November 15, 2025
November 15, 2025

Japan Hopes School Will Help Kids Heal

Joshua 3 Comments

Japanese authorities believe getting students back into the familiar routine of school, which in Japan typically opens the first week of April, is a necessary therapy for Ryodai and other children, who have suffered the loss of home, family, friends, schools, teachers and classmates. “I really want the schools to open as soon as possible,” says Kikumi Suzuki, a 37-year-old mother whose six-year-old son, Tatsuki, is planning to start first grade in the same seaside town. “It’ll be one step toward getting his life back to normal.” She said her son has lost his home and all his toys, and rarely gets a chance to play with friends. They are living with relatives in town.

As of Monday, 392 students and teachers are confirmed dead in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the regions hardest-hit by last month’s disaster, while more than 1,000 students and teachers are still missing, according to Japan’s education ministry. Some two-thirds of the public and private schools in that area were damaged. Those schools that were spared are now a refuge for thousands without homes.

“It’s really important to get the children back to a stable lifestyle as soon as possible and get them back into a regular rhythm,” said Yoshinori Kanno, a section manager of the board of education in Rikuzentakata, where more than 1,000 residents are dead and another 1,200 residents are missing. All the schools in Rikuzentakata are slated to open on April 20, about two weeks later than usual, but that plan has challenges. Even the most basic questions, including where to put all of the students, haven’t been answered.

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