3/11

One year ago on March 11, 2011, a natural disaster yet again unfolded in front of us. This one, above all others, will stay with me for the rest of my life. We had flights booked for the 17th March to fly into Japan and as we sat there on the edge of the lounge chair watching the news, we couldn't believe what we were seeing.

The immense scale of what we were witnessing was incomphrensible. I answered many phone calls from concerned family before we even knew the extent of the damage. All I could say was, "We don't know." But I was determined, and I was stubborn.

The following 48 hours was spent researching, watching, reading and talking to people living in Japan just trying to come to terms with what was happening. How many lives were lost, what damage had occured and how the country was handling all of this. Then Fukushima started deteriorating and the foreign news got all out of control. Was what we were hearing the truth, what were the Japanese being told that we weren't, how much was getting lost in translation?

After serious consideration and many hours deliberating all the facts we decided we were going to politely dismiss family and friends concern, we were going to ignore DFATs 'Reconsider travel' warnings and we were going to go on our honeymoon. The people closest to us knew that we would not put ourselves at risk, and they all supported our decision.

More than ever I felt the need and desire to go to Japan. I couldn't do anything for the devestated area, or the people who lost everything. But I could be one more person that did not abondon a country when they needed me the most. I was going to go and do what I could for them. And if that meant spending my money, seeing their beautiful country and emersing myself in their culture, then that was what I was going to do. The people living away from the immediate disaster area were concerned. Not only for their fellow countrymen but for their own livelihoods. Many people make a living on tourists. How were they going to make money if everyone got scared and didn't visit? It was coming up to one of the biggest tourist seasons of the year, Cherry Blossom season. What would these people that rely so heavily on toursim do if noone came? While I found what was happening devestating and overwhelming, I knew it only affected a small area of the country. People still had lives to live, money to make and jobs to go to. And I had a holiday to look forward to.

And it was the most fantastic trip. The many people who we interacted with not only looked very happy to see us, they also looked relieved to see us. There were so few westerners over there it was heartbreaking. We only met a handful, one Aussie we flew over with was going for a 6 month work visa. One american was fleeing the country to Korea, and another Ukranian lady had left her husband in Tokyo on the pleading of her family and country. She went back to him on our second day there.

We were down in Osaka and Kyoto and really, we would not have known anything if we did not have access to the internet and a TV. I was so happy to have made the right decision. The foriegn news did a terrible job on reporting on everything that was unfolding. Dramatising and inflating problems didn't help anyone and only led to scaremongering and confusion. I found so much of what I watched on the big channels so misleading and sometimes just plain incorrect that it dissapointed me. To this day I do not watch TV news.

Now a year on it is hard to imagine what it would be like to live the life people in the tsunami affected area are living.

Over 19,000 people dead, almost in an instant.
500 bodies still to be indentified.
3,500 people still missing.
325,000 people still homeless.
A 20km Do not Enter zone around one of the worst nuclear disasters of our time.
And so much debris to clean up it would seem overwhelming.

As Japan stops today to remember the tragedy of this time last year, I will stop with them. My heart goes out to Japan and her people. And my deepest condolences go to them. Today of all days I will remember. I will also give my hope to the people still living with the affects of this disaster to this day. The hope that one day this will all be just a terrible memory of a time gone past. One that will never be visited upon a country ever again.

Japan is strong, couragous, steadfast and proud, and she will not be rocked by this. Japan will rise from this, and those that love her will be looking on with love, compassion and hope.