As cruel as disasters can be, they can also bring needed change – and even miracles. When the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit sake brewery Hitakami in the city of Ishinomaki, owner Takahiro Hirai thought it was the end. Since the brewery’s founding in 1861, the family-run boutique sake business had survived numerous natural calamities. But this one was worse. When the violent shaking of the earthquake subsided and Hirai was able to wade through the knee-high tsunami water, he headed for the kura, the sturdy but old wooden structure where Hitakami’s artisanal sake has been brewed for five generations.
There, he discovered gaping cracks in the roof and structure. The 12 fermenting tanks had tipped over with the sake contents spread across the floor. “It was like a white carpet,” he says. “I could hear the sound of ‘shuwaaaa’ echoing in the building. It seemed as if the sake was fighting for its life and shouting out, ‘Help me!’” Electricity was restored 10 days later, but it was 14 days before Hirai and his employees could start the pressing. Normally, sake in this state goes bad after one week, but the cold weather had slowed the process. “I thought the fermentation had gone too far and we’d have to discard everything. I had almost lost hope,” he says. “But it turned out to be full of life, with an excellent strong, thick flavor, although very different from our usual style.” He adds, “It inspired us and gave us the courage we needed, so we decided to call it “The Light of Hope.’ It was a miracle.” (Read TIME’s full coverage of the March 11 disasters.)
For the past 11 weeks, ‘courage and recovery’ has been the mantra for Tohoku’s sake producers and everyone else whose livelihood was thrown into jeopardy after the quake and nuclear crisis that followed. Over half of the the region’s 145 sake breweries experienced damage from the earthquake and tsunami; some were completely destroyed. Compensation, however, from public and private sources will likely be limited. Japanese earthquake insurance is usually too expensive for small, family-owned businesses to buy, and insurance for tsunamis is usually not a stand-alone policy, coupled with earthquakes and floods. Many of the businesses are having to tough it out on their own.
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