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Ian Williams / NBC News
Women in the Japanese village of Utatsu work on the seawood harvest on a recent morning.
UTATSU, Japan – At first light, the cove at Utatsu is a picture of tranquility, the silence broken only by the chugging of engines as a fleet of small boats makes its way out across the flat blue water.
But the small harbor from which they leave is cracked and has sunk by two and a half feet. Beyond the beach is the crumpled remains of a seawall, tossed aside by the tsunami, and behind that the foundations are all that are left of a cluster of homes.
"I can't even find the words to describe it," said Hiroko Mirura, who heads a local women's fishing association, and who lost her husband in last year’s tsunami.
Before the disaster, the local economy was built around scallops, oysters and seaweed – with the seaweed from here prized across Japan. But Utatsu lost 80 of its 100 fishing boats.
The boats that survived were mostly out at sea when the raging water swept in, but for the first time since the disaster, they are now back out, harvesting seaweed.
Ian Williams / NBC News
A Japanese seaweed fishing boat in Utatsu, Japan works on the harvest.
"It's a start," Mirura told me, "but we still need to fix the fishing facilities." Now up to 200 people are back at work.
Slimy mess tastes good
We joined the seaweed farmers on a bitterly cold morning as they pulled from the water giant branches of the slimy weed, known in Japan as wakame. It's grown from long frames, marked by rows of buoys. Mostly this is a family business, and men and women with craggy weathered faces worked methodically at the weed with their curved knives.
Few words were spoken, though one man, taking a break, cigarette hanging from his lips, told us: "It's good, the quality is very good this year." They expect it to fetch high prices in the market.
Nearly one year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan, stunning images show what the hardest hit areas looked like then and now. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
Back on shore, the Wakame is dunked in boiling water, to soften and clean it, before being salted as a preservative. In the past this processing machinery had been kept at their homes, but was mostly swept away with those houses.
The new equipment has been provided under a program backed by the U.S. charity Mercy Corps and their Japanese partner Peace Winds. The giant U.S. retailer Walmart also provided support.
"This is really the beginning of seeing their economy come back to life," said Randolph Martin, who heads Mercy Corps' East Asia operations, and has spent a good chunk of the last year in Japan looking for this type of high impact micro-investment.
"It’s more than just getting the economy going. It's about getting their lives and livelihoods back," Martin told me. "You look here and you don't see helpless victims of a disaster. You see resilient survivors."
The Japanese village of Utatsu was famous for its seaweed, until last year's tsunami devastated the industry. Randolph Martin, from the U.S. charity Mercy Corps, explains how fishermen are revitalizing their economy.
Around 100 sets of processing equipment have been supplied to the community here. One elderly man bent over his tank of boiling water, stirring the weed with his gloved hand. He stepped back to hand me a stalk of Wakame with a sort of cork-screw type head on it, and regarded as a particular delicacy. It was slimy, crunchy and salty – but surprisingly tasty.
The elderly man laughed, so did several women seated on the ground nearby, sorting through more seaweed, just dragged like some slimy alien off another boat.
The task of rebuilding this battered coast is enormous, but for the small hamlet of Utatsu the return of their seaweed business is an important step towards restoring their livelihoods and sense of community.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Japanese tourism slowly rebounds year after tsunami
- Slimy, salty, but tasty seaweed revives Japan village
- Tsunami scientists prepare for next wave
- Tsunami survivors: Obstacles remain for rice farmer
- Giant quake like Japan's could hit Pacific Northwest
- Earthquake experts improve their predictive powers
- Cook uses recipes to help quake survivors heal
- One year after Fukushima, Japanese town is frozen in time
- Japanese tsunami survivor, 79, looks ahead
- Tsunami Survivors: Struggling to live on, alone
- Japan Red Cross: Whole year wasted after tsunami
- Cosmic Log: Hear the soundtrack of a super-quake
- Nuke pill frenzy fizzles in U.S. as Fukushima fades
- Photo Blog: Panoramic images, then and now
- Japan disaster snarls U.S. nuke plant plans
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
Sea-weed is one of those things that westerners never expect to like, but as soon as you taste it when it is prepared right, it's awesome.
Also, it's not slimey when it is served, only when it is harvested due to algae growth on its leaves. Dried seaweed snacks are so good.
Eat GREEN VEGGIES! LIVE LONGER!
I've had a few seaweed side salads before and they are quite tasty.
Seaweed is the most nutrient packed food that humans can consume.
In Hawaii they eat tons of seaweed with spam. You would think they would be bad, but it is good.
Just like how people use bacon with spinach, the pork shoulder in spam goes well with seaweed.
I wish I was nearer to a good source of seaweed.
But next time you see it on the menu, give it a try. It's not slimy.
