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Nelson man arrives in Onagawa

Nelson’s John Craig has reached tsunami-stricken Onagawa, Japan. The community, which was devastated last month, is forever tied to Nelson as the place where Lt. Robert Hampton Gray died at the end of World War II.
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Nelson mayor John Dooley (left) signs John Craig’s book of hope for Onagawa. Craig has now arrived in the Japanese community.

Nelson’s John Craig has reached tsunami-stricken Onagawa, Japan.

The community, which was devastated last month, is forever tied to Nelson as the place where Lt. Robert Hampton Gray died at the end of World War II. Several groups of Onagawa students have visited Nelson in recent years.

Craig, who has lived in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese, has been posting updates on his website at japanthropologist.com.

“Leaving Sendai on the way here I was wondering if all the reports had been exaggerated,” he wrote today. “But turning one corner was enough to dispel that idea. I was shaking, gripping the wheel trying to control the sobbing. It was as it all the landscape was still shrieking from the battering it had taken.”

Craig describes scenes of unimaginable destruction, with cars and boats “Twisted beyond belief … in places they should never be,” and furniture parts hanging from trees — and yet silence among the debris.

“[S]oldiers unloaded my four-ton truck full of spaghetti, tomato sauce, bicycles, a motorcycle and clothes along with chemical toilet units and towls, paper cups and plates,” he says.

The ground continues to shake, with aftershocks “as regular as rain in Nelson.”

Craig has met with a Mr. Doi, an appointed go-between with Nelson, and is expected to meet Onagawa’s mayor, to present a book of hope that includes messages in Japanese from Nelson residents.

“Mr. Doi said his biggest heartache was in not being able to thank all those who have given so much,” Craig wrote. “I talked to Mr. Chiba who well remembers Bruce Lacroix and his wife Wendy in Nelson. He shared his happy memories with me — smiling each time he brought to mind a restaurant he had been [to].”

Craig added: “These people are resilient beyond all. Let us pray that this community is spared any more assaults from the now placid ocean I have just walked in front of. Let us pray that we never have to see what these people have seen.”



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