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Olympic volunteers strive to tell their earthquake stories

  • Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. He made the flyers to hand out to foreign media covering the 2020 Summer Olympics at Miyagi Stadium, where he is serving as a volunteer. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
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    Tokyo Olympics Japan Tsunami Recovery

    Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. He made the flyers to hand out to foreign media covering the 2020 Summer Olympics at Miyagi Stadium, where he is serving as a volunteer. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu poses for a photo in front of Sekisui Heim Super Arena, which was used as a morgue after the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The arena is situated next to Miyagi Stadium, which is used for soccer matches during the 2020 Summer Olympics, where he is serving as a volunteer. Muramatsu has made business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas. He plans to hand them out to foreign media. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
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    Tokyo Olympics Japan Tsunami Recovery

    Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu poses for a photo in front of Sekisui Heim Super Arena, which was used as a morgue after the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The arena is situated next to Miyagi Stadium, which is used for soccer matches during the 2020 Summer Olympics, where he is serving as a volunteer. Muramatsu has made business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas. He plans to hand them out to foreign media. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows photos of Russian rescuers he took at Sekisui Heim Super Arena on March 18, 2011, when it was used as a morgue following a devastating March 2011 earthquake, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
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    Tokyo Olympics Japan Tsunami Recovery

    Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows photos of Russian rescuers he took at Sekisui Heim Super Arena on March 18, 2011, when it was used as a morgue following a devastating March 2011 earthquake, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. He made the flyers to hand out to foreign media covering the 2020 Summer Olympics at Miyagi Stadium, where he is serving as a volunteer. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
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    Tokyo Olympics Japan Tsunami Recovery

    Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. He made the flyers to hand out to foreign media covering the 2020 Summer Olympics at Miyagi Stadium, where he is serving as a volunteer. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • This photo shows Sekisui Heim Super Arena, which was used as a morgue after the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
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    Tokyo Olympics Japan Tsunami Recovery

    This photo shows Sekisui Heim Super Arena, which was used as a morgue after the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Olympic volunteer Mieko Onuma talks about her experiences of the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan, Wednesday, July 28, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
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    Tokyo Olympics Japan Tsunami Recovery

    Olympic volunteer Mieko Onuma talks about her experiences of the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan, Wednesday, July 28, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Olympic volunteer Mieko Onuma talks about her experiences of the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan, Wednesday, July 28, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
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    Tokyo Olympics Japan Tsunami Recovery

    Olympic volunteer Mieko Onuma talks about her experiences of the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan, Wednesday, July 28, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. He made the flyers to hand out to foreign media covering the 2020 Summer Olympics at Miyagi Stadium, where he is serving as a volunteer. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu poses for a photo in front of Sekisui Heim Super Arena, which was used as a morgue after the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The arena is situated next to Miyagi Stadium, which is used for soccer matches during the 2020 Summer Olympics, where he is serving as a volunteer. Muramatsu has made business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas. He plans to hand them out to foreign media. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows photos of Russian rescuers he took at Sekisui Heim Super Arena on March 18, 2011, when it was used as a morgue following a devastating March 2011 earthquake, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
Olympic volunteer Atsushi Muramatsu shows business-card size flyers to express gratitude for support from overseas, during an interview with The Associated Press in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. He made the flyers to hand out to foreign media covering the 2020 Summer Olympics at Miyagi Stadium, where he is serving as a volunteer. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
This photo shows Sekisui Heim Super Arena, which was used as a morgue after the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, in Rifu, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
Olympic volunteer Mieko Onuma talks about her experiences of the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan, Wednesday, July 28, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
Olympic volunteer Mieko Onuma talks about her experiences of the 2011 earthquake, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan, Wednesday, July 28, 2021. The Tokyo Olympics was billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games,” with the torch relay starting in disaster-hit Fukushima and several events held in Fukushima and Miyagi. However, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted opportunities to showcase the region’s restoration to foreign spectators. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
CHISATO TANAKA
·2 min read

RIFU, Japan (AP) — Atsushi Muramatsu's handmade flyers are the size of a business card, written in several languages. “Welcome to Miyagi Stadium," one reads. "The gymnasium next door was the largest morgue for tsunami victims.”

Over a decade after the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan, the Tokyo Games were supposed to offer a chance to showcase how much has been rebuilt. They were even billed as the “Recovery and Reconstruction Games," and the Olympic torch relay started from Fukushima prefecture, the heart of the nuclear disaster area.

But the coronavirus pandemic means few spectators are coming to any of the Olympic events, including soccer and baseball, being held here. That leaves some Olympic volunteers having to find their own ways to recount their experiences to those rare fans who pass through, as well as members of the media.

“I believe that residents in disaster-hit areas want to express gratitude for support from overseas, and I also want to keep delivering a message that we want to be remembered,” said Muramatsu, who is serving as a volunteer at the Miyagi Stadium media operation center.

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The stadium has a capacity of 49,000, but because of the pandemic, it's one of the few venues that allow up to 10,000 spectators.

Another volunteer, Mieko Onuma, wants to return the favor to all those who supported the reconstruction by sharing her experience with Japanese visitors to Miyagi at a storytelling center set up near a shuttle bus station.