In the days following Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, concerns over radiation and food contamination swiftly traveled across the country.
But there is Hope for Japan.
"Hai gohyaku en hai domo arigato gozaimasu."
"Arigato gozaimasu. Hai dozo."
A sea of people visit Tsukiji Market in central Tokyo everyday. It is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind.
"With the radiation, where is the fish coming from but even now their shying away from the fish that they can get from the Fukushima coastline but a lot of the fish comes from the sea of Japan," said restaurant owner Ryoji Soranaka who buys the fish he serves at the market’s auction. "The auction mart is the biggest in the world and they’re not going to bring contaminated fish."
It’s home to 900 vendors. Besides fresh seafood, vegetables are hours old.
"This is wasabi, fresh horse radish, wasabi. So before it reaches the tube? Before it reaches the tube as fresh as it’s going to get," said Soranaka.
Business slowed to a crawl after March 11 but that has since changed.
"We are back in business and over here normally it’s just so busy that they don’t even have to worry about not filling up the place but they passing out flyers to get the people back in," said Soranaka.
Restaurants, fishermen and farmers hoping to earn back the trust of customers.
"At one point, they just pulled out all the spinach from the stores so it was hard to find spinach, the prices went up but now, ‘kore zenbu kokusan desu ka?’ Yeah this is all Japan, all Japan," said Soranaka.
In return they want to help those who are suffering most.
"So what everybody else here is trying to do is trying to get the produce from here and try to make donations to the people that are suffering out there," said Soranaka.
But while everyone strives for normalcy, Mother Nature has been relentless.
"The aftershocks continue in Japan. We experienced six earthquakes in a 24-hour period including a 6.1 magnitude quake that certainly grabbed got our attention," said Mizutani. "We’re on the 23rd floor. It’s just after 10:40 and we just had another earthquake and we’re still swaying."
The swaying lasted for a minute. The aftershocks have become a way of life.
"You just got to go with the flow," said retired grand sumo champion Akebono.
It’s what many Hawaii transplants are doing according to long-time radio personality Kamasami Kong.
"Tokyo is still open for business and life goes on," said Kong. "We have an attitude here that we are definitely going to rebuild. We’re going to go to our favorite restaurants, spend a little money, try to keep the economy going we’re going to do the best we possibly can to survive through this terrible crisis."
Why that message is crucial for Japan’s future in our next report.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
