UNESCO's Memory of the World Program

He was the coal miner and  amateur painter. The work in coal mines must heve been tough. Today's news reported about him as follows:

A collection of paintings and diaries recording the lives of coal miners by late artist Sakubei Yamamoto has been accepted by UNESCO's Memory of the World Program, the organization said May 25.

The UNESCO director general endorsed recommendations of an advisory panel to register the Yamamoto collection. Recommendations were made by an international advisory committee that met in Manchester, England, on May 22-25.

This is the first time works by a Japanese have been registered for the Memory of the World Program, also known as the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage.

About 700 works by Yamamoto (1892-1984), mainly maintained by the Tagawa City Coal-Mining Museum in Fukuoka Prefecture, were recommended for the Memory of the World Program by Tagawa in March last year.

Yamamoto was born in what is present-day Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture. He worked as a miner and blacksmith in coal mines in the Chikuho district since age 7, following in the footsteps of his father.

He started painting the lives of people who worked the mines when he was about 63, when he started working as a security guard. It is believed he created nearly 2,000 pictures by the time of his death at 92.

A total of 697 works by Yamamoto--585 paintings, six volumes of diaries and 36 memo books and manuscripts kept by the city of Tagawa, and four paintings, 59 diaries, and seven other items, including manuscripts, owned by the Yamamoto family and kept by the Fukuoka Prefectural University--have been applied for UNESCO registration.

UNESCO assessed Yamamoto's paintings from the viewpoint of the individual laborer and coal miner at the Chikuho Coal Field, which supported Japan's industrial revolution. They are particularly meaningful, considering the fact most of the Japanese documents from the late Meiji Era (1868-1912) to the Showa Era (1926-1989) were ones recorded by the government or by companies.



Sacred victim 哀悼 遠藤未希さん

I'd like to talk about Miki Endo.
The newspaper reported the full story of Endo's heroic final moments. I cannot but think about her parents. Her father said “I proud of my daughter, but I feel the deepest grief”. The mother cried over her dearest daughter’s death.
She married ten months ago. She could have enjoyed ordinary happy life. She could have seen many flowers in beautiful spring. She could have talked with her intimate friends. Everything is “could have”. She never return .
The newspaper article is as follows: 

The voice is Miki Endo, a 24 year old public worker in the Crisis Management Department of the city of Minami Sanriku. She is saying, roughly, "Please run away fast."

The city was one of the hardest hit along the Miyagi Coast. Of the 17,000 residents, 10,000 are feared to be dead, but the 7,000 who survived owe everything to Endo. Endo stayed at her post, repeating her warning, until the wave struck.

Miki Endo did not let go of her microphone, even during the very moment the black waves of the tsunami engulfed the city, so that every last villager could hear her warning call. One co-worker told Miki’s mother, that he saw Miki being swept away by the tsunami wave.

Another survivor, a 61 year-old man told Endo's mother that the broadcast had saved his live. That he had heard Endo's voice and immediately jumped in his car and headed for higher ground. He told Endo's mother:

I heard the voice of your daughter the whole way.

If there's any comfort at all to be taken in the awful catastrophe in Japan, it is in these stories of true heroism. Like those 50 workers at the Fukushima nuclear reactor, who have stayed at their posts, fighting to avoid a meltdown while the entire region is evacuated, Miki Endo should be remembered as a true hero of the highest order, and remembered forever with grateful reverence.

遠藤美希さん、あなたのことは日本の誰もが忘れません。心からの感謝と哀悼と畏敬の念を申し上げます。

How did the tsunami come to?

The powerful tsunami generated by a massive magnitude 9.0 quake that hit the Pacific side of Japan that reached the coast within just 10 minutes.
The organization said the tsunami may have reached over 10 meters in height. This footage shows a CG image of the generation of the tsunami waves and how they reached the coast.
(By Mainichi Daily News)