A pine tree stands forty metres tall in the middle of an expanse of meadows, where the silence is broken only by the sound of the wind coming in from the sea. It is the "miracle pine", the only one of 70,000 specimens to have survived the tsunami of 11 March 2011, which swept away 20,000 human lives and flooded 500 square kilometres of the Tohoku coast, a region in north-eastern Japan. The tree later died as a result of prolonged contact with salt water, but was replanted as a symbol of the memory of the tragedy and of the rebirth of the town in which it stands, Rikuzentakata, where 2,000 people lost their lives in the tsunami. The pine can be visited inside the Takata Matsubara reconstruction and memory park, named after the pine forest that the sea carried away on that 11 March 10 years ago.

In the park, home to the Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum, "Rediscover Tohoku – Mocco's Journey from Tohoku to Tokyo" was inaugurated, an initiative by the organising committee of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to establish a direct connection with the affected areas. The initiative involves a tour by a giant puppet, Mocco, through the three prefectures struck by the disaster: Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima. Standing 10 metres tall, Mocco was created by illustrators and puppeteers who drew inspiration from artwork made by local students, and was designed to carry messages of hope from the communities of Tohoku all the way to Tokyo, at the heart of this summer's Games.

Tokyo 2020 for Tohoku

Reconstruction is not yet complete. All the buildings have been rebuilt, but people's rebirth is still under way.

Michihiko Yanai, creative director of the Rediscover Tohoku programme

One of the central themes of Tokyo's bid as host city for the 32nd Olympic Games, submitted in 2011, was to transform the Olympics and Paralympics into an opportunity to drive forward the recovery following the disaster; from the very beginning, the Tokyo 2020 Games were conceived as the Games of reconstruction. Among its official objectives, the event aims to bring hope to young people in the affected areas through sport, to promote the nature, traditions and culture of Tohoku, and to express Japan's gratitude for the support received from the international community in the wake of the disaster.

It was in Tohoku itself, at the Matsushima military air base in Matsushima in Miyagi prefecture, that the Olympic flame's journey through Japan began in March 2020. From there, the flame continued to Iwate and Fukushima, where it was put on display for local people, and a year later the Olympic torch relay set off from the J-Village training centre in Fukushima. In May, meanwhile, Mocco's tour was launched as part of the Tokyo 2020 Nippon Festival, a cultural showcase aimed at connecting Japan's regional cultures.

Mocco's tour

The ceremony to unveil the giant puppet and inaugurate its itinerary was held on 15 May. Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto opened proceedings. "People who are still trying to rebuild their lives can give hope to those who, like them, are suffering because of natural disasters," she told the audience, made up mostly of residents of Iwate who had come to enjoy the spectacle on a beautiful sunny day.

The ceremony was enlivened by performances from artistic groups, including choral singers and calligraphy demonstrations. The highlight was a staging of the legend of Mocco, with the great puppet — operated by puppeteers through dozens of cables — at the centre of the action.

A particularly moving moment was the account given by Yonegawa, a man who survived the tsunami. "After the earthquake, when I realised the tsunami was coming, I took refuge on the roof and then at the top of a building's chimney. The water missed me by about twenty centimetres. I had to stay there all night, and the following day they came to rescue me by helicopter." And so, amid great emotion and colour, the journey of Mocco was inaugurated; after Rikuzentakata, it made stops in Miyagi and Fukushima and will reach Tokyo in mid-July, just days before the start of the Olympics.

Tokyo 2020 and the Green month campaign

"Protecting life and coexisting with the ocean and the Earth so as never to relive the tragedy of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami." This is the objective of the tsunami museum, which aims to raise awareness and preserve the memory of the disaster. A message that extends beyond Tohoku and beyond Japan, to encompass all of humanity.

To meet the challenges of the future, such as climate change, it is essential to know one's past — not only as individuals but as a community. For instance, drawing on decades of activity, Toyota, the historic Japanese carmaker turned global mobility company, has built concrete objectives for the future, such as the Environmental Challenge 2050, which aims to bring emissions to zero across the entire life cycle of its vehicles by mid-century. "A society in harmony with nature", in Toyota's own words, is the value underpinning this commitment — a value also mirrored in Rikuzentakata's decision to plant a new pine forest along the coast of the memory park as a natural barrier against tsunamis.

Environmental protection, moreover, is inextricably linked to its social dimensions. And so, through the