カテゴリー: PHOTO GALLERY

Photographed on 6/23/2011

“I’ve had enough of this. Everything’s so damn quiet.”

We left Sendai airport behind us and drove south along the coast. The terrain around us was almost entirely flat. The car navigation system told us we were driving through residential areas and agricultural fields, but all we could see through the windshield was emptiness and desolation. “I’ve had enough of this,” Kuyama suddenly said. It was a line we often used to tease our young editor when we had lost enthusiasm for a project. But this time I think he said it in an attempt to escape the horrible sense that our emotions were being numbed by the horrors constantly unfolding all around us, and as an excuse for driving through these devastated areas without even stopping. Then suddenly he shouted, “Stop!” He leaped out of the car and ran toward a small fishing harbor a short distance away where he stood taking photos and looking out at the tranquil sea just beyond his lens. When he finally returned to the car, he had a look of disbelief on his face. “Is this really the same sea the tsunami came from?”

Written by Tetsuya Hirose

「飽きてきたなぁ。静かやなぁ」

仙台空港を後にして南下すれば海岸沿いにはほぼ平な地形が続く。カーナビにはそこが住宅地だったり畑だったりという表示が出るもののフロントガラスに広がる風景はただの原っぱである。「飽きてきたなぁ」というのは、興味が薄れてきたとき僕らが若い編集者を虐めるときの口癖だったが、そのときは、この360度に広がり果てることのない惨状に自分たちの感覚がマヒしはじめたことの苦しさから逃れるための、そうすることで被災地のひとつを通り過ぎてしまうこと言い訳するための吐露だったような気がする。それでも突然「止めて！」と車から飛び降りて小さな漁港へと向かってはレンズの先の静かな海を見ながらシャッターを押し続けていた。やがて車に帰ってきた久山は「この海はほんとうに津波のあった海と同じなんかなかぁ？」と釈然としない顔をしていた。

ライター / 廣瀬達也

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