Today marks 14 years since that day, March 11, 2011.

Once again, we would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the many people who were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11.

On that day, I was in the middle of a friend's wedding ceremony at a wedding hall in Sendai city.

I still remember it like a slideshow.

Compared to the damage on the coast, we were inland, so we didn't suffer any damage from the tsunami, and although there was damage to buildings and impacts to lifelines, it wasn't a life-threatening situation. However, as we handle many living creatures as part of our livelihood, the response to feed, water, fuel, the environment, and so on was something that would normally be unthinkable, and we all came together as a company, relied on all the people we could rely on, and received a lot of support, and we somehow managed to get through that emergency by doing what we could, which is a memory I will never forget.

I recently visited Rikuzentakata on personal business. When I spoke to local people, they told me that they were forced to live in temporary housing for six or seven years after the disaster. From their perspective, it hadn't been that long since they returned to their normal lives.

On the other hand, I have recently heard from people living along the coast that since the earthquake, a growing number of fields and rice paddies have been abandoned, and it is becoming difficult to market or utilize the compost produced from pig farming.

The above is only a small part of the story, but the aftereffects of the earthquake are still being felt.

We will never forget what happened back then, pass it on to future generations, and strive through our business to help further the recovery of the affected areas.

Tomoatsu Hashimoto