For me, and many Japanese, 3.11 is a sad day and a sad number.
I know that many people suffered greatly from this earthquake, and at the same time that much is yet to be told and discovered, and that we do not know enough about what happened.
More than 10 years have passed, and I have recalled those days many times, and I feel the need to share some of these experiences with people in other countries.
Here I would like to tell you about my experience.
On March 11, 2011, I was in Tokyo and felt a huge tremor. During the shaking, I immediately "prayed" for my husband and son to be in a safe place. I am a secular Buddhist. I don't know which god I prayed to. I am not a religious person, but that was my prayer. I prayed because I thought that the earthquake, which was the biggest earthquake I had ever experienced in my life (it was so big that it was hard to even comprehend that it was an earthquake), might end my life and the lives of my family.
I was having a late lunch with other students in a large hall. We rocked like we were on a boat in a big ocean. I was scared, and I suspect others were too, but strangely everyone was calm. After a few bumps and shakes, we were all in a strange state of calm.
I tried to reach my husband. But I found that my phone was disconnected (was the connection busy?). In Tokyo, all the trains had stopped (although I heard some started moving later). I had never seen such a scene in Tokyo, where all the trains stop moving every busy day, and I doubt I ever will (I hope so). As I watched the station staff talking to the passengers who had gathered at the station, I understood that the trains would no longer be moving today. I could have been in Shinagawa. I don't believe it anymore, but I did see the top of the Tokyo Tower bent over.
I had to walk over 6 hours to get home. It was a very strange experience walking with a group of strangers. Every time we walked, we shared information and stories. Where did we feel the first tremor and where are we going home now? It was already night. One woman who was walking along the tracks with us said, "This is where I say goodbye to you," because we needed to leave these tracks and walk towards the outside of the Yamanote line. She then said to me, "You are a young woman, so be careful from here. The humanity touched my heart.
Only 5-6 hours after the first big earthquake (I don't remember much) I was able to exchange emails and talk to my husband. I was so glad that my husband and son were safe. As I was walking, I noticed that my friends from Italy and other countries were sending me messages on Facebook at the time, asking me if I was okay and worrying about me. Although I was simply happy, I could respond to some messages immediately, while others were very painful to reply to. It was only when I heard from my friends that I realized that I was in a difficult situation.
When I got home, I understood. Unbelievably, the tsunami had hit very close to my in-laws. My family was all safe but had been in a very difficult situation for a very long time. Then I learned that an acquaintance of my mother-in-law's had been hit by the tsunami, along with her daughter and her newborn grandchild. A friend of my acquaintance was a government employee and died of overwork from the paperwork after the disaster. Writing this reminds me of many things. But the year after the earthquake, in particular, and for several years after that, the memories are like one black mass and do not appear in order. I had family troubles related to the earthquake, the time when I was raising an infant, the earthquake, the anxiety over the nuclear power plant accident, and the birth of my next child all coincided, and I became very ill. On the other hand, I can use the painful experiences and observations of that time in my research. I feel very strange.
