March 11
Invited by a new Japanese friend, I went to a rememberance service in a english-speaking church today to commerate one year since a 9.0 scale earthquake triggered a massive tsunami and near nuclear meltdown. Over 15,000 people lost their lives and some 3,000 are still missing. I was moved just to be present in Japan today.
Later on we went to Hibuya Park where a remembrance gathering was happening – thousands of people were there. And as the clock ticked towards 2:46pm (the time the earthquake struck) the already subdued crowd just got quieter and quieter. The fountain in the park turned off. The speaker on stage was basicially whispering over the microphone. No-one was crying it seemed. But this deep stillness settled and the silence seemed to hold so much… At exactly 2:46pm a resonating gong signalled the start of a minutes silence accompanied by the click click click click of the press reporter’s camera.
We go on a whirlwind artist-led trip to the north tomorrow – leaving at 6am (nearly 3 now… oopps!) and arriving back the following day at 10pm or so… I feel ok about going, despite relative proximity to Fukushima (50 kms at the least) but not so happy about eating food from the region. So I have stocked up on snacks to take with me. I expect to feel powerless and uncomfortable as we see first-hand what remains of the devastation wrought by the tsunami.
