Photo/Illutration Yoshimi Yamagata works at Marusa diner in Kobe's Suma Ward in December 2009. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Kobe resident Yoshimi Yamagata, 72, starts her day early. She rises at 4 a.m. and opens her diner at 6 a.m. sharp.

While some of her patrons are still having breakfast, others start arriving for lunch.

She closes at 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon. Whenever her creative inspiration strikes, she types her "senryu" satirical haiku poems into her smartphone in her spare time.

In the Great Hanshin Earthquake of January 1995, the sushi bar she ran together with her husband, Katsutoshi, was severely damaged.

While rebuilding their business, Katsutoshi suffered a stroke.

A piece she penned at the time went to this effect: "I'm fine/ This is all I'll write/ on my New Year's greeting card."

She used the card to let everyone know that she was managing to cope.

After giving up on the sushi bar, the couple moved and she opened a diner named Marusa. She ran it alone while nursing Katsutoshi, who was paralyzed on the left side of his body.

"Pushing his wheelchair/ His shadow and mine/ merge into one," she wrote during their days of frequent hospital visits.

And watching his high blood pressure, she cooked plain, healthy meals for him: "Going easy on condiments is the secret to health/ That's wifely love."

Katsutoshi finally lost his battle in the early spring three years ago.

"I live/ Gazing up at my husband/ on that cloud."

She now pens five senryu pieces every week and submits them to an Osaka-based MBS Radio program titled "Shiawase no 5-7-5" (5-7-5 syllable pattern of happiness).

Whenever her work is read out on the program, she feels energized with elation.

Marusa seats only eight. The breakfast set it serves is 450 yen ($3.90) and lunch sets start from 500 yen. Takeout is also available for customers who bring their own containers.

Almost all the patrons are regulars. During my interview with Yamagata, I enjoyed an "oden" stew set lunch at her diner, the walls of which were adorned with her handwritten senryu poems.

The atmosphere felt as if I was eating in my parents' home. Not only did the meal thoroughly satisfy my tummy, but the coziness also filled me with bliss.

For Yamagata, senryu has been her "emotional anchor" that helped her live through the post-quake years.

It will soon be 27 years since the catastrophe struck early in the morning that winter.

My thoughts are with everyone who has held onto whatever sustained them through all these years.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 11

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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