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  • dust and rubble is most of what's left of Toshi Haruo Noda's old pottery studio in Fukushima, Japan.

  • Onoda is 1/13 generation potter of robbery, Soma Yaki, known for the high pitched singing sound made when kilns are opened and the glaze cracks.

  • On March 11th, 2011, Onoda had just finished loading his kiln when a massive earthquake struck close to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and changed his life forever.

  • Come on, with the kiln in front of me started clattering, and everything inside just suddenly shattered on the ground when the earthquake happened.

  • It was the first time I went through such a terrifying experience.

  • I couldn't move at all even if I tried to run away.

  • Within hours, Onoda and some two dozen other potters were forced to evacuate and leave their life's work behind as nuclear reactor buildings exploded, spewing radiation across the area where their families had lived and worked for over 300 years.

  • 10 years later, Onoda has returned to the town of Nemea and Fukushima, but you know, to says everything about the town and its pottery has changed.

  • Half of his fellow potters have quit, and some 80% of the town still remains off limits due to high levels of radiation.

  • Even the clay and glaze, which once gave their wears a distinctive blue green sheen, can no longer be gathered and processed there.

  • But despite all the loss he has experienced, Onoda has forged on I would like to paso Borisova Yaki, a tradition with history of more than 300 years to the next generations.

  • That is my goal.

  • I hope that it could be carried on by as many people as possible.

  • Onoda still hopes to reopen his own studio in Niamey, ER, one day.

  • But for now, him and Nahmias, other remaining potters will work at a new showroom, set to open soon, where they will sell their wares, teach and continue keeping the spirit of a Borisova Yaki alive.

dust and rubble is most of what's left of Toshi Haruo Noda's old pottery studio in Fukushima, Japan.

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