Ah. That link is someone else repeating M1GO's blog post from March 14: http://www.m1go.com/news/info/appendix/i110314.htm I thought you were saying that Yuji himself was blogging somewhere. He gets other people to do that for him. I don't think he even has an email address.
Oops, my bad My non existence Japanese language skill and google auto transalation didn't help much there
Saddest Place in the World: Okawa Elementary School in Ishihinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture: This was reported in the LA Times as well as in Japanese papers. There seem to be conflicting accounts, but what is clear is that the school, which was estimated to be in a relatively safe place, was completely engulfed by the tsunami mid-evacuation. 64 of the school's 108 students died, and 10 are missing. 9 of the 11 teachers who were at the school on the day also died, and 1 is missing.
And a Symbol of Hope Takata Matsubara was a 2-kilometer sandy beach dotted with about 70,000 pine trees, planted some 350 years ago as a shield against the sea air to protect agricultural produce. It was one of the most popular scenic spots in Rikuzentakata, with about a million tourists visiting each year. You can see it running across the centre of this pic: And this was when the tsunami hit, three storeys high: The town itself was virtually wiped off the map. Almost half of the residents lost their lives. And all the trees were flattened - except for one:
Sweetener: Remember her?: Well, it turns out she was looking for her five-year old son. She was at work when the tsunami struck, and he was at kindergarten. And hey, guess what? (Full story here: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110415004679.htm )
I don't want to keep posting ITT. My life here is almost normal now, but there are people up there, whose country I'm living in, who've lost everything ... and I'm kinda conflicted about that. One of my students wrote a haiku: "The first butterfly of Spring, Wings folded in prayer". Smth like that anyway ... If you want to know what's going on at the Nuclear Plant, best source (for me too) is still http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/ (Reuters killed their live blog a couple of weeks ago). Most annoying thing about that whole situation for me is, they've ruined some really beautiful countryside. But, meh, I guess it was ruined anyway, hmm? And just to put things in perspective: 240,000 people died in the earthquake in Haiti. About the same in the Dec.26 2004 Indonesian tsunami.
GAGLE - うぶこえ（See the light of day）Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3xSwXN7WbE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Boston Globe has some then/now pics here: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/0 ... the_q.html That boat on the top of that house still just knocks me back..
i can't believe that it's already been a year already...and i'm still coming across amazing stories of heroism (longer, rambling version).
It is very telling the degree of devastation the people of Tōhoku suffered that almost two years later, the recovery efforts are still ongoing. I just read about this random act of kindness, possibly attributed to an anonymous donor in Nagano. Incredible. I am very happy to see that the victims and the region are still on the minds of many. 'Golden' Gift for Tsunami-hit Japanese Town
