1 00:00:06,506 --> 00:00:09,884 A NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES 2 00:00:35,285 --> 00:00:37,871 I asked the man, 3 00:00:40,165 --> 00:00:42,042 "Who are you?" 4 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:45,837 He said, "I'm at the bottom of the ocean." 5 00:00:47,130 --> 00:00:49,549 And then he asked me, "Reverend, am I alive or dead?" 6 00:00:52,010 --> 00:00:53,887 I told him, "There was an earthquake. 7 00:00:54,429 --> 00:00:57,474 You were hit by a tsunami. 8 00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:01,144 And you died." 9 00:01:55,615 --> 00:01:59,828 Ishinomaki has oceans, mountains and rivers. 10 00:01:59,911 --> 00:02:01,412 We have it all. 11 00:02:03,331 --> 00:02:07,001 The Kitakami River is considered the mother of the town. 12 00:02:07,085 --> 00:02:09,045 It created the port of Ishinomaki. 13 00:02:11,256 --> 00:02:13,842 We receive wealth from 14 00:02:14,342 --> 00:02:19,264 the rivers and the sea. 15 00:02:21,015 --> 00:02:25,353 My relatives work with the ocean. 16 00:02:25,436 --> 00:02:27,272 They make nori, the seaweed product. 17 00:02:30,233 --> 00:02:36,156 The ocean has always meant prosperity to the people of Ishinomaki. 18 00:02:38,158 --> 00:02:40,118 We all loved the ocean, 19 00:02:40,201 --> 00:02:43,538 until the earthquake hit. 20 00:02:43,621 --> 00:02:45,206 NHK SENDAI BROADCASTING STATION 21 00:03:14,652 --> 00:03:19,866 People in this area have experienced a number of large earthquakes. 22 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,255 After an earthquake that large, 23 00:03:34,339 --> 00:03:37,842 I knew a tsunami would come. 24 00:03:38,843 --> 00:03:41,429 Using our emergency radios, 25 00:03:41,512 --> 00:03:43,848 we told residents to flee as quickly as they could. 26 00:03:43,932 --> 00:03:46,434 We gave evacuation instructions. 27 00:03:48,436 --> 00:03:50,605 We did everything we were trained to do. 28 00:03:51,648 --> 00:03:52,482 However... 29 00:03:53,900 --> 00:03:57,278 what we couldn't expect was the size of the tsunami that followed. 30 00:04:06,871 --> 00:04:10,625 This is a tsunami warning. 31 00:04:13,169 --> 00:04:19,133 If you are near the ocean, please move to higher ground. 32 00:04:36,276 --> 00:04:40,029 KESENNUMA, MIYAGI LIVE 33 00:04:47,996 --> 00:04:49,247 The tsunami is coming! 34 00:04:49,330 --> 00:04:51,416 Please go up the stairs! 35 00:04:53,710 --> 00:04:55,253 MARCH 11 ABOUT 3:30 P.M. KESENNUMA 36 00:04:55,336 --> 00:04:56,713 The tsunami was gaining force, 37 00:04:59,799 --> 00:05:02,135 and growing larger. 38 00:05:08,933 --> 00:05:10,643 Don't panic. 39 00:05:14,188 --> 00:05:17,525 My ceiling caved in. All the lights started to break. 40 00:05:17,608 --> 00:05:20,361 The moment I felt I was in serious danger, 41 00:05:20,445 --> 00:05:21,946 the impact hit me. 42 00:05:25,533 --> 00:05:27,618 The impact pushed me outside. 43 00:05:41,090 --> 00:05:44,969 I couldn't tell what was up or down. 44 00:05:48,348 --> 00:05:50,933 I thought I was going to die. 45 00:05:51,517 --> 00:05:54,729 I saw the faces of my wife and children. 46 00:06:03,654 --> 00:06:05,907 I tried my best to swim up for air. 47 00:06:06,449 --> 00:06:08,826 THE DASHCAM SWEPT OUT BY TSUNAMI MIYAGINO-KU, SENDAI 48 00:06:08,910 --> 00:06:09,827 EVENING OF MARCH 11 49 00:06:09,911 --> 00:06:12,497 Eventually, I reached the surface. 50 00:06:17,377 --> 00:06:20,463 I floated away, weightless. 51 00:06:20,546 --> 00:06:22,965 I wondered where I was going 52 00:06:23,049 --> 00:06:25,051 as I was carried away. 53 00:07:00,461 --> 00:07:02,046 First the earthquake hit us. 54 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,759 Then the tsunami followed. So many lives were stolen. 55 00:07:08,261 --> 00:07:12,181 On top of all that, it started to snow. 56 00:07:12,265 --> 00:07:13,724 It snowed a lot. 57 00:07:19,939 --> 00:07:24,026 And the snow wouldn't stop falling on these drenched survivors. 58 00:07:38,499 --> 00:07:42,128 I was completely defeated. 59 00:07:42,211 --> 00:07:45,006 Why is nature being so cruel, 60 00:07:45,089 --> 00:07:48,092 so merciless, to people who are already suffering? 