Exactly one year ago last year, on March 11 at 2:46 pm Japan time, the country was rocked by a massive earthquake and tsunami which killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis. While Japan has made great strides in the recovery effort in the affected areas, the Japanese people are still suffering from the physical damage and emotional trauma brought on by the triple disaster.
At the time, I was less than a month away from giving birth to Mio, and I could do very little else to contribute to the relief effort than to donate money while caring for a newborn baby in the months following the disaster. However, my family was far from uninvolved in the relief effort — my father spent several sleepless nights interpreting between the US and Japanese governments to discuss how to control the nuclear crisis, and my sister Miwa spent a part of her summer volunteering for the Japanese Red Cross in Ishinomaki to bring aid to one of the most heavily damaged cities — and I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
While we may be living on the other side of the globe from Japan, we are all connected. Seeing the images and hearing the stories of the victims brought heartbreak to people around the world. At the same time, many of us were inspired by the resilience, selflessness, compassion, and strength exhibited by the Japanese people in their darkest hours. I continue to pray for the victims and their families, and hope that Japan can persist in rebuilding to see brighter days.