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As part of NPO Partner Projects, Civic Force launched a project in April 2026 with Kenta Inochi no Kyoshitsu (Kenta's classroom teaching the value of life). This organization was founded by a family of a bank employee who lost his life in the tsunami during the Great East Japan Earthquake. They provide workshops and training sessions centered on the principle that human life comes first which challenges conventional approaches to corporate disaster preparedness. While building a nationwide network of support groups for families who lost their loved ones to disasters and accidents, the organization also engages in activities to convey the importance of life to the younger generation.

Civic Force spoke with the head of the organization, Takayuki Tamura and his wife, Hiromi, who also serves as a director, about their activities. 

Kenta Inochi no Kyoshitsu was established in November 2019, more than eight years after the earthquake and tsunami. Could you tell us about the background?

My eldest son, Kenta Tamura (then 25), lost his life in the tsunami on March 11, 2011, along with twelve others. 

My son’s body was found six months after the disaster, but until then, I spent my days groping in the dark. Yet, when the time came to hold his funeral and say goodbyes, I didn’t want to let Kenta’s life go to waste. I vowed to keep his life living on and to ensure it would serve a purpose for our communities.

It took many years to fully examine the circumstances of his and the others’ deaths. Although there was high ground just a minute from their office, the employees followed the branch manager’s instructions and the official manual, going up to the rooftop of their bank building (which was only about ten meters high). There, they were swept away by the tsunami. A lawsuit was filed and resulted in the dismissal of the claim in 2014, and the Supreme Court also ruled in 2016 that the bank bore no legal liability. I decided not to let the lessons of this disaster be dismissed as merely unforeseeable, but rather to dedicate the rest of my life to sharing those lessons with others.

What specific activities have you focused on to promote corporate disaster preparedness?

Why couldn’t my son evacuate to safety? I believe structural issues were the main answer to my question - peer pressure that made it difficult to question the evacuation plan, impractical manuals and training protocols where safety measures had become ends in themselves rather than fostering a genuine understanding of risks or the ability to make sound judgments.

Since 2019, I have worked with companies across the country to conduct in-house training and improve Business Continuity Plans (BCP). I also give lectures focusing on how to build organizations that prioritize human life and implement corporate disaster preparedness.

Please tell us about your activities sharing lessons-learned from the disaster.

Almost every weekend, I have stood before the memorial in Onagawa Town where my son lost his life and shared the story of what happened there. It all began when I spoke to a woman visiting from Osaka and told her about my son. I realized that if I hadn't said anything then, she would have simply walked away without knowing about what happened to my son and his colleagues.

What would you like to share with students you visit at different schools?

We place great importance on discussing the importance of life to foster compassion for others and the resilience to live, while encouraging students to take the suffering caused by disasters and accidents personally. 

We have also held symposiums in collaboration with universities for students preparing to enter the workforce. Through these events, young people, who will go on to become corporate managers or school teachers, can learn the importance of psychological safety and the courage to speak up when something seems amiss, rather than blindly following flawed instructions from superiors. The students also acquire practical knowledge around an organization's duty to ensure safety. 

Civic Force’s NPO Partner Projects include plans to host events to share lessons learned from Onagawa Town, and donate picture books to elementary schools. What do you hope to achieve through these activities?

A forum scheduled to be held in Tokyo this fall will target a wide range of participants including corporate executives, lawyers, families of disaster and accident victims, students, and the media. We plan to discuss how organizations and society should prioritize human life above all else.

We are also planning on an online storytelling event for people unable to visit the town in person to learn about the lessons of the disaster.

I published a picture book Fushigi na Hikari no Shizuku (The Mysterious Droplet of Light) in 2024. I plan to reprint this book and donate copies to schools and libraries to promote disaster preparedness education for the next generation. My hope is to provide children with an opportunity to reflect on disaster preparedness and the preciousness of life.