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Strong in the rain: surviving Japan's earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear disaster
Blending history, science, and gripping storytelling, Strong in the Rain brings the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 and its immediate aftermath to life through the eyes of the men and women who experienced it. Following the narratives of six individuals, the book traces the shape of a disaster and the heroics it prompted, including that of David Chumreonlert, a Texan with Thai roots, trapped in his school's gymnasium with hundreds of students and teachers as it begins to flood, and Taro Watanabe, who thought nothing of returning to the Fukushima plant to fight the nuclear disaster, despite the effects that he knew would stay with him for the rest of his life. This is a beautifully written and moving account of how the Japanese experienced one of the worst earthquakes in history and endured its horrific consequences.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 30, 2012
29 people are currently reading
436 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Birmingham
4 booksLucy Birmingham is TIME magazine’s Tokyo-based reporter and covered the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. Since coming to Japan in the mid-1980s, her work has appeared in Bloomberg News, Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, Travel & Leisure, and U.S. News and World Report. A board member of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, she lives in Tokyo.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
August 2, 2017
As the blurbs on the back cover indicate, this is surely one of the best books written about the Japan’s March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. McNeill and Birmingham are both journalists stationed in Japan with Japanese families and their own stakes in what happened. They give us a graphic depiction of what it was and is like there, telling things not disclosed before and possibly still not known by many Japanese people. They focus on several individuals from various aspects of life, sharing what happened to them and their families. We meet the school lunch worker who did not know for days whether her husband was still alive, the nuclear power worker who kept working to secure the Fukushima plant despite the danger, the fisherman whose house and village were destroyed. Throughout the book, I was stunned by how much I didn’t know and how bad it really was—and still is. The writing is straightforward, strong, sympathetic and instructive. The authors conclude by letting us know that this could happen anywhere, and we need to prepare.
July 29, 2019
Reading Rush #1 2019
Beautiful story about group survival. It's well written, has a diverse cast of true characters, and follows the triple disaster of an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown. I remember when this happened back in 2011, and it's interesting to see how the disasters affected individual people. It was sad when people lost their loved ones, but also achingly painful to hear Taro Watanabe talking about how he won't ever marry (because of the high levels of radiation he was exposed to he won't be able to have children). This book was full of big and small moments that reveal how heartbreaking a tragedy is, both in the destruction of the past and the destroying power in the present and future.
Beautiful story about group survival. It's well written, has a diverse cast of true characters, and follows the triple disaster of an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown. I remember when this happened back in 2011, and it's interesting to see how the disasters affected individual people. It was sad when people lost their loved ones, but also achingly painful to hear Taro Watanabe talking about how he won't ever marry (because of the high levels of radiation he was exposed to he won't be able to have children). This book was full of big and small moments that reveal how heartbreaking a tragedy is, both in the destruction of the past and the destroying power in the present and future.
February 28, 2018
I'm, not sure what to say about this book. There are many positive things, and yet, it seems as though it is very disjointed. Consistently while reading, I had to go back a few pages to find a link. Two writers were trying to tell a story and yet the tapestry wasn't woven in a manner that made a solid piece of art.
The positive thing about this book is that the authors did a credible job of adequately portraying the terror felt when a level nine earthquake occurred primarily in the northern regions of Japan on March 11, 2011. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami with 50 foot waves that far surpassed any walls previously built to abutt the sheer power of the water.
And then, the unstoppable triple event occurred when Daiichi's nuclear power plant went into meltdown. Located near the epicenter of the earthquake, automatically, pipes ripped apart, the power failed, and all too soon, the rods were overheated as the electricity in the plant was non existent.
I feel as though the authors tried to cover too much territory. Yet, I came to the end of the book knowing it was a credible work. Perhaps there simply were too many things that occurred to enable a straight path to the story.
The authors paint a wonderful portrayal of a strong and caring people who sustained so very much in a short period of time. The sense of camaraderie and otherness is what held and helped the people survive.
The title of the book is from a poem of the same name written by Miyazawa Kenji.
To be strong in the rain is a solid and positive attribute which enabled the country most impacted to come together in a caring of others, and a sense that tomorrow just might be better.
The positive thing about this book is that the authors did a credible job of adequately portraying the terror felt when a level nine earthquake occurred primarily in the northern regions of Japan on March 11, 2011. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami with 50 foot waves that far surpassed any walls previously built to abutt the sheer power of the water.
And then, the unstoppable triple event occurred when Daiichi's nuclear power plant went into meltdown. Located near the epicenter of the earthquake, automatically, pipes ripped apart, the power failed, and all too soon, the rods were overheated as the electricity in the plant was non existent.
I feel as though the authors tried to cover too much territory. Yet, I came to the end of the book knowing it was a credible work. Perhaps there simply were too many things that occurred to enable a straight path to the story.
The authors paint a wonderful portrayal of a strong and caring people who sustained so very much in a short period of time. The sense of camaraderie and otherness is what held and helped the people survive.
