I was in the States when I heard the news. The students at my college did what we could, which was to raise money for Japan Red Cross. I don't know if it was the best organization to send the money to. I didn't (still don't) know if it was the right direction or not. We just did what we thought was the best at that time.
It's been seven months since then. I just got back from the States a few weeks ago. I've missed a lot of things that the Japanese have been sharing about the disaster such as the changes in the society caused by the frustration for the inconvenience, anger for the politicians, regret for the past, worries and hopes for the future.
The biggest thing I feel that I've missed was the fear. It left a scar on the Japanese people's hearts in different ways, not just on the people who lived in Tohoku. The aftershock continued for a few months after 3.11 and that made so many Japanese, including my family who lived far from Tohoku, not able to sleep at night. Many went neurotic because of the endless depressing reports from the media. More and more people have been losing their jobs in all parts of Japan. Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't experience any of them directly as I wasn't there.
That is the motivation to visit Tohoku and see the reality with my own eyes. I didn't want to be blind about this topic. I wanted to make a personal connection with it through experience so that I don't just let it fade away.
So I took off with my father. He had gone on a trip there for 3 times already after the earthquake to photograph since April. We spent 3 days there just taking pictures, pictures, and pictures. But as the trip went, it was getting hard for me to even press on the shutter. It was probably the first time that I felt so depressed to take photographs.
I'll start uploading the photos in the coming posts. (But I'm going to try to make the posts as positive as possible!)
No comments:
Post a Comment