3 years since the Tsunami…

Time flies…
I still can’t believe it’s been three years. Times goes by so quickly. I still remember waking up that morning. I was on late-shift and I woke up before my alarm went off. Half-asleep, I looked at my phone and saw a news alert from the BBC: ‘Earthquake hits Japan’.
Earthquakes happen in Japan all the time and I experienced a few tiny little ones, but still, for the BBC to tell me something was up… it sounded serious. I wandered downstairs and put on the news. The images I saw were horrific. The oncoming tsunami, houses floating out to sea, buildings on fire… you all saw them too, you know what I’m talking about.
I phoned up my colleagues immediately, asking whether I should come to the office early. I was told our office would not be needed, the news in Japan would focus only on the earthquake and tsunami for a long time. So I stayed at home watching those scenes on repeat. Working for Japanese TV news meant all I did at work was watch the news. All day long. So we spent days seeing the devastation. Having lived in Japan for almost 5 years made it very real. My friends lived in the affected areas, my friend’s friends were missing. A friend who I had gone to University and worked with in Japan hadn’t been heard of in days. It was a horrible experience, but much worse for those who were there.
In London, our office was quiet for a long time. Stories we found took a back-seat, as in Japan, no one wanted stories from Europe. They wanted updates from Tohoko, which was completely understandable. After a few weeks, our job focussed on the projects in England that were raising money for Japan. We met some amazing people, from a man who selflessly made thousands of badges to sell for charity, to concerts with famous Japanese stars. For me, the tsunami will be one of those moments you never forget. I will always remember that morning and the sadness that I felt. It could have been the area I had lived in. It could have been my friends, my family. It could have been me in the middle of it all. It feels a lot more real when the scenery you look at on TV looks like home.
The one filming we did that really stuck with me, was a group of university students who were learning how to fold paper cranes to give to strangers for donations. There were Japanese students trying to teach people from all over the world how to fold the origami paper correctly. Strangers were becoming friends and learning about Japan. From all the horror, friendships were being born. I remember meeting a French student at the event who I will never forget. He told me it was his birthday and he had seen the images of people losing everything, their homes, their possessions and their family members. He had no connection to Japan. No Japanese friends, had never been to Asia, had never even tried sushi. But he had seen those images and he had wanted to do something. So instead of celebrating turning 19 years old by eating cake and drinking beer, he was sat in a room, surrounded by strangers, folding square pieces of paper. I guess you do what you can.