Writer Yu Miri recently spoke at a local junior college in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, highlighting her unfaltering determination as she struggled to open a bookstore in a disaster-hit area in 2018.
　"I never thought about giving up just because it was difficult," Yu, 53, said during the Fukushima Minyu-organized lecture at the Sakura no Seibo Junior College in Fukushima City.
　The writer opened the bookstore, called "Full House," near JR Odaka Station in Minami-Soma in April 2018.

　福島民友新聞社は７月１３日、南相馬市在住の作家柳美里さん（５３）を福島市の桜の聖母短大に招き、寄付講座を開いた。柳さんは２０１８（平成３０）年４月に南相馬市のＪＲ小高駅近くに書店「フルハウス」を構えるまでの道のりを紹介し「難しいから諦めようとは思わなかった」と当時の心境を語った。

　"The streets in front of the station were completely dark," Yu said, looking back on the situation in the Odaka district five years ago when an evacuation order there had just been lifted.
　"I realized the only business I could run was a bookstore, and without any expertise or planning, I started taking action."

　柳さんは５年前の避難指示解除直後の小高区について「駅前の通りも真っ暗だった。私ができるお店は本屋しかないと思い付き、知識もないまま無計画で動きだした」と振り返った。

　Yu believes bookstores play a role in connecting readers with authors, but the recent trend among consumers has seen rapidly growing movement away from book reading.
　So she soon faced a harsh reality experienced by other bookstore owners she knows who told her things like "You'll go into debt," and, "You can't do this unless it's a hobby."

　読者と著者をつなぐ役割が書店にあると考えていたが、読書離れが急激に進んでいる時代。知り合いの書店経営者からは「借金を抱えることになる」「趣味でないとやれないよ」などと厳しい現状を知らされた。

　In an area where the population and the number of bookstores have decreased because of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the resulting nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture, it was difficult to secure a distributor, which acts as an intermediary between publishers and bookstores. However, she "miraculously" found such an agency.
　"If you work to do something that is necessary, someone will always be there to help you," she said.

　東日本大震災と原発事故で人口や書店が減少した地域では、出版社と書店の間を仲介する流通業者「出版取次」の確保も課題として立ちはだかった。しかし、出版取次との奇跡のような出会いがあって高いハードルを乗り越えられた。「必要なことをやろうと思えば、必ず誰かが助けてくれる」

　After the disaster, Yu appeared on a talk show on Minami-Soma Hibari FM, a radio station that had been set up temporarily to provide disaster-related information. Her dialogue with about 600 local residents on the radio led her to move to Minami-Soma from Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2015.

　柳さんは震災後、臨時災害ラジオ局「南相馬ひばりエフエム」が放送するトーク番組に出演。市民約６００人との対話が縁となり、１５年に神奈川県鎌倉市から南相馬市に移住した。

　During the lecture, Yu touched on topics that included telling the attentive students of the junior college why she relocated to Minami-Soma and the appeal of the city.

（　Translated by The Japan News　）

　寄付講座では移住理由や南相馬市の魅力などを語り、短大生が真剣な表情で貴重な話に聞き入った。

　【　２０２１年７月１４日付・福島民友新聞掲載　】