Two years ago, on March 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm, a massive earthquake took place off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture in Japan. I remember getting home late and turning on the tv and seeing some sort of announcement about an earthquake and what looked like computer graphics simulating a tsunami. It took me about 10 seconds to figure out that what I was seeing was live and the brown patches were unplanted rice fields. When I saw cars and houses being moved, I knew it was a huge disaster and I woke Megumi and we watched for hours. We tried to contact her family but the lines were down. As pictures came in, we begin to grow increasing worried and it was only 4 days later when we got a short text message from her family saying everyone was ok. Even though her family lives near the port, the water only came up to the front step while my brother in law`s house was flooded up to the second story and they lost their car. I figure we got really lucky.
We hasn't planned to come back on the anniversary, it just happened. I had been watching programs about people still living in temporary housing, the search ongoing for the missing, abandoned animals near Fukushima, etc. I was curious to see what kind of events would take place. The news was filled with stories of different areas and rebuilding and efforts to keep people around and working. I had seen a stage or two on the main arcade and figured the ceremonies would be there. When, I was getting ready to head back to the station, I saw a group on stage singing and a series of stands set up to raise funds through the sales of foods and crafts. It was about 2:35 when I started to hear the announcements about something to do with the earthquake. Living in Japan, you get used to understanding about 80% of what is going on and fake the rest. At 2:44, I saw store clerks lining up along the sides of the covered arcade. At 2:45, music from the stores stopped and people lined up along the arcade.The usually noisy arcade was strangely quiet. A countdown to 2:46 commenced with a 10 second warning similar to the time check on the radio. At 2:46, the arcade was completely still and people bowed their heads as about 10 temple gongs rang out. I thought about the 2 foreign language teachers named Taylor Anderson and Monty Dickson who lost their lives on that day. Both helped in the evacuation of students but were left to their own devices once that was done. The last time she was seen alive, Taylor had started riding her bike home toward the sea. Monty was said to evacuate to the 3rd floor but even at that height the place was still flooded out but I later watched a video showing him thinking about going into the building but walking away instead. Both understood Japanese but I'm not sure anyone really appreciated or knew what was coming. Both loved Japan and really enjoyed what they were doing. I'm not sure why but media coverage was much more extensive for Taylor than Monty. Maybe she was a more media-friendly face? There was another 15 seconds of quiet and at the very end, I saw a guy walk past with his luggage. It made him look very callous as the WHOLE arcade (500?) people was still and quiet. An announcement broke the silence and it was as if someone pressed a button and re-animated everyone back to their normal routines. It was a neat experience and I was glad I was there to experience it. I imagine this is what Remembrance Day used to look like at the start. I have also heard the Isrealis stop for 2 minutes to commentate the Holocaust Victims each year too.
Finished off the day by having dinner with the family and watching the news stories about the tsunami. Most people on the affected coast had big memorials or threw flowers into the ocean. There was a guy from Fukushima who had lost his family and had not found his youngest son yet. Each day with help from volunteers, he searches the beaches to look for clues. I am strongly tempted to go and help but maybe should have thought of this earlier. The story also stated that fewer and fewer volunteers show up each month as the time passes. I hope he finds out what happened to his son.
At 8pm, the sad news stopped and the quiz shows that the Japanese are famous for started. Most of this show was the teams being shown a word in Japanese and having to say it in English. There is a national obsession with English here and a celebration of sorts for the inability to speak it. I am not aware of any other country that does this. Even though I tried to ply myself with numerous beers, I was unable to stomach the banality of the show and I had to excuse myself. If there is a purgatory for me, it would be being trapped in a room filled with TVs showing Japanese quiz shows. Either that or a bunch of 4th graders learning the recorder each day! :)
We hasn't planned to come back on the anniversary, it just happened. I had been watching programs about people still living in temporary housing, the search ongoing for the missing, abandoned animals near Fukushima, etc. I was curious to see what kind of events would take place. The news was filled with stories of different areas and rebuilding and efforts to keep people around and working. I had seen a stage or two on the main arcade and figured the ceremonies would be there. When, I was getting ready to head back to the station, I saw a group on stage singing and a series of stands set up to raise funds through the sales of foods and crafts. It was about 2:35 when I started to hear the announcements about something to do with the earthquake. Living in Japan, you get used to understanding about 80% of what is going on and fake the rest. At 2:44, I saw store clerks lining up along the sides of the covered arcade. At 2:45, music from the stores stopped and people lined up along the arcade.The usually noisy arcade was strangely quiet. A countdown to 2:46 commenced with a 10 second warning similar to the time check on the radio. At 2:46, the arcade was completely still and people bowed their heads as about 10 temple gongs rang out. I thought about the 2 foreign language teachers named Taylor Anderson and Monty Dickson who lost their lives on that day. Both helped in the evacuation of students but were left to their own devices once that was done. The last time she was seen alive, Taylor had started riding her bike home toward the sea. Monty was said to evacuate to the 3rd floor but even at that height the place was still flooded out but I later watched a video showing him thinking about going into the building but walking away instead. Both understood Japanese but I'm not sure anyone really appreciated or knew what was coming. Both loved Japan and really enjoyed what they were doing. I'm not sure why but media coverage was much more extensive for Taylor than Monty. Maybe she was a more media-friendly face? There was another 15 seconds of quiet and at the very end, I saw a guy walk past with his luggage. It made him look very callous as the WHOLE arcade (500?) people was still and quiet. An announcement broke the silence and it was as if someone pressed a button and re-animated everyone back to their normal routines. It was a neat experience and I was glad I was there to experience it. I imagine this is what Remembrance Day used to look like at the start. I have also heard the Isrealis stop for 2 minutes to commentate the Holocaust Victims each year too.
Finished off the day by having dinner with the family and watching the news stories about the tsunami. Most people on the affected coast had big memorials or threw flowers into the ocean. There was a guy from Fukushima who had lost his family and had not found his youngest son yet. Each day with help from volunteers, he searches the beaches to look for clues. I am strongly tempted to go and help but maybe should have thought of this earlier. The story also stated that fewer and fewer volunteers show up each month as the time passes. I hope he finds out what happened to his son.
At 8pm, the sad news stopped and the quiz shows that the Japanese are famous for started. Most of this show was the teams being shown a word in Japanese and having to say it in English. There is a national obsession with English here and a celebration of sorts for the inability to speak it. I am not aware of any other country that does this. Even though I tried to ply myself with numerous beers, I was unable to stomach the banality of the show and I had to excuse myself. If there is a purgatory for me, it would be being trapped in a room filled with TVs showing Japanese quiz shows. Either that or a bunch of 4th graders learning the recorder each day! :)