Photos courtesy of Kiyoshi Murakami

No strangers to tragedy, Rikuzentakata residents urged Del Norters to stay strong as they continue to recover from the Smith River Complex wildfires.

Kiyoshi Murakami, senior executive advisor for the City of Rikuzentakata who has helped further the ongoing relationship between the two communities, sent photos with messages from more than 700 citizens to District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard.

“I know it is too late, but I hope you can find the spirit of unity of two communities,” Murakami told the county supervisor via email.

Howard, a founding member of the Kamome Foundation, a nonprofit created to further cultural exchanges between students on both sides of the Pacific, said Murakami sent him the pictures on Sunday.

Currently the foundation is working with seniors at Del Norte High School’s Japan Club to fundraise for an upcoming student exchange between the two communities, Howard told the Wild Rivers Outpost.

The Kamome Foundation is also preparing for the Kamome Festival scheduled for next April, Howard said. That annual event commemorates the arrival of Kamome, the 20-foot fishing vessel that was swept away from Rikuzentakata during the March 2011 tsunami and washed ashore at South Beach in 2013.

“We’re going to have guests from the City of Rikuzentakata and other government and nonprofit representatives come for that festival in April,” Howard said.

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