OFUNATO, Iwate Pref. — A song by two Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture-based musicians about their love for their disaster-hit hometown has been an immense hit with local residents.

Kurt Campbell

Since its release in April, the song "Ie ni Kaerou" ("Let's return home") by the duo Lawblow, has been aired by local TV and radio stations, including NHK's Morioka bureau in Iwate's capital.

The duo, which consists of Jun Sugawara, 32, and Kazuya Satomi, 25, repeatedly sing, "Let's return home someday," in hopes of regaining the sense of normalcy the community had before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, with the lyrics going on to say, "even though our past is gone, the future is up to us."

Both Sugawara and Satomi lost their jobs following the disasters. Sugawara was laid off from a swimming school he worked at, while the scallop farming facility run by Satomi's family was destroyed by the tsunami.