les résultats (janvier 2012) - Association Francophone de Haiku

Let Us Move ForwardOn the occasion of the 15 th Mainichi Haiku ContestYutaka AsahinaPresident of The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd.On March 11 this year, we encountered the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster, atragedy said to occur only once in 1,000 years. The giant earthquake and tsunami,which were on a whole new scale compared with previous disasters, ravaged easternJapan. Nearly 16,000 precious lives were lost and even now, almost 4,000 peopleremain unaccounted for. In terms of the sheer number of victims and the wide extent ofaffected areas due to the seriousness of the radiation disaster that followed, it was anunparalleled disaster of a kind that none of us had experienced before.It is probably only natural that many of the haiku we received from around the nationthis year were on the earthquake disaster. To borrow the words of the judges, people indisaster areas sent in haiku composed in a quiet mindset, including unpretentious haikuon the repose of people’s souls and haiku on the feelings of people for their families.From outside the disaster zone, meanwhile, people composed haiku from a position ofconcern for the disaster areas. In any case, there were many moving haiku.This time a haiku composed by a person who lost their home to the tsunami when thedisaster struck Miyagi Prefecture won an award for excellence. It was heartwarming torealize that in the midst of the tragedy, this person continued to hold hope, and stood upwithout giving up, continuing to move forward one step at a time.In the disaster areas, hard work toward restoration has taken form. People are walkingon without forgetting the dignity of life, human kindness, and the importance of helpingeach other and living strongly today.Those of us in the newspaper industry feel a heavy responsibility to convey the voicesof people in disaster areas, while continuing to report from the scene on the importanceof "life" and "hope" with a determination to carry out our mission as witnesses tohistory to record the journey to restoration.I sincerely thank the many people who submitted entries to this contest, as well as thejudges. Many people from around the world took part in this contest. On this occasion Iexpress my sincere appreciation for the great support Japan received from countriesacross the world.(2)