Remembering March 11th

Last weekend was the 1st Anniversary of Japan's earthquake and tsunami.  Everyone took a moment of silence at 2:46p.m. to remember all those lost and affected by this natural disaster.  While I feel like our lives were full of uncertainty and unknown for days and weeks following the earthquake, my heart truly goes out to the Japanese who lost everything on March 11th.

We recently watched the documentary called Japan Tsunami:  Tales of Terror.  This documentary showed amateur videos of survivors filming the tsunami.  These people literally saw the tsunami sweep their towns away before their own eyes.  It was completely devastating to watch on film, and cannot imagine seeing it in person.  I commend the Japanese survivors who lived to tell their stories, and for trying to move forward with their lives.

The survivors could not begin to move forward without the help from their own countrymen, and other concerned parties around the world.  I am thoroughly impressed by the people we know in our own local community who have taken part in clothing drives, fundraisers, and forming their own group to help support people affected in Tohoku.  I've blogged before that I am part of a group called Helping Hands for Tohoku.  This group was started by a Japanese lady who I met after the earthquake.  Her commitment to helping people affected by the disaster is on-going.  The group's original members were wives of the military community, but the group has branched out and now has members outside of Japan.  Providing even the basic necessities (soap, shampoo, towel, etc) means so much to survivors who had few, or no belongings when they were forced to relocate.  I am so proud to be a part of this group.  Thank you Masako-san for being such a tireless leader. 

Book about the military's mission post earthquake/tsunami.

I also want to say thank you to all the people who were concerned about us last year.  We do appreciate your emails and Facebook messages.  Just know that new friendships and other support systems were available to us during the crisis.  We continue to be happy to call Japan our home.  We look forward to being involved at some point in the cleanup efforts up north.  This is one of our family's goals for 2012.