61 00:08:23,252 --> 00:08:26,339 Great East Japan earthquake is one of the world's biggest, M8.8 62 00:08:29,592 --> 00:08:31,052 The morning after the tsunami, 63 00:08:33,804 --> 00:08:37,266 I found out that 54 of my co-workers 64 00:08:37,975 --> 00:08:40,895 had died. 65 00:08:43,481 --> 00:08:45,775 I felt like I was in hell. 66 00:08:47,610 --> 00:08:51,489 I never want to experience that again. 67 00:08:56,619 --> 00:08:57,578 Never. 68 00:09:22,562 --> 00:09:26,857 I found my eldest daughter in this bamboo forest. 69 00:09:27,942 --> 00:09:33,447 Some of the bamboos were bent, 70 00:09:33,531 --> 00:09:36,784 and I saw my eldest daughter... 71 00:09:40,580 --> 00:09:45,793 draped over one of them. 72 00:09:48,963 --> 00:09:50,923 She looked like she was sleeping. 73 00:09:51,674 --> 00:09:55,344 She looked so beautiful. There wasn't a single cut on her face. 74 00:10:00,308 --> 00:10:01,851 The body of my wife was... 75 00:10:02,685 --> 00:10:07,189 a three-minute drive away from here when it was found. 76 00:10:11,402 --> 00:10:13,654 A week or two after the earthquake, 77 00:10:17,366 --> 00:10:19,160 we were clearing up the debris 78 00:10:19,744 --> 00:10:22,121 and I was looking for my youngest daughter. 79 00:10:22,204 --> 00:10:24,040 And then I heard someone shout, 80 00:10:25,082 --> 00:10:27,043 "I've found a baby!" 81 00:10:28,461 --> 00:10:31,922 The baby's face was swollen and covered with mud. 82 00:10:32,506 --> 00:10:36,218 So I cleaned her face 83 00:10:36,802 --> 00:10:40,389 and recognized that it was my youngest daughter. 84 00:10:52,693 --> 00:10:58,991 Due to lack of fuel and electricity from the nuclear power plant failure, 85 00:10:59,992 --> 00:11:02,161 the crematorium wasn't functioning. 86 00:11:03,454 --> 00:11:05,414 Therefore, 87 00:11:05,498 --> 00:11:07,375 people couldn't have funerals. 88 00:11:14,256 --> 00:11:18,135 In Japan, we traditionally cremate the bodies. 89 00:11:18,219 --> 00:11:21,222 But we were forced to bury the dead in the ground. 90 00:11:26,394 --> 00:11:28,896 And later on we'd dig them up 91 00:11:30,981 --> 00:11:33,067 and cremate the bodies. 92 00:11:35,986 --> 00:11:39,490 The bodies were carried in one after another nonstop. 93 00:11:39,573 --> 00:11:42,743 It was devastating to see them all pass by me. 94 00:11:44,203 --> 00:11:46,664 The first dead bodies I saw 95 00:11:46,747 --> 00:11:50,710 were two fifth-grade girls. 96 00:11:50,793 --> 00:11:56,298 I was not able to read a mantra, because I couldn't stop shaking. 97 00:12:05,057 --> 00:12:10,563 I am the reverend at the Tsudai temple. 98 00:12:10,646 --> 00:12:13,649 I am the 26th generation. 99 00:12:15,568 --> 00:12:19,572 I've grown up in this temple. 100 00:12:22,074 --> 00:12:26,829 I went to college and later trained as a monk, 101 00:12:27,747 --> 00:12:32,877 but everything I've learned couldn't prepare me 102 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:36,839 for what happened after the earthquake. 103 00:12:40,468 --> 00:12:42,636 I didn't know what to say to the survivors. 104 00:12:56,859 --> 00:12:59,195 I arrived in Ishinomaki 105 00:13:00,279 --> 00:13:03,616 in June 2011, 106 00:13:06,368 --> 00:13:09,580 and I started hearing rumors of ghosts. 107 00:13:15,252 --> 00:13:19,173 By October, there were dozens of them. 108 00:13:22,843 --> 00:13:27,973 So I started documenting people who had supernatural experiences. 109 00:13:31,060 --> 00:13:34,188 One day, a man named Endo 110 00:13:34,271 --> 00:13:36,565 reached out to me. 111 00:13:37,399 --> 00:13:41,153 He had experienced something supernatural. 112 00:13:45,032 --> 00:13:49,286 On the day of the earthquake, 113 00:13:49,370 --> 00:13:54,416 he visited a shelter to see if his mother was there. 114 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:59,380 He was told to wait there for her. 115 00:13:59,463 --> 00:14:01,173 So, he waited. 116 00:14:05,427 --> 00:14:07,680 While he was waiting, 117 00:14:07,763 --> 00:14:11,058 he saw an older woman looking out the window 118 00:14:12,977 --> 00:14:17,106 and wearing his mother's clothes. 