When Tamura Takashi was growing up, his grandmother told stories of the terrible night American bombers turned the sacred city of Nagoya into a lake of fire.
“The next morning was so odd,” she said. “There was nothing left. No buildings, no trees, no people. Only miles of ashes as far as the eye could see.”
Takashi felt lucky to be born in a time when Japan was at peace with the world and such things belonged in the history books.
But when he exited the train at the Shinchi station as he had many times before, he had the same odd feeling his grandmother described. There was nothing left of the resort where his girlfriend had worked for two years. No shops, no trees, no buildings.
Her cellphone had been found a mile inland containing a final text he had never received: So much tsunami. Do not forget me.
On Friday, March 11, 2011, the 9.0 ōhoku Earthquake off the coast of Japan created a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people. Many of the survivors never found out what happened to their loved ones.
Dear Josh,
Pretty cagey in your title. (Yes I did look it up only to see it’s repeated at the end. ;) )
You put a lot of emotion into few words.
On the subject of WWII Japan, I almost added 50 words to a four year old piece. It’s still one of my favorites. https://rochellewisoff.com/2013/10/30/1-november-2013/
Shalom,
Rochelle
Eerie to say the least.
Very tragic.
Beautiful and tragic. A wonderful piece.
That’s beautifully written, Josh. Totally unforced prose that lets the situation and the emotions speak for themselves. Kudos.
Such a powerful story, made all the stronger by the understatement. Left me with a chill.
Dear Josh
A haunting, chilling piece of writing, from the other side of the Fukushima disaster. Such incidents touch so many lives, for so long, much like the radioactive fallout. An enjoyable read, as ever.
Joy and hope
Kelvin
This is so well told, Josh and the parallels between the past and present work so well, the fact that Tamura believes he lives in a more forgiving time but nautre intervenes.
I remember going to a museum where they had a mocked up room resting on a machine that simulated a recent Japanese earthquake – just that small snippet of what it felt like to be caught in such and event was terrifying.
Could I ask what the translation of your title is? Wonderful writing
Thanks, Lynn. It’s the last line in the story.
I wondered that. Thank Josh :)
I know it is sad, but it was also quite beautiful – the text and the feeling of love that came from the post.
I have a hard time with things like that. My heart goes out to all those people.
Scott
Mine: https://kindredspirit23.wordpress.com/2017/12/04/what-pegman-saw-fukushima-japan/
Scary that there’s something even more destructive than humans. Beautifully written.