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Omuta High School Ekiden Team Helps Clean Up Elderly Alum's Restaurant After Kyushu Flooding



In the MIkawa neighborhood of Omuta, Fukuoka, the udon restaurant Donbeian was among the many victims of the large-scale flooding to strike Kyushu. Despite there being little chance the restaurant will be able to reopen in the foreseeable future, the entire local Omuta H.S. boys' ekiden team turned up on July 10 to help clean it out as a gesture of support for owner and Omuta H.S. alumnus Hirofumi Esaki, 66. Even as the rains continued to fall Esaki said, "Thanks to the kids I can at least see a way forward now. Donbeian will definitely be back."

Floodwaters overcame the restaurant midday on July 6, rapidly rising to waist-deep level. Tables and seats from the customer area were strewn everywhere, with cooking utensils and bowls floating in the muddy waters. "I was in the second-floor office," recalled Esaki. "It was all I could do to get the heavy noodle-stretching machine away from the water and up to a higher place."

By July 8 the floodwaters had receded enough for Esaki to reenter the restaurant, which he found caked in mud. "I figured it would take a month just to clean that out," said Esaki. It was then that he got an offer of help from Ken Akaike, 47, head coach of the famous Omuta H.S. ekiden team, a five-time champion of the National High School Ekiden.

"Mr. Esaki has always provided our boys with a full stomach of nutritious vegetables, rice and homemade noodles, in good times and bad, without distinction or judgment," said coach Akaike. "Now is our time to be there for him." Akaike was there working alongside the thirty members of the team.

Runners who live in the team dormitory are used to doing dishes and other housework together. All wearing masks, they weren't shy about getting muddy as they worked together to clean the kitchen, the seating area, and the main entrance. After three hours of work, evidence of the flooding had been almost completely cleared out of the restaurant's interior. "This was the god of salvation at work," said Esaki.

"I regret that we can only help Donbeian," said coach Akagi. "But I was proud to see that our boys worked diligently and without complaint despite being stunned by the extent of the damage."

On the 10th one of the restaurant's regular customers dropped by, commiserating with Esaki and saying, "It's a tough situation." Esaki smiled and asked in return how everyone in the customer's family was doing. "This situation can bring us together and strengthen our relationships," he said. "We can't let it bring us down."

source article:
https://www.nishinippon.co.jp/item/n/625163/
translated by Brett Larner

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TS said…
great story!
July 14, 2020 at 9:14 PM
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