119 00:14:19,733 --> 00:14:24,572 As he looked closer, he realized it was his mother. 120 00:14:32,496 --> 00:14:36,041 He took out his camera to take a photo of his mother 121 00:14:36,458 --> 00:14:40,421 so his family would know she was safe. 122 00:14:51,307 --> 00:14:55,185 But the woman's face changed into someone he'd never seen before. 123 00:14:59,481 --> 00:15:04,820 He found out that the microbus his mother was riding in 124 00:15:06,238 --> 00:15:09,491 was washed away by the tsunami 125 00:15:11,535 --> 00:15:14,663 around the same time he took the photograph at the shelter. 126 00:15:19,460 --> 00:15:22,463 Until August 2013, 127 00:15:22,546 --> 00:15:25,883 I continued searching for stories of people's experiences with ghosts. 128 00:15:28,010 --> 00:15:31,472 The people I visited would say 129 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:35,684 how desperate they were to see the spirits of their loved ones. 130 00:15:36,060 --> 00:15:40,064 They said they were still looking for some kind of message from them. 131 00:15:43,067 --> 00:15:46,153 For example, a woman who lives in Ishinomaki 132 00:15:47,404 --> 00:15:52,451 lost her three-year-old son to the tsunami. 133 00:15:53,786 --> 00:15:55,496 Since then, 134 00:15:55,996 --> 00:15:59,541 she has suffered from depression and panic attacks. 135 00:16:01,043 --> 00:16:04,755 Inside her home was her deceased son's toy. 136 00:16:07,716 --> 00:16:09,009 Then one night... 137 00:16:10,302 --> 00:16:12,513 Shall we eat? 138 00:16:12,596 --> 00:16:13,639 Hold on. 139 00:16:18,018 --> 00:16:19,311 Sho-chan, 140 00:16:19,395 --> 00:16:20,854 let's eat together. 141 00:16:36,537 --> 00:16:40,290 The toy had a manual switch 142 00:16:40,708 --> 00:16:43,335 inside of an electric one, 143 00:16:44,128 --> 00:16:46,130 so there'd be no way it could turn itself on 144 00:16:46,922 --> 00:16:49,258 without any force. 145 00:16:53,429 --> 00:16:57,307 Before that night, the mother was looking forward to dying. 146 00:16:57,391 --> 00:17:00,227 She had a daughter who survived, and she'd tell her, 147 00:17:00,310 --> 00:17:04,189 "Even though you might suffer when I die, 148 00:17:04,273 --> 00:17:06,358 at least I'll be happy in heaven." 149 00:17:07,985 --> 00:17:13,699 But that toy reminded her that her son was watching her at all times. 150 00:17:13,782 --> 00:17:20,622 It helped give her purpose again. 151 00:17:30,799 --> 00:17:34,136 Unlike Americans, the families of victims in Japan 152 00:17:34,219 --> 00:17:36,930 don't seek out grief counseling. 153 00:17:38,974 --> 00:17:42,603 They know that they'd feel much more at peace with a counselor 154 00:17:42,686 --> 00:17:48,859 but they're afraid it would make them forget the deceased. 155 00:17:51,403 --> 00:17:55,282 I think it's because of Japanese spirituality 156 00:17:55,365 --> 00:17:57,201 and the way we perceive life and death. 157 00:17:57,701 --> 00:18:02,664 Japanese people don't separate the dead from the living. 158 00:18:10,547 --> 00:18:14,343 Shoji is a sliding door made of very thin paper. 159 00:18:14,927 --> 00:18:21,225 To Japanese people, death is like shoji. 160 00:18:22,142 --> 00:18:24,812 Once you open the sliding door 161 00:18:24,895 --> 00:18:27,397 you go through to the other side 162 00:18:27,481 --> 00:18:32,402 and the living can still see you through it. 163 00:18:42,538 --> 00:18:46,250 Survivors tend to move on at their own pace. 164 00:18:48,001 --> 00:18:50,838 I want them to move on with their lives, but for them, 165 00:18:50,921 --> 00:18:53,799 three steps forward can lead to three steps back. 166 00:19:06,145 --> 00:19:10,816 Many of us have lost loved ones without saying goodbye. 167 00:19:12,860 --> 00:19:15,070 We don't think it's fair. 168 00:19:17,281 --> 00:19:19,658 The deceased feel the same way. 169 00:19:23,662 --> 00:19:25,414 There was a story told by 170 00:19:25,914 --> 00:19:28,041 someone in a group of people 171 00:19:28,125 --> 00:19:30,210 who had supernatural experiences. 