Floods, aftershocks, and fallout.
March 10, 2012 11:10 AM   Subscribe

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom. Japan, still feeling the aftershocks of the earthquake, the tsunami, the Fukushima exclusion zone... An opportunity for everyone to reflect on the disaster, share stories, and contemplate the impact of a year ago and what it means today.
posted by markkraft (10 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just wanted to add this. I think it's really well done. Mostly cell/hand held footage. Really well edited with little narration.
posted by HumanComplex at 11:25 AM on March 10, 2012


Thank you markkraft. When it happened, everything was breaking news, and I was numb with shock. One year later, the shock is gone, but I feel such profound sadness when I see the impact it had. I am fortunate that none of my friends and family were hurt or killed, and that my in-laws who live so close to the epicenter suffered next to no property damage. Still, watching these images and reflecting on the tragedy makes me cry every time.
posted by Dodecadermaldenticles at 1:04 PM on March 10, 2012 [1 favorite]


My coworker edited this. The director was in Japan on 3/11, preparing to shoot a short film about the Japanese people and their relationship with the cherry blossoms. When the tsunami hit, she realized she was in a prime position to tell its story and changed her game plan. The film is difficult to watch, but quite good. I still don't know how they found interviewees who could speak so poignantly. It'll be on HBO sometime in the spring.
posted by higginba at 2:07 PM on March 10, 2012 [2 favorites]


The earthquake seen through the eyes of children is from BBC and is especially well done--as are all the links. These articulate and charming children, like Riku(?), who appears first and last, give great hope for the future of Japan.

I hadn't realized it was a year already. I recall hearing the news about the earthquake and wondering if Metafilter's own Woodblock100 was back safely from his Tokyo trip (he was). Then the magnitude of this great disaster began to sink in.
posted by Anitanola at 2:37 PM on March 10, 2012


Shikata ga nai/so it goes
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 4:22 PM on March 10, 2012


I'm in Toyama (Japan Sea side) this Sunday morning, having just finished a little tour of the Hokuriku area with my band. Will be setting off for the trip back to Tokyo in just a couple of hours. Can't wait to get home give my little girl a big hug. The quake was so frightening for her and her schoolmates (she was in the school gym when it happened, and the big room with its high ceiling shook violently). It broke my heart when she said later "I thought I was going to die".

Here's something I posted to Mefi Music last year, about my personal experience: post-quake Japan report.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:14 PM on March 10, 2012 [2 favorites]


Boston Globe's Big Picture feature is a must see - Japan tsunami pictures: before and after
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:26 PM on March 10, 2012 [1 favorite]


Here is a new, solemn report by The Telegraph on the parents of one of the schools mentioned in the documentary about the children who survived the tsunami, whose children didn't survive.

Worth remembering that for many, there's still far too much pain and justified anger to talk about life returning to normal anytime soon.
posted by markkraft at 6:59 PM on March 10, 2012


Flipping around the different channels, one station had their announcers standing in front of rows of clocks that must have been found in the wreckage, some stopped at 2:46, others that stopped half an hour later, which must have been when the tsunami hit.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:41 PM on March 10, 2012


I'm in Toyama (Japan Sea side) this Sunday morning, having just finished a little tour of the Hokuriku area with my band.

Hokuriku is the best! I've lived in all three prefectures. Indeed, Hokuriku closely resembles Tohoku in many ways, so it's very easy to imagine the destruction of the tsunami zone, and the horror of nuclear contamination.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:13 AM on March 11, 2012


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