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
Nikkei View: Did the Tohoku Kanto Earthquake bring Japanese Americans closer to Japan?
May 16, 2011 • Gil Asakawa
A couple of days after the tragic earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast coast of Japan’s main island on March 11, the Newark Star Ledger newspaper ran an article with a headline that promised Japanese Americans’ concerns for relatives in Japan: “Japanese-Americans in Fort Lee, Edgewater describe frantic calls to loved ones in quake’s wake.” I was bemused—and a little disappointed—to find that the story wasn’t about Japanese Americans. The reporter went up to some shoppers in Mitsuwa, a Japanese …
The Essence of “Kizuna”: One Month after the Tohoku Disaster
May 11, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
I am writing this on April 24th, more than a month after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the coastal and inland areas of Tohoku Region in eastern Japan. Many thoughts are running through my mind at this point: the “incomplete” media coverage of this issue; the sudden jump from Level 5 to Level 7 at the Fukushima nuclear plant and my friend Shogo Horiuchi who lives 35 kilometers away from there; my friend Senji Kurosu in Sendai who continues …
The Wave In the Harbor
May 10, 2011 • Lily Yuriko Nakai Havey
Tsunami—the wave in the harbor. Isn’t that curious and amazing…that the kanji for such a devastating event is 津浪, “wave in the harbor”? We don’t normally visualize a wave being thirty feet high, curling above us—tall as a skyscraper—smashing down on us and obliterating everything beneath it. The waves I experienced at the beaches in Los Angeles before the war [World War II] were benign and soothing. They caressed my body with bubbles and seaweed. They foamed up on my …
The Great Tohoku Disaster - Part 9
May 3, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 8 >>This is a recreation of 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 told me.Ambassador of Canada to Japan – Message to Canadians in Japan The massive earthquake and tsunami, and resulting destruction of major energy and other infrastructure, is a tragedy of monumental proportions. All Canadians share the shock and grief of Japan’s people, …
The Great Tohoku Disaster - Part 8
May 2, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 7 >>This is a recreation of 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 told me.Wednesday, March 23 Norm, Looting in Sendai! Got any details? What looting? Yes we have some people going in there and some lights are on. but I guess if someone wants to loot us, they will. The police are often slow …
The Great Tohoku Disaster - Part 7
April 30, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 6 >>This is a recreation of 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 told me.WEEK 2Saturday, March 19 Hi Yuri, My friend Tomo and his family are in Tokyo now and trying to get to Vancouver. He just bought a house in Sendai in 2010 and has nothing here. His sister is living in Vancouver …