172 00:19:31,503 --> 00:19:33,463 One clear night, 173 00:19:34,715 --> 00:19:37,926 a woman was preparing a meal. 174 00:19:48,896 --> 00:19:50,480 The visitor asked for dry clothes. 175 00:19:56,028 --> 00:19:58,280 Please take these. 176 00:20:31,396 --> 00:20:33,106 My house used to stand 177 00:20:34,399 --> 00:20:38,028 somewhere around there. 178 00:20:39,988 --> 00:20:45,327 There used to be houses all over this area. 179 00:20:46,078 --> 00:20:48,997 It was like a small community. 180 00:20:51,250 --> 00:20:53,460 I don't see a trace of that anymore. 181 00:20:54,503 --> 00:20:55,837 It makes me very sad. 182 00:21:14,606 --> 00:21:18,694 After the earthquake they wanted to go home, 183 00:21:18,777 --> 00:21:22,656 but the city had changed so much. 184 00:21:24,157 --> 00:21:27,494 Spirits didn't seem to know how to find their home. 185 00:21:27,577 --> 00:21:30,330 Many of them didn't know how to contact their families. 186 00:21:33,041 --> 00:21:35,627 Lost souls don't have a place to go, 187 00:21:37,754 --> 00:21:39,923 so they ask people on the streets for help. 188 00:21:44,052 --> 00:21:45,679 Some people can see ghosts, 189 00:21:47,222 --> 00:21:48,724 and others can't. 190 00:21:51,643 --> 00:21:52,644 I... 191 00:21:53,061 --> 00:21:58,775 have always been spiritual and a bit odd since I was a child. 192 00:22:01,403 --> 00:22:03,613 I used to think everyone could see the dead 193 00:22:03,697 --> 00:22:06,992 when I was talking with them, 194 00:22:07,826 --> 00:22:09,411 but they couldn't. 195 00:22:13,749 --> 00:22:17,252 People frequently ask me what ghosts look like. 196 00:22:18,545 --> 00:22:24,259 They appear as a slightly transparent reflection through a glass window. 197 00:22:29,014 --> 00:22:30,974 One night, 198 00:22:31,475 --> 00:22:35,312 I was stopped by a group of young men who were killed by the tsunami. 199 00:22:38,648 --> 00:22:41,443 They didn't seem to know that they were deceased 200 00:22:41,985 --> 00:22:47,115 but I knew they were no longer living in this world 201 00:22:47,199 --> 00:22:48,575 from how they appeared. 202 00:22:49,993 --> 00:22:53,455 I could have simply ignored them, 203 00:22:54,373 --> 00:22:57,542 but I felt sorry for them so I stopped. 204 00:23:00,796 --> 00:23:02,422 I asked them what happened? 205 00:23:03,465 --> 00:23:05,342 One of them said he wanted to go home, 206 00:23:06,218 --> 00:23:08,553 but that he was lost. 207 00:23:11,056 --> 00:23:13,642 I had to tell them the truth 208 00:23:13,725 --> 00:23:18,063 because I didn't want them to suffer anymore. 209 00:23:22,109 --> 00:23:23,860 I said, "All of you have passed away." 210 00:23:34,496 --> 00:23:38,583 TOHOKU GAKUIN UNIVERSITY 211 00:23:41,586 --> 00:23:45,298 My specialty is the sociology of disaster. 212 00:23:47,426 --> 00:23:50,595 Then considering these realities, 213 00:23:50,679 --> 00:23:52,556 let's have two of you today... 214 00:23:52,639 --> 00:23:54,266 I regularly teach seminars, 215 00:23:54,349 --> 00:23:56,518 and every year I ask my students 216 00:23:57,185 --> 00:24:00,647 to come up with a different topic for their own research. 217 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,651 A student named Ms. Kudo suggested 218 00:24:04,734 --> 00:24:07,320 the story of the ghosts in Ishinomaki. 219 00:24:11,116 --> 00:24:16,746 The ones I found the most believable came from taxi drivers 220 00:24:19,374 --> 00:24:26,006 because there were physical records connected to their sightings. 221 00:24:27,799 --> 00:24:32,429 This is one of their taxi ghost stories. 222 00:24:40,687 --> 00:24:44,983 Japan is pretty hot during the month of August. 223 00:24:53,492 --> 00:24:56,786 A man around 20 years old wearing a thick coat 224 00:24:56,870 --> 00:24:58,538 got into a taxi. 225 00:25:00,207 --> 00:25:01,583 VACANT 226 00:25:03,919 --> 00:25:07,797 The driver felt there was something strange about the passenger. 227 00:25:27,275 --> 00:25:31,196 By the time they arrived, the sun had already set. 228 00:25:34,032 --> 00:25:37,327 When he looked back, the passenger was gone. 229 00:25:47,587 --> 00:25:52,384 There were several taxi drivers who had similar experiences. 