On September 3rd, a powerful typhoon, Typhoon No. 9, struck Kyushu and Tsushima in quick succession, followed by an even larger typhoon, Typhoon No. 10, on the 7th. On Tsushima, the stone "Ichinotorii" gate of Watatsumi Shrine, a symbol of the island, collapsed from the base, damaging many buildings. Large branches were also brutally snapped, severely damaging trees.
The typhoon also sprayed seawater all over the island, turning the deciduous trees brown. The salt damage caused the trees to lose their leaves, and even though this is a time of year when the island should be covered in greenery, the forest is now completely deciduous, making it appear as if winter has arrived.
Our foundation's Karatsu and Tsushima locations suffered major damage, with large holes in the slate roofs of buildings and warehouses, strong winds warping sash doors and shattering glass, the roof of a wooden shed was blown off, and landslides caused the parking lot to be half covered in mud and sand, making it impossible to even set foot inside.
On September 21st and 22nd, four volunteers from Fukuoka who had heard about the damage rushed to Tsushima to help with the recovery efforts. They manually removed the soil and debris that had flowed onto city roads and was causing a nuisance to neighbors.
They also helped us re-establish young cherry trees that had been planted, many of which had been knocked down by the strong winds. The cherry trees planted by seventh graders were in full bloom this spring, and everyone was looking forward to having a cherry blossom viewing party next year, but they were snapped off at the base. This was the most unfortunate damage. These cherry trees were kindly donated by Kanazawa Yoshiharu of Kanagawa Prefecture, as part of the "Highway Thousand Cherry Blossoms" initiative. They are a valuable asset to our foundation, and their re-establishment work was a great help.
[Photo 1] A large hole in the warehouse of the Tsushima office. The leaves of the cherry tree in the foreground have turned brown due to a strong wind that mixed with seawater.
[Photo 2] The cherry tree planted six years ago is in full bloom this spring, and the tree we were most excited about has fallen from the roots.
[Photo 3] A landslide caused by a typhoon caused a large amount of soil and debris to flow onto a city road, and workers are rushing to return it to the damaged road.
