By MEGUMI KISHI/ Staff Writer
January 13, 2025 at 18:40 JST
Mika Sato looks at the painting of her daughter Airi in a “furisode” kimono. (Yosuke Fukudome)
ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture—Portraits of 6-year-olds who died in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami were presented to their families on Jan. 12, the day before Coming-of-Age Day.
Had they survived, the victims would have celebrated their reaching adulthood on Jan. 13.
Fourteen years ago, the children were pupils at Hiyori Kindergarten here. They were on a school bus when it was hit by the tsunami and caught fire.
Their deaths occurred just before the graduation ceremony at the kindergarten.
The bereaved families commissioned an artist to paint portraits of their children.
Mika Sato, 49, a mother of six whose eldest daughter, Airi, died on March 11, 2011, said she wanted to “see Airi in ‘furisode’ (long-sleeved kimono), even if only in a painting.”
The artist, Noriaki Kobayashi, 50, of Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, began painting pictures of parents embracing their children in the stricken Tohoku region in 2012.
Focused on those affected by the quake and tsunami, he set a goal of painting 1,000 families. He has completed about 300 so far.
To paint the portrait of Airi, who was described as a kind and gentle child who loved to make people laugh, Kobayashi interviewed Mika about the origin of her daughter’s name, personality and favorite things. He also visited the place where Airi died.
The portrait features Airi wearing a navy blue and white furisode kimono and smiling gently.
The furisode was decided upon when Mika’s second daughter, Juri, 17, was looking through a furisode catalog with her mother.
“I think my sister will wear this,” Juri had said.
Until now, Mika said she could not imagine what Airi would look like had she survived.
Under a clear sky in front of the venue for the Coming-of-Age Day ceremony, she received the painting from Kobayashi and gazed at it intently.
“I haven’t seen Airi since I sent her off to kindergarten. I am sure she has grown up like this,” she said.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