230 00:25:52,467 --> 00:25:53,760 ISHINOMAKI TOURISM 231 00:25:54,427 --> 00:25:58,765 In all of these cases, the meters would continue to log their travels, 232 00:25:59,766 --> 00:26:04,437 giving us evidence of these ghostly phenomena. 233 00:26:08,024 --> 00:26:10,235 Someone needed to pay for these rides 234 00:26:11,653 --> 00:26:14,406 because the meters kept running. 235 00:26:14,489 --> 00:26:16,491 So who did? 236 00:26:18,034 --> 00:26:22,789 It turns out that the drivers were the ones paying 237 00:26:22,872 --> 00:26:25,834 for their ghost passengers. 238 00:26:33,049 --> 00:26:37,929 Many taxi drivers had experienced the loss 239 00:26:38,013 --> 00:26:40,932 of their families to the tsunami as well. 240 00:26:42,475 --> 00:26:46,271 So they said they would welcome the ghosts with open arms 241 00:26:46,354 --> 00:26:48,982 if they needed a ride again. 242 00:27:07,042 --> 00:27:13,465 This disaster was very traumatic for the people of the Tohoku region. 243 00:27:14,257 --> 00:27:16,176 I think the presence of ghosts 244 00:27:16,509 --> 00:27:19,471 is a way for people to cope 245 00:27:19,554 --> 00:27:24,559 with their PTSD as a community. 246 00:27:24,643 --> 00:27:27,562 I believe that's what is being manifested here. 247 00:27:30,065 --> 00:27:32,609 But if that were the case, 248 00:27:33,568 --> 00:27:36,029 after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, 249 00:27:36,655 --> 00:27:39,366 or the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 250 00:27:41,159 --> 00:27:43,953 where many lives were lost at once, 251 00:27:44,037 --> 00:27:48,333 data shows that ghost sightings 252 00:27:48,416 --> 00:27:51,795 were never publicly reported. 253 00:27:53,254 --> 00:27:55,840 So why do people experience these ghostly phenomena 254 00:27:55,924 --> 00:27:59,052 after this particular earthquake in the Tohoku region? 255 00:28:12,273 --> 00:28:16,861 In the northern region of Japan, Tohoku had the slowest development 256 00:28:16,945 --> 00:28:18,822 compared to the rest of Japan. 257 00:28:20,740 --> 00:28:24,077 There are still areas that are very rural. 258 00:28:25,787 --> 00:28:30,917 I presume that's why this area still holds onto certain spiritual traditions. 259 00:28:33,753 --> 00:28:37,340 The souls of the dead 260 00:28:37,424 --> 00:28:41,136 are invited by a spiritual shaman using a kuchiyose ritual, 261 00:28:41,219 --> 00:28:46,725 where these shamans act as vessels to tell their stories. 262 00:28:46,808 --> 00:28:49,269 This tradition has been customary to the Tohoku area. 263 00:28:52,564 --> 00:28:54,941 Death is not the end of the journey. 264 00:28:55,567 --> 00:28:58,987 That's why the idea that death travels 265 00:28:59,070 --> 00:29:01,948 between two worlds is not uncommon. 266 00:29:08,872 --> 00:29:13,042 I believe it lies somewhere even deeper. 267 00:29:13,626 --> 00:29:17,505 The relationship between the living and the dead, 268 00:29:17,589 --> 00:29:20,341 is something that has existed from long ago. 269 00:29:20,425 --> 00:29:23,386 It remains in some fundamental part of us... 270 00:29:24,971 --> 00:29:28,224 and became shaken loose by this earthquake. 271 00:29:30,226 --> 00:29:33,688 Perhaps you can say it's part of the DNA of religious sentiment, 272 00:29:33,772 --> 00:29:36,316 but it all spewed out. 273 00:29:37,358 --> 00:29:40,987 Those feelings are especially strong in the Tohoku region. 274 00:29:47,619 --> 00:29:50,330 I don't really believe in ghosts. 275 00:29:50,413 --> 00:29:54,542 I'm not the type of person who would see them. 276 00:29:57,921 --> 00:30:01,674 However, in everyday life, there are certain things 277 00:30:02,675 --> 00:30:04,344 that we can't file away in a box. 278 00:30:06,554 --> 00:30:08,932 Although we can't process them now, 279 00:30:09,933 --> 00:30:13,102 we all carry data that are somehow important. 280 00:30:15,522 --> 00:30:16,773 In which case, 281 00:30:16,856 --> 00:30:19,108 regardless of how undefined they may be, 282 00:30:19,192 --> 00:30:23,947 we can leave them undefined. 