Years before they would stand on the Olympic podium together as a bronze medal-winning team, Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino met as junior high schoolers in Fukushima Prefecture.
The prefecture has always held a special place in their hearts, so that after giving Japan its first medal of the Tokyo Olympics in badminton with a bronze in the mixed doubles on Friday, they expressed their gratitude to the disaster-stricken area, which had been a second home for both.
"I think we were able to give back something [to Fukushima Prefecture] by winning the medal," Watanabe said. Higashino added, "I hope we get a chance to visit Fukushima, where we received so much support."
Watanabe and Higashino, both 24, first met as students at Tomioka Daiichi Junior High School, a badminton powerhouse in the prefecture. Watanabe was born in Tokyo, while Higashino had come from Hokkaido.
Watanabe was a first-year student and Higashino was in her second year when, during practice one day in the school gymnasium, the building began to shake. It was March 11, 2011, the day Fukushima and the rest of the Tohoku region would be devastated by a powerful earthquake and tsunami.
About 10 kilometers away, a serious accident occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. Leaving their rackets and textbooks behind, they were taken in separate cars to an evacuation center, then later returned to their hometowns.
As the area where the school and dormitory were located was designated as an evacuation zone, it would not be until two months later that the badminton club could resume practicing, and only after taking refuge 80 kilometers away in the town of Inawashiro in the prefecture.
Watanabe and Higashino continued the sport with the support of the local community, including having a welcome party at the pension that served as their dormitory.
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