A woman walks away from a message wall after writing a message to the victims of last week's earthquake and tsunami in Japan in central Seoul, South Korea on March 16, 2011.
Japan's reconstruction following the devastating earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago exactly is being delayed by an unlikely factor – ghosts。
Numerous reports of ghost sightings have reportedly been made by residents in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture, home to nearly a fifth of all tsunami fatalities。
Reconstruction and repair have been put on hold in some instances due to workers' fears that the spirits of the dead who passed away a year ago will bring them bad luck if they continue。
Highlighting one half-repaired supermarket, local Satoshi Abe, 64, told the reporter: "I heard people working to repair the store became sick because of ghosts. People died here everywhere, here and there. The city is full of such stories."
A taxi driver, who did not want to be named, added that he was unwilling to stop in certain parts of the city that were badly damaged in the tsunami for fear of picking up a customer who is a spirit of the dead。
Meanwhile, another local woman described hearing stories of people seeing queues of people rushing towards the hills, a replay of their final moment as they attempted to escape the tsunami。
As the first anniversary of the disaster approaches, Ishinomaki appears, on the surface at least, to be returning to a new level of normality, with the tsunami debris cleared away in most areas and a growing number of businesses reopening。
At the same time, the emotional impact of the massive losses of human life are clearly continuing to take their toll on residents: close to 4,000 Ishinomaki locals were killed in the tsunami out of a total death toll of 19,000 for the northeast region。
However, experts described the city's apparent widespread belief in ghosts as a "natural" side effect of a large-scale tragedy which wiped out vast swathes of the community and a potentially positive part of the healing process。
"Human beings find it very difficult to accept death, whether they are inclined by nature to superstition or are very scientifically minded," said Takeo Funabiki, a cultural anthropologist。
"A sudden or abnormal death, anything other than someone dying in bed of old age, is particularly difficult for people to comprehend。
"When there are things that many people find difficult to accept, they can find expression in the form of rumours or rituals for the dead, among other things. The point is that it takes the shape of something that you can share with other people in your society."
(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website。)
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(Agencies)
距离日本强震海啸的发生已经近一年了，如今日本的灾后重建工作却受到了意外因素“鬼魂”的阻碍。
据报道，日本宫城县石卷市的很多居民称自己遭遇“活见鬼”，大约1/5的海啸遇难事故都发生在这附近。
某些重建和修复工作被暂时搁置，因为工人害怕如果继续下去，一年前的亡灵会给他们带来厄运。
在一个修复了一半的超市，64岁的当地人安倍聪告诉记者：“我听说很多修复这家商店的工人都因为鬼魂生病了。这里曾经到处都是死人。市里有很多类似的故事。”
一位不愿透露姓名的出租车司机补充说，他不愿意在城市的某些遭到海啸破坏严重的地区停车，害怕上车的乘客是死者的魂魄。
另一位当地女性描述称，听到有人说看到成群结队的“人”往山上跑去，重现了人们试图躲避海啸的最后场景。
日本大地震一周年就要到了，石卷市似乎回归了常态，至少表面上是这样。大部分地区的海啸残骸都清理干净了，越来越多的商家重新开张。
而与此同时，大批人逝去的精神创伤很明显仍在影响着居民：接近四千名石卷市民在海啸中遇难，日本东北部地区因此丧生1.9万人。
但专家表示，城市里表面上流行的鬼魂思想是席卷众多社区的大灾大难后的“正常”负面反应，并在恢复过程中起着潜在的积极影响。
文化人类学家船引武夫说：“人类很难接受死亡，不管是天生迷信，还是具有科学头脑。”
“突然的非正常死亡和因年老死去不一样，人们很难理解。”
“当很多人都很难接受某件事的时候，他们可以在有关死者的传闻或者传统仪式等形式中找到答案。重要的是，这些都是以能够和社会中的其他人分享的形式存在的。”