Photo/Illutration Keisuke Oma stands at the site where his wife and three children were killed in an earthquake-triggered landslide in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, exactly a year ago on New Year’s Day. (Tatsuo Kanai)

SUZU, Ishikawa Prefecture—Surrounded by disaster debris and with tears welling in his eyes, Keisuke Oma offered a 30-second silent prayer here on Jan. 1.

“I am back,” he said. “Thank you, and I am sorry.”

For the first time, Oma returned to the site where his wife and three children were killed by the powerful earthquake that struck on New Year’s Day last year.

The site was where the home of his wife’s parents had stood until it was crushed by a quake-triggered landslide.

Oma, 42, who lives in Kanazawa, said he could not visit here for one year because of the haunting images of the avalanche of earth.

He arrived at the site around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, as a clear blue sky spread over him. He recalled that stars were glistening on the night after the quake.

Oma was visiting the home with his wife, Haruka, 38, daughter Yuka, 11, sons Taisuke, 9, and Sosuke, 3, when the magnitude-7.6 temblor shook the Noto Peninsula.

Haruka’s parents, grandparents and her sister-in-law were also killed in the disaster.

The white van that took Oma’s family to the house remained squashed at the site. A child safety seat for Sosuke was in the backseat.

Tears trickled down Oma’s cheeks as he recalled the family members were singing in the van during the journey to the house.

Oma laid a bouquet, including some light pink and blue flowers. He said he wanted to offer bright-colored flowers because he had a “really happy family.”

He also brought potato chips, a favorite of his children, and beer, which Haruka’s parents were fond of.

“I feel like I returned here with them, not alone,” he said. “I want to spend the rest of my life doing what my family wanted to do without wasting even a day.”

Oma said he wants to return here again in summer.

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