Tsunami Sento

how many gallons
of Edo's rain did you drink?
cuckoo

江戸の雨何石呑んだ時鳥 

Msnbc published this photo of a makeshift bathhouse set up by Japan’s Self Defense Force for the dispossessed in Kamaishi-shi 釜石市 – a historic city in Iwate prefecture.

Killing water, healing water

In an unthinkably cruel twist, Kamaishi was recognized just last fall by the Guinness Book of World Records as having dug and constructed The World’s Deepest Tsunami Protection Breakwater®.
In other words, they had some of the best tsunami protection that time and money could buy. The sea-wall built in order to narrow the mouth of their bay was a ridiculous 207 feet deep (tall?),
and 6,430 feet long! The entire project took 31 years to complete (1978-2009)!

Receiving the Guinness Book World Record in 2009

"I was much too far out all my life..."

Utterly heartbreaking-ly, this was not enough for an earthquake and tsunami of this scale. 31 years of intense preparedness were laid to waste.
It’s the slightest bit comforting to see some Kamaishi folks finding a few minutes of the mind-erasing comfort that only a hot, hot Eastern Japanese bath can bring.
For the moment at least, the water was there to comfort and not to pain.