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This Seiron column joins a series of articles marking the 10
th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. What happened on the fateful March 11, 2011? What has happened since then? What does the future hold? Here we share the thoughts of people from many walks of life about this unforgettable tragedy.
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It has been 10 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami took many lives and robbed the survivors of their hopes and dreams. Although some people say “it seems like just yesterday,” others say “it feels like it took place oh so long ago.”
But, even now, especially in the three prefectures of Tohoku facing the Pacific Ocean, you still have many opportunities to hear vivid comments like the following:
Yosuke Futomi uses underwater drones in his searches for remains and items of people missing since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (Shigetaka Kodama)
WATARI, Miyagi Prefecture Haunting memories of the death of his brother have pushed Yosuke Futomi to continue searching the seabed here to help tsunami survivors gain a sense of closure.
Futomi runs a marine sports facility in the town of Watari. But since 2016, he has volunteered to dive into the ocean for clues of those who disappeared in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Around 2,500 people remain unaccounted for, mainly in the Tohoku region, since the disaster, and the chances of finding their remains decrease every day.
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By SETH ROBSON | STARS AND STRIPES Published: March 16, 2021 TOKYO The United States and Japan can “outmatch any competitor” in the years ahead, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told his Japanese counterpart Tuesday at the start of a series of high-level meetings. On his first international trip since taking over as America’s top civilian military leader, Austin gave an upbeat assessment of the state of the alliance to Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi. Also that afternoon, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi. The discussions were part in the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee, informally called 2+2.
Ten years after the Fukushima disaster in Japan
Last Thursday marked ten years since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The magnitude 9.1 earthquake, the strongest in Japanese history, triggered a massive tsunami that reached as high as 16.7 meters, and their combined power devastated Japan’s northeast Tohoku region. The tsunami struck the inadequately protected Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, leading to meltdowns in three out of six reactors and the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. The devastation that followed the March 11 triple disaster is ultimately an indictment of capitalism, which subordinates safety and human life to the drive for profit.