It has been a year since I heard the news of the devastating earthquake and tsunami on 3/11. Even from a country long accustomed to earthquakes, the news seemed quite serious, but as the day went, the Japanese Twitter feeds kept on getting more and more desperate. As the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, and power plants in other locations faced disaster of historic proportions, the dire news kept on rolling in. Over 20,000 people lost their lives that day, and over 200,000 thousand are still without homes. Today, a year later, what is most alarming is that over 50,000 people committed suicide last year in Japan, eclipsing the number of lost lives on 3/11.
Lee Basford took these photos a year ago in Japan. As IAM’s Generative Japan project continues to provide ways to bring creative opportunities in the midst of suffering in northern Japan, we remember 3/11 with these images.
— Makoto Fujimura.