283 00:30:25,532 --> 00:30:28,284 I believe things like ghost encounters 284 00:30:28,368 --> 00:30:34,415 can remain ambiguous in our lives. 285 00:30:44,342 --> 00:30:49,722 Scientists complain about our ghost stories. 286 00:30:51,015 --> 00:30:55,436 They tend to focus on evidence and logic. 287 00:30:55,937 --> 00:30:58,064 "Why would religious people believe in this? 288 00:30:58,565 --> 00:31:00,441 That's just superstition." 289 00:31:01,067 --> 00:31:06,823 Some psychologists would say it's because of people's trauma. 290 00:31:07,365 --> 00:31:10,159 But, that's their interpretation 291 00:31:11,953 --> 00:31:14,622 based on what they've observed from outside of this chaos. 292 00:31:16,666 --> 00:31:20,628 That kind of interpretation doesn't mean anything to us 293 00:31:20,712 --> 00:31:22,797 or to the survivors. 294 00:31:24,424 --> 00:31:27,594 Why can't we embrace them as they are 295 00:31:27,677 --> 00:31:30,471 and help them find their own answers? 296 00:31:30,555 --> 00:31:32,891 Why can't we help them in this process? 297 00:31:32,974 --> 00:31:35,518 Oh, my. Please, come in. 298 00:31:36,352 --> 00:31:37,562 Are you all right? 299 00:31:38,062 --> 00:31:40,440 One night, my wife answered the door. 300 00:31:40,940 --> 00:31:43,026 She said "Taio, a young woman is here. 301 00:31:43,776 --> 00:31:45,862 She seems ill." 302 00:31:48,281 --> 00:31:49,699 The woman said, 303 00:31:50,658 --> 00:31:55,413 "I feel many people inside me and I can't stop them. 304 00:31:57,290 --> 00:32:00,710 Please help me, Reverend Kaneta." 305 00:32:01,336 --> 00:32:02,879 That was her plea. 306 00:32:08,176 --> 00:32:13,014 During my long years at the temple as a priest, 307 00:32:13,097 --> 00:32:15,767 people like her have visited me before. 308 00:32:15,850 --> 00:32:21,064 But I never met someone who suffered as much as she did. 309 00:32:21,147 --> 00:32:22,607 She was the first. 310 00:32:23,650 --> 00:32:29,656 She said, "Many spirits are entering my body 311 00:32:29,739 --> 00:32:33,993 and I can't stop them." 312 00:32:40,249 --> 00:32:44,212 At the time, I didn't really understand what was going on with me. 313 00:32:47,173 --> 00:32:48,716 All I could feel was pain. 314 00:32:52,261 --> 00:32:53,763 It was so painful... 315 00:32:56,557 --> 00:32:58,851 that I wanted someone to kill me. 316 00:33:08,987 --> 00:33:10,989 I felt the spirit of a girl crying inside me. 317 00:33:13,616 --> 00:33:15,159 And the spirit of a man 318 00:33:15,243 --> 00:33:17,328 was holding her leg and wouldn't let go. 319 00:33:24,210 --> 00:33:28,715 As soon as Reverend Kaneta grabbed my feet, the spirit said, 320 00:33:31,259 --> 00:33:32,552 "Who are you?" 321 00:33:37,807 --> 00:33:40,685 Reverend Kaneta said, "Me? I'm the reverend of this temple." 322 00:33:47,066 --> 00:33:49,360 The man replied, "What is the reverend doing here?" 323 00:33:51,237 --> 00:33:54,866 I was seeing this man yelling and screaming. 324 00:33:56,117 --> 00:33:58,286 It was terrifying. 325 00:34:06,419 --> 00:34:09,756 The prayer takes a long time. 326 00:34:11,132 --> 00:34:16,220 By burning incense in front of Buddha, 327 00:34:16,763 --> 00:34:19,140 Ami was released from the possession. 328 00:34:22,268 --> 00:34:28,024 Possessed people I had seen in the past 329 00:34:28,107 --> 00:34:30,610 were incomparable to this woman. 330 00:34:31,736 --> 00:34:37,867 Her personality would change whenever she was possessed. 331 00:34:38,910 --> 00:34:40,912 I asked if she lived near the disaster zone. 332 00:34:40,995 --> 00:34:44,248 "Did you experience the tsunami? 333 00:34:44,832 --> 00:34:50,379 Has anyone close to you died in the accident?" 334 00:34:50,463 --> 00:34:51,923 She said no to everything. 335 00:34:52,924 --> 00:34:56,135 Ami, herself, had nothing to do with the tsunami. 