My brother lives on the north side of the island of Oahu in Wianee and he has had spam sushi which is a slice of spam rolled up in steamed seaweed.. They serve it warm or cold depending on your preference and sell it from a street vendors cart in the park at the beach.. He says it is better than the salted raw fish variety that is also available from the vendor.. I like the candy coated dried blue seaweed but it is almost impossible to find in Ohio.. Most people are industrious but our society here in the US is cultivating sheeple who expect the government to take care of them.. The disaster in New Orleans is a perfect example, a few people were trying to organize the refugees at the stadium and were killed by a mob of lazy a$$holes.. They wanted to dig some holes outside and set up latrines.. They also wanted to setup tarps to collect rain water for drinking and gather all the food up so they could ration it out.. The few people who had medical training wanted to setup an aid station but were mugged and chased away by a gang who had guns and knives.. The police were stealing stuff and those that were trying to regain order were shot at by groups of thievs.. Our shining moment showing the world how uncivilized people in Louisiana can be.. And people wonder why fearful citizens band together to form community militias that are preparing for the worst..
yeah, Ian Williams certainly went out of his way to let us know he thinks seaweed is slimy (synonymous with disgusting?), even after eating some and admitting it was "surprisingly tasty". The general overtone of the article is seaweed is gross because it's not consumed daily by Americans...
NBC, can't you find authors and editors who at least try to appear to act impartial and fair?
I wish Spam was cheaper.
How long will the seaweed coming back, lead to their killings of dolphins, whales, and god knows what else.
Thanks Walmart and US Embassy. What ever happened to embargos when country's don't follow the UN.
When I went to school, I was glad US wasn't a part of the UN Embassy. We are supposed to be the Leaders of the world, and all of a sudden we join them, host their yearly convention, and lay down to them. When that convention comes around, who foots the bill (US TAXPAYERS)? I am so disgusted with US policies, politics, and rules that I am going to run for the next election that comes up in Hartford, CT based on the policy that WE TAKE CARE OF US CITIZENS FIRST. What do ya think, will u vote for me???
W
Seaweed, Jeffrey?
might want to run a geiger counter over that seaweed. Just sayin'
They are testing all the seafood for radiation. Nearly all the radiation released went into the Pacific. Luckily that ocean is MASSIVE, so it gets diluted to safe levels pretty quick.
That's why you can't compare Fukushima to Chernobyl. Chernobyl released 15 times more radiation, and nearly all of it went into the air, covering large land areas.
Fukushima released nearly all its radiation into the seawater they were using to keep them from total meltdown. It quickly rushed into the ocean through leaks in the cooling loop.
So far, 1 person has died from the Nuclear plants, while 20,000+ died from poor zoning/city planning.
What worries me is that they are rebuilding in the exact same locations. Meanwhile the media says nothing about the wisdom of that. Compare that reporting to the nuclear plants. From the amount of press you would think the nuclear plants killed 20,000 and the tsunami only killed one person.
Considering 40 year old plants from 50 year old designs went through the 3rd most powerful earthquake in recorded history, I think they show nuclear power is very safe, especially more modern designs in more suitable locations.
But obviously the lesson about building homes on the coast in a tsunami zone has not been learned.
Ryan in Texas: 4 or 5 people have died so far at the Fukushima Dai Ichi nuclear power plant, but all died either from physical battering by the tsunami (2 people) or from extant conditions exacerbated by the conditions of working in the cleanup.
It's a glowing green....
like your vd...
I had a roommate in college from Hong Kong and he gave me a dried seaweed/nori snack (kind of like seaweed jerky). It wasn't too bad, and I imagine of you add stuff to it it's even better. It's good to see that Japan is making at least some kind of recovery.
Do they harvest this sustainably I wonder? And I would think this seaweed might be irradiated.
The story says they grow it themselves on special frames underwater. As far as being toxic...depends on how far from the accident they are I suppose.
Wonder that too, have always used Kombu from Japan but stopped because of the concern over radiation.
The Japanese are far more stringent when it comes to food quality then their Chinese neighbors..
the Japanese are far more "stringent" about what they put in their bodies than Americans, let alone China! Their food is way more fresh and preservative free than the food here...
I'm glad to see the Japanese people get back to normalcy in their lives. The before and after pictures are just amazing what they have been able to do in a year. If that were to happen here, we would still be trying to get permits to haul the debris away.
Unless it was at the World Trade Center.... then the Governement would have rushed the debris off site ASAP and have it melted to destroy evidence!
jd- it's been over ten years and ground zero is still a glorified pit with a couple of buildings growing out of it. Leave politics out of this...
Living in Hawaii I learned to like seaweed alot. After everything that happened to that community Im glad to see positive things.
Radioactive seaweeds would bring death closer. Don't eat Japanese seeweeds now.
quit trolling, and keep in mind the plural of seaweed is seaweed. I was in Japan for a month last year and I'm going back in a couple of months- the radiation has fairly dispersed already.
Had seaweed salad for lunch! Love it!
How about turning the seaweed into a fuel for use in autos. I have a hard enough time eating spinach from a can. The seaweed in the firrst picture reminds me of that.
Try some salt and pepper on your spinach from a can. ;-) Also ACV or balsamic vinegar taste good with spinach
One of the things I admire most about these people, they are picking up their lives and moving on. They rely on themselves and each other to get things done. Unlike some people(Hurricane Katrina ) survivors whining how everything has not just been handed to them fast enough.