The title of the book is from a poem of the same name written by Miyazawa Kenji.
To be strong in the rain is a solid and positive attribute which enabled the country most impacted to come together in a caring of others, and a sense that tomorrow just might be better.
March 21, 2015
Weirdly uncompelling for an account of such dramatic and terrible events. I liked the idea of following a few affected individuals as they suffered through and then tried to recover from the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, but their stories were jumbled together with few clear narrative lines, and I never got more than a skin-deep sense of their fears, hopes, and struggles (the one exception is a brief and heartbreaking moment where a nuclear plant worker makes the decision to stay single, in order to protect future generations from the possible effects of his radiation exposure). Very good maps and diagrams; I wish the reportage had been equally impressive.
July 1, 2019
Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster was not exactly what I was expecting.
Before visiting Japan for the first time last year, I read Richard Lloyd Parry's Ghosts of the Tsunami. Parry, like his American counterparts, was (and still is) an (English) journalist based in Japan. His book focused on the effects of the tsunami on one small town on the coast where an entire school of children was lost to the overwhelming wave. His book evolved over several years of interviews with survivors and was finally published in 2017, six years after the tsunami.
Strong in the Rain (published in October 2012) was a more immediate response to the disaster of 2011 and focused on the reaction of the government, media and locals to the nuclear threat that teetered on the brink of major catastrophe for days and days and days.
As a result, it was more report-like in structure and execution than Parry's book which was more personal, and told in a narrative non-fiction style. Both styles have their place and perhaps if I had read Strong in the Rain when it was first published I would have been more engaged with it.
Not that it wasn't interesting, it just didn't grab me the way Ghosts of the Tsunami did. That sense of immediacy had passed.
Full review here - http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/...
Before visiting Japan for the first time last year, I read Richard Lloyd Parry's Ghosts of the Tsunami. Parry, like his American counterparts, was (and still is) an (English) journalist based in Japan. His book focused on the effects of the tsunami on one small town on the coast where an entire school of children was lost to the overwhelming wave. His book evolved over several years of interviews with survivors and was finally published in 2017, six years after the tsunami.
Strong in the Rain (published in October 2012) was a more immediate response to the disaster of 2011 and focused on the reaction of the government, media and locals to the nuclear threat that teetered on the brink of major catastrophe for days and days and days.
As a result, it was more report-like in structure and execution than Parry's book which was more personal, and told in a narrative non-fiction style. Both styles have their place and perhaps if I had read Strong in the Rain when it was first published I would have been more engaged with it.
Not that it wasn't interesting, it just didn't grab me the way Ghosts of the Tsunami did. That sense of immediacy had passed.
Full review here - http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/...
April 13, 2018
It's hard to believe that almost 6 years have passed since that calamity happened...
Reading this book has made me realise how little I knew about that incident .
This book covers the beginning and the aftermath of the disaster from the perspective of citizens , officials , government , nuclear plant workers, journalists .
It was both informing and humanising .
It was very well researched and you can tell the authors out a lot of effort in making this book.
My main complain us that at times it feel chaotic and disorganised , having read the Arabic translated version, I found there were many misspellings and it edunitky needed to be edited more thoroughly!
Otherwise a good informative read!
Reading this book has made me realise how little I knew about that incident .
This book covers the beginning and the aftermath of the disaster from the perspective of citizens , officials , government , nuclear plant workers, journalists .
It was both informing and humanising .
It was very well researched and you can tell the authors out a lot of effort in making this book.
My main complain us that at times it feel chaotic and disorganised , having read the Arabic translated version, I found there were many misspellings and it edunitky needed to be edited more thoroughly!
Otherwise a good informative read!
October 2, 2013
I found this book highly disappointing.
As someone who followed the Fukushima disaster, I was still quite confused and picked up this book in hopes to learn much more about it. Honestly, I didn't learn much at all.
It seemed completely disjointed, like it was thrown together at random. It actually confused me more and I closed the last page without having the majority of my questions answered.
As someone who followed the Fukushima disaster, I was still quite confused and picked up this book in hopes to learn much more about it. Honestly, I didn't learn much at all.
It seemed completely disjointed, like it was thrown together at random. It actually confused me more and I closed the last page without having the majority of my questions answered.
March 5, 2020
This was an early book that came out after the triple disaster, and it’s written in a very clear old-fashioned journalistic style aiming to illuminate the situation using a half a dozen interview subjects who provide first-hand accounts and the human element. The six stories are grounded in excellent historical and socioeconomic context. Both reporters are a long time as well-known western journalists in Japan--I found it to be solid in first-class writing.
Most of the reviews here found the book disjointed. I agree and do think there was a lot going on with two authors, six interview subjects that they kept going back-and-forth between three disasters. But I think the far greater problem was it was put together too quickly-- as they publish this only a year after the disaster which doesn’t seem like enough time to conduct interviews and process what has gone on. But it was also helpful to have a book like this so soon, though I think Ghosts of the Tsunami put all the previous books to rest forever, since Perry's book was so incredibly well done. If you only read one book, it should be Perry's. If you read several, don't miss this one.
