I said in “3/11
Three Years On Part 1” that I would not write about radiation because enough
people had written about it, and I would rather write about other effects of
the earthquake that I happen to feel personally about. Well, that was before I read anyone else’s
thoughts on the anniversary of the Triple Disasters and changed my mind. I know that the nuclear disaster has
overshadows the others, and I have understood this since March 2011. Hell, that is the reason I initially decided
not to write about Fukushima. But ye gods.
From some of the chatter, and you all know if this applies to you or
not, one would think the nuclear disaster was the only significant consequence
of the earthquake. I believe the nuclear
disaster is the most significant consequence, so I do understand all the
attention it gets. Or rather, I would be
able to if it were not for the sheer ignorance that permeates so much of what
has been written about Fukushima.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
3/11 Three Years on Part 2: What Happened to Me
Day 1 Friday March 11, 2011
It was
graduation day. After the ceremony the
students had gone home early so only we teachers were left at school and
another teacher and I were talking to each other about the faculty party
scheduled for that night when the shaking started. I
instinctively took shelter in the doorway out of the teachers room. For the past year my rule had been that if
the shaking did not knock anything down, I would not worry. The first tremor knocked everything over,
including me. After the shaking ended I
could not move for a minute. The lights
went off. The shaking stopped and the
office was a mess but the building appeared to be undamaged. The principal came out of his office and
began to direct everything. I went back
to my desk to sort things out when the next tremor struck and one of the
Japanese teachers told me all had to leave the building so we ran out onto the
baseball field. It was snowing and I
hadn’t tried to get my coat. The shaking
continued. Some of the teachers got out
their cell phones and turned on a web browser or television in order to get the
news and we heard about the tsunami. The
teachers kept using a word I had never heard before but could understand that
translates to “great tsunami.”
Labels:
3/11,
earthquakes,
Fukushima,
Japan,
Miyagi,
nuclear power,
Osaki,
radiation,
Sendai,
Tohoku,
Yamagata
3/11 Three Years On Part 1
I
was in Northern Japan on 3/11/11, the day of the Great Northeast Japan
Earthquake. It has gotten easier for me
to talk about it since then, because I have told the story so many times, and
have been able to come to terms with my experiences, and with the consequences
of the earthquake that I did not experience firsthand. I do not intend to write about radiation and
nuclear energy specifically, because enough people continue to write about that
topic, and they do not wait for the anniversary to do so. I will use my soapbox to write about the rest
of Tohoku, where is lived and worked for a year, and came to appreciate and
love. I will tell you about Tohoku,
because this is the story of the earthquake that is neglected these days.
Labels:
3/11,
earthquakes,
Fukushima,
Ishinomaki,
Kinkasan,
Life to Reset,
Miyagi,
Onagawa,
Osaki,
Sendai,
Tohoku
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Let's Do the Tension Tango
On
February 20 2014, the Financial Times
reported that a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) officer, speaking to FT
anonymously, said that China is training for a “short, sharp war” with Japan
and its allies (which include Australia and India). On February
23, 2014, the New York Times
reported on the US-Japan Iron Fist exercise at Camp Pendleton, as if it was
something entirely new. Iron Fist occurs
every year, yet, this year, the Times ran
the headline “In Japan’s Drill with the U.S., a Message for Beijing.”
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