336 00:34:57,845 --> 00:34:59,639 Even before the earthquake 337 00:35:01,724 --> 00:35:06,187 ghosts would bother me. 338 00:35:07,230 --> 00:35:12,485 It was a year after the earthquake when the ghosts of the tsunami 339 00:35:12,568 --> 00:35:15,780 started invading my life. 340 00:35:18,616 --> 00:35:20,535 I told her to come visit me anytime, 341 00:35:22,495 --> 00:35:24,747 and she really came at any time. 342 00:35:25,248 --> 00:35:28,709 It often started around 7 p.m. 343 00:35:29,252 --> 00:35:31,838 and lasted until 2 or 3 a.m. 344 00:35:33,297 --> 00:35:34,632 Through Ami, 345 00:35:34,715 --> 00:35:38,928 I was able to listen to the solemn voices of the spirits 346 00:35:39,011 --> 00:35:41,597 who lost their lives 347 00:35:42,056 --> 00:35:44,559 in the tsunami. 348 00:35:47,353 --> 00:35:50,481 After what happened at Kaneta's 349 00:35:50,982 --> 00:35:54,902 more and more victims of the tsunami started to enter my body. 350 00:35:56,195 --> 00:35:58,781 One of them was... 351 00:36:00,950 --> 00:36:04,370 a girl who had to let go 352 00:36:07,081 --> 00:36:08,541 of her brother's hand. 353 00:36:20,678 --> 00:36:24,307 The girl heard her brother saying, "Sis, I can't run anymore." 354 00:36:26,142 --> 00:36:28,144 But she wouldn't respond to him 355 00:36:28,227 --> 00:36:30,479 because they had to keep running from the water. 356 00:36:31,105 --> 00:36:35,902 I could see, hear, smell, and feel everything, 357 00:36:35,985 --> 00:36:39,822 even the touch of her brother's hand. 358 00:36:41,157 --> 00:36:43,367 She was so scared 359 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,037 and I was too. 360 00:36:58,883 --> 00:36:59,717 She saw 361 00:37:00,718 --> 00:37:02,845 her brother being washed away. 362 00:37:14,565 --> 00:37:17,735 Reverend Kaneta spoke to the little girl. 363 00:37:18,569 --> 00:37:21,572 She reached out to him, 364 00:37:21,656 --> 00:37:24,283 so he held her hand. 365 00:37:25,868 --> 00:37:27,745 But then she said, 366 00:37:31,415 --> 00:37:35,211 "No!" and she let go of him. 367 00:37:39,215 --> 00:37:44,595 "Mom! Mom! I want mom!" 368 00:37:49,141 --> 00:37:51,060 I felt helpless. 369 00:37:55,481 --> 00:37:57,733 Why isn't anyone helping her? 370 00:38:01,779 --> 00:38:04,240 The little girl wanted 371 00:38:04,323 --> 00:38:08,411 to apologize to her mom for letting go of her brother. 372 00:38:10,329 --> 00:38:12,790 She kept saying "Mom, I'm sorry." 373 00:38:13,207 --> 00:38:15,710 She was looking everywhere for her mom. 374 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:19,630 I was near her at the time, 375 00:38:19,714 --> 00:38:22,800 so I chose to act as her mother 376 00:38:22,883 --> 00:38:25,386 and held her hand. 377 00:38:28,472 --> 00:38:32,351 She had a really strong grip. 378 00:38:35,354 --> 00:38:39,442 I said, "Mom is right here. I will never let go. 379 00:38:39,525 --> 00:38:42,403 You are always here with me." 380 00:38:46,615 --> 00:38:47,908 I said to her, 381 00:38:48,993 --> 00:38:51,704 "Let's walk towards the light." 382 00:38:53,205 --> 00:38:55,207 And she started to follow me. 383 00:38:59,170 --> 00:39:02,214 I told her, "Go to the light. 384 00:39:02,298 --> 00:39:05,009 Everyone is there waiting for you." 385 00:39:05,092 --> 00:39:08,929 Then, Ami was finally able to let go of my hand. 386 00:39:19,774 --> 00:39:20,608 She-- 387 00:39:20,691 --> 00:39:26,947 Ami asked me if she was mentally ill. 388 00:39:30,534 --> 00:39:34,163 I said, "I don't think you are. 389 00:39:34,830 --> 00:39:40,920 You are just more sensitive than most. 390 00:39:41,003 --> 00:39:43,923 More so than the rest of us. 391 00:39:44,006 --> 00:39:50,179 I'm not going to treat you as mentally ill." 392 00:39:53,933 --> 00:40:00,314 There's a range of what humans can actually hear and see. 393 00:40:00,398 --> 00:40:03,567 But everyone is slightly different on that spectrum. 394 00:40:03,651 --> 00:40:09,198 Some can hear and see more than others. 395 00:40:11,283 --> 00:40:14,912 When big disasters happen, 396 00:40:16,163 --> 00:40:18,958 people's ranges tend to expand, 397 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,796 enabling them to see what's not supposed to be seen, 398 00:40:24,380 --> 00:40:28,884 and hear what's not supposed to be heard. 399 00:40:30,094 --> 00:40:33,806 They feel rather than think. 