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
We Help Each Other
April 28, 2011 • Soji Kashiwagi
I’m not an expert on Japanese culture and customs, but as I observe what’s happening in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami I am confident that the country and its people will eventually recover and rebuild their lives because of one key concept and way of life that is deeply embedded in the Japanese spirit: “Otagaisama.” Helping each other, mutually. More so than “gaman” (to endure), “shikata ga nai” (it can’t be helped) and phrases meant to inspire like “Gambaro …
Reaching out to relatives and friends after the Great Tohoku Earthquake
April 27, 2011 • Nancy Matsumoto
I woke on the morning of March 11 to an email from a friend saying she had just heard about a massive quake in Japan and she hoped that my relatives and friends there were safe. It was the first of many such emails and phone calls I received in the days and weeks that followed. Like most of my Nikkei friends, I knew no one in Sendai, or in Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures. Yet I understood that to non-Japanese …
My Seven Days in March
April 23, 2011 • Masami Takahashi
Day 1On Friday, March 11, 2011, I found it strange that my 10-year-old daughter’s figure-skating coach called my wife’s cell phone around 9 o’clock in the morning just to ask how we were doing. Friday mornings are usually a quiet time for us because that’s the only day when my wife does not have to take our daughter to a daily pre-dawn figure skating lesson on Oakton and then drive her back before her school starts at 8:53. My wife …
The Great Tohoku Disaster: Christopher’s Story - Part 2
April 21, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >>Reaction from family back homeMy family were also incredibly understanding and supportive for me throughout, saying that although they were worried, they would understand whatever decision I chose to make with regards to staying or going. They also very sensibly took my advice to ignore the dreadful sensationalist news reporting on the nuclear plant, sticking to the fact-based reporting that I directed them to, which calmed some of their worries. I’ll admit that it’s been very hard …
The Great Tohoku Disaster: Christopher’s Story - Part 1
April 20, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
As I write this latest entry to the Great Tohoku Disaster (there is a lot more to come), I do so after the 7.1 magnitude aftershock of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that has changed the Tohoku Region of Japan forever. “How much more can those people take?” I wonder. Getting new news about Japan is becoming more and more difficult as the possibility of a nuclear disaster diminishes and the attention deficit-suffering media shifts its focus on to …
The Great Tohoku Disaster - Part 6
April 16, 2011 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 5 >>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.Thursday, March 17Hi Marnie, Got the following from my friend’s sister in Vancouver: Hello everyone:Tomo called about 1/2 hour ago. Foreign Affairs finally came through and called them—they have reserved 3 seats on an Aussie bus and they are making their way …