Extraordinary Hospitality

The hospitality in Ofunato is exceptional. The people are very grateful that volunteers would come all the way from Tokyo or London or New York just to help out.

And we have no worries about losing stuff that we leave laying about. For example, we leave our wheelbarrows and tools outside next to the community center at night. The standing joke among the volunteers is that not only does nothing go missing but you're liable to find extra tools in the morning. And a case of beer along with them.

The other day, we were working in the countryside and sat in the shade near a house to take our break. The house had been flooded and damaged and we didn't know anyone was living there. The lady of the house came out to meet us. She then left and returned with a variety of cold drinks and some snacks. The day before that, a local lady who had lost her home led some of us on a trip to a museum in the nearby hills. Not only did we get free admission but the staff provided drinks and even brought each of us a gift.

At the museum

Yesterday we were digging out the ditches along one of the main roads. A trio of elderly sisters, all in their eighties, who lived in one of the houses invited all fourteen of us to coffee after we finished. It was good.


Last night, we needed badly to do laundry. Patrick, one of the other volunteers, knew of a laundromat in town where we could do it. He led us there after our nightly meeting and we found that it was closed. A passerby saw us there and ran to get the proprietor who then hustled to open the place up just for us. The place was two rooms with several machines and a tea table with some chairs. The machines were not coin-operated.

We couldn't figure how to use the machines, so Patrick wandered across the street and asked some neighbors how to work them. Several ladies came to our aid and got the laundry started. They then sat us down at the table and ran to get hot tea and coffee and several rounds of treats. They also brought a gift for Jo-Ann.

Then two of the ladies stayed around and did the laundry for us. No charge for anything, of course.

As we were leaving, they were surprised to learn we were going to walk the two miles up the hill to the Fukushinosato Center and offered to take us by car, which we declined. A minute after we left, they came running up to us on the street and gave us couple boxes of laundry detergent.

If this keeps up, we may not want to come home again.