. Hoshino often spoke to the victims.

I was talking repeatedly like this.

"I can't really tell the true feelings unless I'm the victim. I can't tell the pain unless I'm the parent or the party who lost the child. So I can't say I'll do my best."

But I thought.

"Let's endure" means to endure the difficult situation.

Why did they speak negative, perhaps negative, words to the people in the disaster area?

Even if you can't say "do your best", you can say "Let's look forward", "Let's raise your face", or "Let's believe in a bright future".

I wanted to confirm my true intentions, so I decided to ask Kentaro Matsubara, who served nearby as an exclusive public relations officer, until just before Mr. Hoshino died.

Mr. Matsubara's answer was surprising.

Mr. Kentaro Matsubara, Rakuten Baseball Team At

that time, in the eyes of Mr. Hoshino, the people who were affected by the disaster might have been seen in the state of "a foot on the ring" in sumo.

Five years have passed since the earthquake.

Reconstruction that has not progressed and diminished interest in the disaster area.

Among them, the sadness of having to live with a feeling of loss that has lost important people and memories.

Wasn't the victim at that time in a state of enduring at the very edge of the ground?

Mr. Matsubara

, so I want you to endure it now, change the difficult situation even a little, and prepare to move forward.

Mr. Hoshino's thoughts may have become the word "let's endure."

In Mr. Matsubara's words, I felt that I could see the answers to the questions I had so far.

At that time, all the people Hoshino met "endured" great sadness and adversity.

He was certainly close to such people.

Six years have passed since then.

What are the thoughts of the people who received Mr. Hoshino's message that day?

I decided to visit the site.

(Continued to the second part)