You do realize that Japan has universal (socialized!) healthcare for everyone and lots of government assistance in housing and feeding everyone affected by the disaster, right?
Funny how quick people are to point to the good results of socialism in one instance and scoff at implementing it here in the next.
I think it's great that Walmart has money to give to the Japanese. Especially when they're firing senior associates who are at the top of the pay scale, and hiring part-time kids for minimum wage and zero benefits to replace them.
Walmart sending money to Japan that SHOULD have gone to the employees whose jobs they killed here in the United States doesn't mean they're humanitarians. Just like going to church once doesn't make Charles Manson a pious man.
Severe analogy, but I think that breaks it down.
Warren S. Levine: Walmart owns the Seiyu supermarket/department store chain in Japan and, though that company, several other similar businesses.
In #13.1, please read "through" for "though." I apologize for the mistake.
warren-
like w o w says, Walmart is only looking out for its' best interests. They aren't being charitable for charity's sake...
Hmm, radiation leaked into those waters for how long? I think I'll pass on that particular sea weed.
sweet! more for me!
Japanese will eat anything.. Smart people..
caught the implication. the dullest Japanese student's brain probably runs circles around yours...
btw- AMERICANS will eat anything- what's more American than hot dogs?
even better analogy- McD's burgers are a huge percentage seaweed, so what's your point? Millions of Americans eat seaweed every day and don't even know it...
As a sentient being I must stand with the other sentient beings, Whales and Dolphins, and do as much as I can to protect them from the slaughter and butchery of the country of Japan. Good Job Sea Shepherd! The only organization out of the entire world's population that is ACTIVELY pursuing and hounding the Japan whalers out of business. All governments should be condemning Japan. Ric O'Barry and Sea Shepherd will stop the dolphin killing in Taiji Japan someday also. Become a Cove Guardian and do what you can to save dolphins. Instead of helping the tsunami victims rebuild whaling ships, send a donation to Sea Shepherd Organization.
As a WWII vet friend of mine (who has since passed away) said when we watched "Whale Wars", "This is the only show that makes me cheer for the Japanese!!!"
I agree.....Paul whats his name is a true hero and genius! He signs up clueless hipsters who know nothing about the ways of the sea and gives them paintball guns. What is amazing is that no one has gotten killed because of him. The only reason there is continued whaling is because sovereign nations refuse to give in to his silliness.
jiw- those militant hippies (as if that's not a contradiction) need to be glad the Japanese are so tolerant of other people. If it were American companies hunting the whales, those eco-terrorists would all be in Guantanamo...
Just proves...God kelps those who kelp themselves! :)
I like to see story's like this. It's good to read. It's good to know.
Bubba Gump shrimp anyone?
no, oil was spilled in the gulf a few years ago. I'm sure the shrimp is still very deadly to eat.
please recognize my sarcasm...
Walmart, Peace Winds, and Mercy Corps are to be commended for the financial support of this program.
Imagine if a disaster of this scale had happened in California, Oregon, or Washington.
I'll buy some.
good for the charities, but walmart is only covering their own business interests...
I'm sure they're getting the majority of that seaweed at discount prices for sale in their 37% owned Seiyu supermarket chain...
Thanks to Mercy Corp & Walmart - U.S. companies - it really is amazing to me how generous this country is, even when we are broke and battered - and so many countries on the planet think, believe, preach that we are the bad guys - Where are the chartiable donations from them? Does not their god teach, is it not written in their holy books that charity and charitable acts are a good thing? So where are they? Those countries are (not so) strangely absent.
Kate-344962: Mercy Corps is not a company, and Walmart, though it started in the US, now owns companies (that have different names) all over the world, including in Japan.
"Where are the chartiable donations from them?" You can start checking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami. This will show a list of some of the different countries, corporations, and individuals who aided or are aiding in recovery. As you write "their god," I assume you are not referring to, say, Indonesia, the most populous Islamic country, as the god of Islam is the same as the god of Christianity.
who cares Japan is the wealthiest country in the world, who cares.
harryass- ever hear of a little country called Israel, or an even bigger country called the USA? Japan isn't the wealthiest country in the world, they just take care of their citizens...
I wonder why it's acceptable to parade one's prejudices ("slimy") when talking or writing about food, but not, for example, when talking about religious practices?
Lest anyone think I am implying I am not guilty myself, I freely confess to continually mocking middle-American dietary practices.
That's all I have to say about that.
son-
sorry, but he mentioned slimy again even after admitting it was "surprisingly tasty", implying wow, that wasn't nearly as gross as I assumed it was going to be...
that's all I need to say about that-w o w is right...
Use of seaweed as a food is not something unique to Asia but is an age-old practice in the west. In Ireland, the salty-sweet reddish seaweed known as dulse has been used for centuries as a flavoring in oatmeal and has also been used to add organic matter to the soil of rocky seaside gardens.