Japan Earthquake 2011: Brewery Hopes 'Made in Kesennuma' Will Revive Tsunami-Hit City

2011年3月11日の東日本大震災から10年、被災地の復興への歩みは続く。

Japan's 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami hit Kesennuma hard. Black Tide Brewing hopes to promote "Made in Kesennuma" to revive the port city in Miyagi Prefecture that was devastated by the disaster.

"I really want BTB to be part of, you know, showing the world that, 'Yeah, this terrible thing happened. But that's not the sum total of what this city is like.," said James Watney, a Portland native and now head brewer at Black Tide Brewing in Kesennuma, Japan.

"I'm originally trained as a chemist. I have a PhD in theoretical chemistry and I used that for about 13 years working for a software company, said Watney. "I got to a point where I wanted to finally do something that I was really passionate about. For me, that was beer. and making beer and craft beer and that whole culture."

A chance encounter led James from making beer out of his kitchen in Portland all the way to Kesennuma.

"I was home-brewing and there's a big home-brewing store in Portland. It's about 100 years old. And I was going there one day, my wife came with me. She just went up to these 2 gentlemen and started talking to them. One of the men, he imports beer into Japan from Portland. He found out about this project where they wanted to put a brewery into Kesennuma. And he's like, 'Hey, I know you're kind of interested in moving to Japan and possibly brewing beer.'"

Black Tide's head of sales, Kazuya Tanji, discovered Kesennuma while volunteering after the 2011 disaster. As he spent more time there, he too fell in love with the city.

"I shoveled mud and cleaned up debris from houses that were swept away by the tsunami. I was the biggest guy there so did the physical work," said Tanji.

Today, Black Tide Brewing says it hopes to promote the "Made in Kesennuma" brand to revive the city.

"When people drink our beer from a can or on tap, I want them to wonder where Kesennuma is," said Tanji. "Hopefully our craft beer can be that spark for more people to come visit Kesennuma. That’s the goal."

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