Some photos from my trip to Kamaishi in North East Japan (Tsunami disastor area)

I took a trip to Kamaishi a couple months ago with a group of Japanese. The area was hit hard and devastated by the Tsunami of 2011. A lot of damage is still there, and who knows when and how it will eventually be cleaned up. This is probably the case with a lot of the cities and towns hit hard by the tsunami.








(Formerly a train station)

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Fucking unreal how many people still living in shelters.
Really puts life in perspective

Yeah, I almost choke up looking at the photos. At the time when I was there I was mostly just caught up in the moment, but upon reflecting on what I saw and everything, it was (is) very sad. It has always been very sad, all I am saying is that seeing it with your own eyes gives a different perspective. We went there to put on a free festival (we all payed our own way--fuel, rental cars, lodging, etc.--and the cost of the festival out of pocket). Since I am talentless, I just helped setup/take down everything and sold beer (which we sold at break even prices), and gave away t-shirts, etc. I think that most people seem to think that the Tsunami is already old news, but in fact it is anything but that. The communities have been depopulated, and the disaster remains, with no one to clean it up. Obviously, the scale was tremendous and cleanup is a considerable task. But it was eye opening to go and see it.


For the record, the above was an edited remark I made to someone else directly, but I thought it was worth posting to get my thoughts out on here as well (and I was too lazy to rewrite).

It is really quite incredible and tragic how many people are in temp housing, indeed, and how much damage remains. The cities really are depopulated. People have gone to the big cities, or to other places. The wreckage remains. People remain helpless, after all this time. The government could be doing much more.

I just recalled this video, as well, which is well worthy to post, of Enson Inoue discussing his experiences in trying to help out after the disaster hit.

Clean up is MONUMENTAL task, so it's easier to put in the minimum effort and just forget about it.

Japanese government made sure Godzilla wasn't unleashed with the power plant problems then pretty much said "our work here is done, fix the rest yourselves"

Looks like the computer game Fallout

IQ Wrestler wrote:Clean up is MONUMENTAL task, so it's easier to put in the minimum effort and just forget about it.

Japanese government made sure Godzilla wasn't unleashed with the power plant problems then pretty much said "our work here is done, fix the rest yourselves"

I think the government could be doing more.

However, the nuclear meltdown is very serious.

Some of the best nuclear scientists in Japan, and indeed the world, and some of the best structural engineers in Japan, and indeed the world, are to this day engaged in trying to deal with this task.