400 00:40:33,889 --> 00:40:35,683 In everyday life, 401 00:40:35,766 --> 00:40:38,686 we sacrifice our need to feel without even knowing it. 402 00:40:40,604 --> 00:40:43,399 Ami's story is neither a movie 403 00:40:43,482 --> 00:40:45,734 nor a made-up story. 404 00:40:45,818 --> 00:40:51,532 We don't necessarily share this story with the world. 405 00:40:51,615 --> 00:40:55,995 I'll tell you if you ask me, 406 00:40:56,787 --> 00:40:59,832 but only if someone asks. 407 00:40:59,915 --> 00:41:04,295 These things just happen. 408 00:41:07,298 --> 00:41:10,009 At the time, 409 00:41:10,092 --> 00:41:12,970 I felt a sense of duty to confront the events 410 00:41:13,053 --> 00:41:14,930 that happened during the earthquake. 411 00:41:15,014 --> 00:41:21,061 That sense of duty is what gave me motivation to help Ami. 412 00:41:23,981 --> 00:41:28,777 What I did with Ami does not follow traditional Buddhist teachings. 413 00:41:28,861 --> 00:41:30,738 Some monks asked why I did such a thing, 414 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:35,534 but I really don't care. 415 00:41:35,618 --> 00:41:39,622 When I see a woman who's suffering, 416 00:41:40,831 --> 00:41:47,004 I feel obligated to help her rather than worry about my religious beliefs. 417 00:41:47,755 --> 00:41:52,593 I don't believe any gods would get mad at me. 418 00:41:53,844 --> 00:41:55,679 I think they'd say, "Good job!" 419 00:41:57,014 --> 00:41:59,850 Since the earthquake, 420 00:41:59,934 --> 00:42:02,686 I have been asking myself, 421 00:42:02,770 --> 00:42:05,022 "What can I do as a monk?" 422 00:42:06,732 --> 00:42:09,568 From my interaction with Ami, 423 00:42:09,652 --> 00:42:11,320 I realized that 424 00:42:11,820 --> 00:42:13,280 what we can do 425 00:42:13,364 --> 00:42:18,035 is listen to people to help cure their pain. 426 00:42:18,118 --> 00:42:20,454 That is something we can do. 427 00:42:23,874 --> 00:42:28,754 If I have a table, a cup of coffee,  and a delicious cake, people will gather. 428 00:42:29,463 --> 00:42:32,633 I want people to talk about the pain they're carrying 429 00:42:32,716 --> 00:42:35,886 in order to let go. 430 00:42:42,977 --> 00:42:46,689 Was your husband washed away by the tsunami when he was at home? 431 00:42:49,316 --> 00:42:51,735 It takes a while to accept the reality, doesn't it? 432 00:42:52,361 --> 00:42:56,365 Sun shines onto us 433 00:42:57,825 --> 00:43:01,453 because we have such a warm place for people to gather. 434 00:43:04,164 --> 00:43:07,042 I advocate for more joy, 435 00:43:07,126 --> 00:43:08,961 even if it's just for a moment. 436 00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:21,181 Many survivors ask me, 437 00:43:21,265 --> 00:43:23,017 "Why did I survive?" 438 00:43:26,478 --> 00:43:28,439 "Why couldn't I save them?" 439 00:43:30,065 --> 00:43:33,319 "Who's dividing this line between life and death?" 440 00:43:34,361 --> 00:43:35,529 And many of them 441 00:43:36,488 --> 00:43:38,490 were scared of ghost sightings. 442 00:43:39,950 --> 00:43:44,705 "Reverend, I'm so scared." 443 00:43:46,957 --> 00:43:48,834 "What should I do?" 444 00:43:50,961 --> 00:43:53,547 I struggled a bit to answer, 445 00:43:53,631 --> 00:43:55,341 but this is what I tell them: 446 00:43:56,300 --> 00:44:00,012 "These ghosts aren't scary at all. 447 00:44:00,095 --> 00:44:03,390 They appear in front of you 448 00:44:04,767 --> 00:44:08,604 because they worry about you and long for you. 449 00:44:08,687 --> 00:44:12,107 So there's no need to be scared. 450 00:44:14,943 --> 00:44:18,364 If you see ghosts again, tell them... 451 00:44:20,824 --> 00:44:23,535 'You are dead. 452 00:44:25,996 --> 00:44:30,584 There's a world for you to go to. 453 00:44:32,795 --> 00:44:34,713 We are still living. 454 00:44:36,215 --> 00:44:38,842 We will remain in this destroyed city, 455 00:44:38,926 --> 00:44:42,596 and will make sure to revive and restore 456 00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:46,183 our relationship with the city. 457 00:44:47,434 --> 00:44:50,145 Do not worry about us.'" 458 00:45:07,371 --> 00:45:13,127 NEVER GIVE UP, ISHINOMAKI!