Letter Arrives From Daughter Lost to Tsunami

One of the many people to go missing in the 2011 Tohoko Disaster was a woman of 26 who was employed as a temp worker in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture. She had graduated high school in 2003 and started working as a bus guide for a bus company in Kyoto, but had then returned to her hometown of Otsuchi at her parents’ urging. When the tsunami struck she was in the town hall, and it’s thought she was swallowed by the water along with her coworkers. Her house escaped damage and her parents were unhurt, but she was never found. After half a year her parents regretfully submitted notification of her death.

When her father returned home from work on January 12 this year, he found a white envelope waiting in the post box. He recognized his daughter’s familiar, neat handwriting. Using the service where they hold onto your letter and deliver it 10 years later at the Meiji-mura museum in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, she had written musings about where she might be 10 years from then. Written on January 10 2004, it had arrived as scheduled in 2014. Inside the envelope were two pieces of writing paper, filled with her thoughts and feelings about the day she had left home for work and the day she started her job as a bus guide. Just before the disaster, she had gotten engaged to a classmate from her middle school who she’d been with for eight years. In the letter she had written ‘I think I might be married and have kids, but what if I’m all alone.’

The unexpected arrival was a shock to her parents who were still in mourning. They’d had no idea about the letter, and they also hadn’t know about some of the feelings their daughter expressed in it. One line that stood out is where she tells her parents, ‘Mum and Dad you’ve done so much for me, so I want to return the favour to you from now on.’


If you’ve read this, go and tell someone you love how much they mean to you.