THE EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE OF KAMOME: A TSUNAMI BOAT COMES HOME By Lori Dengler and Amya Miller; designed and illustrated by Amy Uyeki (Arcata, Calif.: Humboldt State University Press, 2015, 46 pp., $9.99, paperback) This is a true story about an unlikely little fishing boat that brought high school students from Rikuzentakata, Japan and Crescent City, […]
THE HEART OF KANJI: Visiting Japan
December 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last October, Alice and I visited Japan. We left San Francisco on Oct. 21 via All Nippon Airways. An Australian stewardess who spoke fluent Japanese served us on the airplane. She tried to pour water into a plastic cup. I stopped her and asked if she could change from plastic to paper. I explained to […]
Ishinomaki nonprofit visits San Francisco
April 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami devastated Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture. More than 3,500 people are dead or missing in the city of 160,000. Rias No Mori (The Forest of Rias), a nonprofit founded in 2011 that has worked to help Ishinomaki’s people and economy recover, visited San Francisco for this year’s Cherry Blossom […]
Journalists use ‘restorative narrative’ to report on Fukushima
April 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The San Francisco State University’s Dilena Takeyama Center for the Study of Japan and Japanese Culture presented April 4 on the state of Fukushima, Japan at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. The presentation, featuring the works of San Francisco State University students who visited Fukushima last year, included a series of […]
Japan marks 4 years since quake, tsunami
March 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
TOKYO — Japan marked the fourth anniversary March 11 of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s northeastern region, left more than 18,000 people dead or missing and triggered the continuing Fukushima nuclear crisis. The anniversary came as reconstruction in the hard-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima has not progressed as planned, […]
Indirect deaths from March 2011 disaster exceed direct ones
May 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Kyodo) — The number of people dying of indirect causes related to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami has exceeded those who lost their lives directly in the disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, the home of a crippled nuclear complex, the prefectural government said May 27. As of May 26, the number of those […]
Musings from a San Francisco native
January 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
JOURNEY By Peter Kenichi Yamamoto (San Francisco: self published, 2012, 71 pp., $8.95, paperback) Peter Yamamoto, a longtime member of San Francisco’s Japantown community, is often seen volunteering at the National Japanese American Historical Society. His artistic background from his parents and his roots in social activism including being a resident of the I-Hotel during […]
Rebuilding in Ishinomaki, Japan
December 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
On March 11, 2011, one year and 10 months ago, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, followed by a tsunami of historic proportions, struck Japan. The damage and destruction was beyond belief. The exact number of lives lost is still unknown, but is estimated at 20,000. While the cost of recovery may not be known for decades, some […]
Bay Area welcomes Tohoku students
August 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
George Suzuki will never forget March 11, 2011, the fateful day that Japan was slammed with three disasters — a 9.0 earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami that killed thousands and a nuclear meltdown that shook the nation to the core. He knew something was wrong, terribly wrong. His family’s home in Miyagi Prefecture began […]
Reflections from Ishinomaki
Moved by the destruction from the March 11, 2011 earthquake and the devastating tsunami, in October of 2012, seven members of the Nakayoshi Young Professionals traveled to Ishinomaki, a city in Miyagi Prefecture with the nonprofit Megumi Japan. Here, they share their reflections. Images of the insatiable tsunami created by the massive earthquake off the […]