<figure id="attachment_409510" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409510"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="92ea1dfb"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/ab7513951e5b9c4e17a446c57973445b-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409510" class="wp-caption-text">The seven-story building that was the headquarters of the long-established Wajima-nuri company Gotomoya. Demolition work using heavy machinery continues even a year later.</figcaption></figure>
January 1, 2024—One year has passed since the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula (Ishikawa). By the end of last year, at least 500 people had died, and several hundred are still taking refuge in evacuation centers in Ishikawa Prefecture. Have the people in the affected areas been able to safely welcome the New Year? Is the recovery progressing? In early January 2025, amid temperatures dropping close to freezing and heavy rain, a FRIDAY reporter revisited Wajima City in the dead of winter.
The first destination was the Wajima Asahi Market Street, the center of the city. It had flourished as a place of barter since the early Heian period, lined with shops selling traditional crafts and fresh produce, and was the city&#8217;s top tourist spot. After the massive fire that broke out right after the earthquake, more than 200 buildings, including old wooden shops, were burned down. When the reporter visited shortly after, the area was buried in rubble, with the smell of burnt wood filling the air, but now the area was cleared. A few residents could be seen walking around, and it seemed like recovery was underway. Shibagaki Ibuki (66), who ran a Wajima-nuri workshop near the market street, reflects.
&#8220;My workshop, which was 100 years old, was completely destroyed. I lost all my lacquerware tools and materials, and now I am barely restarting in a temporary workshop. Life has been tough. The electricity was restored around March last year, but it took until May for the water to come back. Since the toilets weren’t functional, many people here used temporary toilets and discarded them as combustible waste. To restore the sewage system, the rubble had to be cleared, so it took time.
I want the area around Asahi Market Street to become a symbol of recovery. Rather than restoring it exactly as it was, I think we should build facilities that will attract younger people. Some may say that temporary housing should be prioritized, and others may want the market street to be preserved as it was, but right now, the population of Wajima City is less than 20,000, and I think people will continue to leave. We need to change the area into an attractive place that will bring people from outside the city in, or Wajima will fade away.&#8221;
Finally, after the restoration of lifelines, in September last year, Wajima was struck by an unprecedented torrential downpour, with rainfall exceeding 400mm in 24 hours. Hideo Suzuki (76), who ran a folk crafts shop on Asahi Market Street, sighs.
&#8220;I had a shop on Asahi Market Street for 20 years. It was destroyed by the earthquake, and my income dropped to zero. My home, which also served as a guesthouse, located a little away from the market street, was almost completely destroyed. Just when I thought I had finally moved into a temporary housing unit from the evacuation center in August, that heavy rain hit. The river overflowed, and muddy water rushed into the temporary housing. The water level quickly rose to chest height, and the furniture was ruined. We had just started to recover from the earthquake. I was able to return to the temporary housing only recently. It was December 26. I heard people who suffered from floods at their homes are receiving assistance, but it’s hardly available for those in temporary housing. I have to buy all new furniture from scratch.&#8221;
<h2>&#8220;We are moving forward little by little.&#8221;</h2>
Next, we visited the Machino-cho district, located east of Wajima City. Along the road, black sandbags called &#8220;tonbukuro&#8221; were piled up as a tide embankment along the coastline. Collapsed buildings and countless driftwood remained in the town.
&#8220;At first glance, it may seem untouched, but the town is gradually being revived,&#8221; 
Said Hidenori Asakawa (47), who works at a grocery store called Motoya Supermarket.
&#8220;Due to the earthquake, for several months, no goods were delivered, and we couldn&#8217;t use the registers due to the power outage. We couldn’t operate properly. Even when we were finally able to open the store, people hadn&#8217;t returned to the town. We were discussing, &#8216;Let&#8217;s do door-to-door sales to elderly homes&#8217; and &#8216;Let&#8217;s offer mobile sales at temporary housing,&#8217; but just then, the store was flooded by the heavy rain. We were back to square one.
Now, we’re able to operate thanks to the volunteers and NPO groups who provided products and necessary equipment for food preparation. It makes me happy to see customers buying sashimi and taking it home. I want to keep running the store to repay the customers and those who have supported us.&#8221;
The place where the morning market used to be was now empty land, but the market was alive. People had moved their stalls to a shopping center called Wai Plaza Wajima, about 1 km away. Although some stores reported that their income had dropped to one-third compared to before the earthquake, many remained positive, saying, &#8220;Being able to set up a stall helps take our minds off things.&#8221; Kyoko Izumi (75), who sells local sake, shared her current thoughts.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know if the morning market will ever return to its former state. But since so many people are working hard for the reconstruction, I believe we can make it through. Everyone is holding on! It&#8217;s not about cutting people off; we need to make the town a place where many people want to visit.&#8221;
Although the reconstruction still faces many challenges, the resilient smiles of the residents shine brightly, lighting up Wajima.
<figure id="attachment_409512" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409512"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="dc369c11"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/560646f66bdc320a004c4b10f5b75cb7.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409512" class="wp-caption-text">This is the scene immediately after the earthquake. A building that had fallen on its side crushed a nearby house, resulting in the death of a 48-year-old mother and her 19-year-old daughter.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_409513" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409513"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="fd18ee3e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/9f8fa24008393e268829599730a77a23.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409513" class="wp-caption-text">”Wai Plaza Wajima&#8221; has been bustling with families and elderly customers since the New Year. It will continue in the future to work towards the revival of the morning market.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_409514" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409514"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="47f673a8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/a05a3d80f28edfda6796d42ee26d2c16.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409514" class="wp-caption-text">Shibagaki stands on the vacant lot of the morning market street, gazing at the spot where his workshop once stood, and shares his thoughts on the restoration.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_409515" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409515"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="16d3ba08"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/bc7d918b7cdd24ff2a2749ad3ee5ce12.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409515" class="wp-caption-text">The morning market street shortly after the earthquake. The scattered debris and disrupted roads made it difficult for the fire brigade to carry out rescue operations.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_409516" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409516"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="42ee31e6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/db0dbfe74d62d0499ef8ebe686d8e876.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409516" class="wp-caption-text">A year has passed since the above photo was taken, and much of the debris has been cleared from the ground. The building that survived the collapse is said to have once been a bank.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_409517" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409517"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7c0a4883"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/f74e504dc6af9179d77b8a1ec880e67f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409517" class="wp-caption-text">A large-scale fire broke out on Asaichi Street due to the earthquake. Even days after the fire was extinguished, smoke continued to rise from the burned remnants.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_409518" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409518"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="dc7a16df"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/3028a50c5a05cccbce1852b677e710d9.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409518" class="wp-caption-text">The charred debris from the fire site has disappeared, and the buildings that barely survived the flames are being demolished through public funding.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_409519" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-409519"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4b2f163a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/6c38e9b7399069d1f9a0a16b36acacca.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-409519" class="wp-caption-text">The evacuation space was voluntarily set up by &#8220;Motoya Supermarket.&#8221; It is used by people waiting for vacancies in the temporary housing and by customers visiting the store.</figcaption></figure>
From the January 24-31, 2025, combined issue of “FRIDAY”

 Junpei Kota

 One year has passed since the devastating earthquake of magnitude 7 struck the Noto Peninsula on January 1, 2012. At least 500 people were dead as of the end of last year, and hundreds of people are still huddled in evacuation centers in Ishikawa Prefecture. How much progress has been made in recovery?

Noto Earthquake: One Year Later, Wajima Market Shines with Revival

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