Kizuna: Nikkei Stories from the 2011 Japan Earthquake & Tsunami
In Japanese, kizuna means strong emotional bonds.
This series shares stories about Nikkei individual and/or community reaction and perspectives on the Great Tohoku Kanto earthquake on March 11, 2011 and the resulting tsunami and other impacts—either about supporting relief efforts or how what has happened has affected them and their feeling of connection to Japan.
If you would like to share your reactions, please see the “Submit an Article” page for general submission guidelines. We welcome submissions in English, Japanese, Spanish, and/or Portuguese, and are seeking diverse stories from around the world.
We hope that these stories bring some comfort to those affected in Japan and around the world, and that this will become like a time capsule of responses and perspectives from our global Nima-kai community for the future.
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There are many organizations and relief funds established around the world providing support for Japan. Follow us on Twitter @discovernikkei for info on Nikkei relief efforts, or check the Events section. If you’re posting a Japan relief fundraising event, please add the tag “JPquake2011” to make it appear on the list of earthquake relief events.
Stories from this series
The Great Tohoku Disaster - Part 2
April 2, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >>I will try to recreate my personal experiences from the e-mails that I sent to friends in Canada and Japan, TV news reports in Canada, the U.S., and Japan, and from what my wife Akiko tells me.Saturday, March 12We woke up exhausted from worry about family and friends in Sendai. Still no contact. *** I got mail from Judith, the sister of my pal Tomo. She was frantic about his whereabouts: Another message from Marnie from Australia, …
Japan Quake: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
March 31, 2011 • Marsha Takeda-Morrison
I know the title of this post is “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” but it’s been really hard to find anything good about the disaster unfolding in Japan. Truth is, words seem so trivial and I don’t even particularly feel like writing about the quake, or the tsunami or the nuclear crisis that’s changing by the hour. And you know I don’t do sentimental or sad very well—I prefer to keep those thoughts bottled up inside and express …
Covering the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan
March 30, 2011 • Frank Buckley
I returned home from Japan last night and wanted to share a few thoughts, a few behind-the-scene moments and a link to a way you can help the Japanese people. This assignment began a week ago Thursday night when the magnitude 9 earthquake hit. Morning News Executive Producer Tim Scowden called me at home to wake me and let me know we'd be going on early--at 4AM. He also knows that as an American with a Japanese mother, I have …
The Great Tohoku Disaster - Part 1
March 28, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
I lived in Sendai, Japan (1995 to 2003) where I worked as an English teacher and correspondent for the Nikkei Voice newspaper in Toronto, Canada. I travelled extensively throughout the Tohoku Region that has been devastated by the March 11th tsunami and earthquake. My wife, Akiko, is from Sendai where her family lives. I still have many friends that I correspond with who live in the affected area. I am writing the “Great Tohoku Disaster” with the intent to give …
Explaining why I haven't left Japan or even Tokyo: Radiation, Mass Media and more: Part 2
March 26, 2011 • Akira Uchimura
Read Part 1 >>*What was your experience with the earthquake?We were in our Nikkei Youth Network office located on the 6th floor of a building in Shibuya, Tokyo. Around 3pm, we felt as if our building was being hit and pushed by someone. With my colleague Mao, we ran down the stairs and to the Aoyama Gakuin University, which is right besides our building, because they have an open air space as a refuge in cases like these. From there, …
Explaining why I haven't left Japan or even Tokyo: Radiation, Mass Media and more - Part 1
March 25, 2011 • Akira Uchimura
Before I start, I would like to ask the international news media to stop using the situation in Japan—bloating the facts—and making it into entertainment to sell more papers and commercials. Many foreigners who live in Japan and can’t speak Japanese are guided solely on these kinds of news which are made thousands of kilometers out of here, and sadly, much of that information is erroneous, misleading, and/or out of proportions, and has brought panic to them. I have been …