Today is 2012 March 11. One year since the Great Sendai Earthquake.
Of course, ceremonies to commemorate the tragedy and remember the victims will be held around Japan today.
I found a video on YouTube made in November 2011, eight months after the earthquake and tsunami.
It shows scenes during the tragedy that give you an idea of how frightening it must have been.
And the video also mentions Taylor Anderson, who was an American English teacher at an elementary school in the Miyagi area. She helped save a number of school children from the tsunami but she herself, unfortunately, died in the disaster.
Some of her former students can be seen talking about her.
The video also mentions the aid workers who came to Japan from around the world and it shows how grateful the people in the Tohoku area are to them.
It’s a very emotional and touching video. I recommend watching it.
Watch it and tell me your reaction / feeling in the comment section of this post.
Here’s the video:
Tokyo Five 
We were in Tokyo for the earthquake. We were in a subway between Yotsuya-sanchome and Yotsuya stations when it hit. As midwesterners, we didn’t have any frame of reference for what was going on, and it wasn’t until we made it back to our hotel that we knew the full magnitude of what had happened. Even then, we didn’t get a complete picture. It wasn’t until we return to the US that we found out how dangerous it was and how much destruction had occurred.
Despite everything, we still want to come back. My daughter is bound and determined to do an exchange program during high school and wants to live there eventually. We’ll probably be swinging by your blog quite a bit from now on for more info and updates.
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You were in Japan during the 2011 Sendai Earthquake? It was frightening, wasn’t it?
Your daughter wants to live in Japan? Of course I agree that Tokyo is the greatest place to live…but—what are your feelings about it?
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I was tentative before we visited (she’s been obsessed with Japan since she was in first grade- no idea why) but after having been there I’m fully supportive. I think she would fit well in Tokyo, but I’m hoping if she does an exchange program she can get a feel for suburban and rural life as well.
And there were parts that were frightening, but truthfully I didn’t realize how bad it was until we returned home. Then I understood why all our friends and family were freaking out and why they wanted us to come home immediately rather than wait for our scheduled return date. I still wouldn’t trade the experience for the world. But we would like to come back and visit places and do things we weren’t able to last time because of things being closed or trains not running.
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Well, I hope your daughter is able to do the student exchange. It would be quite an experience, I’m sure. Japanese schools are different from American one in almost every possible way.
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This video is very touching. The story of the English teacher was very sad too.
i hope they can rebuild and get their lives back as close to normal as possible.RH
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> i hope they can rebuild and get their lives back as close to normal as possible.
So do I.
Actually there was a fairly big earthquake that hit the Tokyo area yesterday evening! It was scary…especially so close to March 11th!
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This is the 2nd time I’ve seen this and it still brings tears to my eyes. My aunt says she’ll be taking us to see the progress that’s been made in the devastated areas of Sendai.
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Have you seen this video on YouTube before?
I guess it will be emotional to see Sendai “in person”, too.
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After living in Japan for 13 years and being there for this earthquake, and actually helping clean up in the city of Hachinohe. This video means so much to me. I love Japan, its my home. I am now living in the states and I miss it very very much… Thankyou to everyone that helped it means so much to me helping my home.
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Did you live in Japan for thirteen years? What part of Japan? What years were you here?
That’s great that you volunteered to help after the disaster!
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I did live in Japan for 13 years. I lived in Misawa Japan on the military base. I was there from 91-00 then 07-11
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Were you in the U.S. military stationed in Japan?
Thirteen years is a long time … aren’t the U.S. military stationed overseas for a much shorter period?
Did you help with the recovery of Tohoku?
Thank-you.
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I am laaaate with my response hahaha. Yeah my father was stationed in Misawa, we just got lucky being there that long. I did help the port city of Hachinohe 🙂
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What age were you while you were here.
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I lived there from 2-11 and then from 17-21
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So…you’re twenty-three years old now?
I guess you were born around the time that I came to Japan! ;0
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Yep! 23! And Im back now for study abroad 😀
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Really? What part of Japan are you in now?
How long will you stay?
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I was only there for 23 days. I went to Osaka
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Only twenty-three days?
Is that a study abroad program? Seems too short.
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This video is really heart touching. Thank you.
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>This video is really heart touching.
I think so, too. Thanks for commenting…please comment on my blog often!
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I agree that this video is very emotional and touching. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks.
And thanks for still visiting and commenting on my blog so often for the past few years! I appreciate it!
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Very nice video but makes me sad still. That day is still so vivid. It was late at night here in Los Angeles when my wife started freaking out saying there was terrible earthquake in Japan. Her family lives in Northern Tochigi only about 110km from Fukushima Daiichi. She could not get in touch with her family but finally was able to and was relieved to find out her family was unhurt.
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Your wife is from the Tohoku area?
I’m glad that her family is OK.
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I’ll sum my feelings up by stating: Long Live Japan and the spirit & perseverance of it’s great people.
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Thanks for the nice comment.
Hopefully the Tohoku area can be restored soon.
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Here in Hawaii, we are all dreading the influx of debris, caused by the tsunami in Japan. It’s been in the news a lot, lately.
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Hopefully if some property of Japanese people washes ashore in another country it will someone be returned to them.
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