Most of the reviews here found the book disjointed. I agree and do think there was a lot going on with two authors, six interview subjects that they kept going back-and-forth between three disasters. But I think the far greater problem was it was put together too quickly-- as they publish this only a year after the disaster which doesn’t seem like enough time to conduct interviews and process what has gone on. But it was also helpful to have a book like this so soon, though I think Ghosts of the Tsunami put all the previous books to rest forever, since Perry's book was so incredibly well done. If you only read one book, it should be Perry's. If you read several, don't miss this one.
May 11, 2017
Throughout this entire book, from beginning to end, I kept coming back to the big and mostly unanswered question, "Why? Why did this happen?"
As I was reading other Goodread's reviews of this book, I came across the following comment: "It is human nature to want to absorb as much information on a disaster as is possible, in part, so that you can prevent it from happening again." Exactly what I was thinking.
Why would a country that has experienced for entire lifetimes the ravages of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings as well as an ongoing history of tsunamis, build a nuclear power plant at the confluence of three tectonic plates? Whatever happened to the idea of preventing another such happening?
Though this book is very informative about the 2011 disaster, it barely addresses the big issue which was: The insuring of a disaster -- the building of a nuclear power plant at a very precarious location.
As I was reading other Goodread's reviews of this book, I came across the following comment: "It is human nature to want to absorb as much information on a disaster as is possible, in part, so that you can prevent it from happening again." Exactly what I was thinking.
Why would a country that has experienced for entire lifetimes the ravages of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings as well as an ongoing history of tsunamis, build a nuclear power plant at the confluence of three tectonic plates? Whatever happened to the idea of preventing another such happening?
Though this book is very informative about the 2011 disaster, it barely addresses the big issue which was: The insuring of a disaster -- the building of a nuclear power plant at a very precarious location.
April 16, 2022
Picked this up as part of my growing interest in nuclear history. Two journalists tell the story of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster interwoven with stories of survivors. I was nervous that the focus on individual people would take away from explaining the big picture, but their writing beautifully connected the two. I found the first half of the book the strongest, especially the parts that focused on the immediate response and cover up from the government, nuclear power company and media. There are so many fascinating similarities to Chernobyl. I continue to grow in my anti-nuclear beliefs, primarily because of how obviously ill-equipped smart and capable people are to dealing with nuclear disasters. My fav part of the book were the excellent maps and diagrams helping to grasp the magnitude and geographic impact of the three connected disasters.
January 26, 2025
First, I would like to compliment the packaging of the book, the title and especially the cover image. The publisher did a beautiful job. I felt like this was an important book, and it had a good concept and structure, and also that the writing just did not quite live up to the rest of it. The information was there, but the writing was often disjointed and hard to follow. I also think that the most interesting section of the book arrived in the first few pages, and set it up to have a fascinating exploration of Japanese stoicism and collectivism, but dropped it there and never picked it up again. I'm glad I read this, but would also like to read another one about the tsunami, that maybe has a more cohesive narrative.
June 2, 2020
I felt the book was rushed to publishing. The two authors (foreigners that have lived in Japan for a long time) wanted to be the first on the market with a book about the impacts of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. However I felt like the stories were rushed, and I didn't get much closure to the stories of the individuals written about. Further I felt that the way the book was written was quite disjointed, stories would jumped from one person to the next, would sometimes come back, but would also not come back for a while sometimes.
Overall, find a book that didn't rush to the market if you really want to see the effects of the earthquake.
Overall, find a book that didn't rush to the market if you really want to see the effects of the earthquake.
June 30, 2023
This was really good. While I’ve read something else about the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant, I had never read anything about what it was like for those impacted by the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear plant breakdown in those early days and the year after. Both writers were longtime residents of Japan with family, so there is an understanding of the Japanese culture and the people which was incorporated into their narrative. Really interesting. I did have to do a bit of additional research while reading as a follow up to some of the info provided.
April 14, 2019
Heart wrenching
This book tells the tale of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima meltdown from the perspective of a few different people. It tells their stories of tragedy, fears, loss and recovery. It also includes the governmental impact ( or lack of it) to the entire event. I still can’t believe TEPCO was released from liability!
This book tells the tale of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima meltdown from the perspective of a few different people. It tells their stories of tragedy, fears, loss and recovery. It also includes the governmental impact ( or lack of it) to the entire event. I still can’t believe TEPCO was released from liability!
May 25, 2019
Amaaaaazing book. I knew about fukushima's nuclear disaster from the news but I didnt realize the magnitude of the problem or the effect on the whole earth not only japan. I'm so sorry for the people and the families who lost their loved ones in the disaster and I hope they recover fully and able to tell their stories ... great book!
August 17, 2025
A decent introduction to the disaster, but overall quite flimsy and more like a series of disconnected articles than a cohesive work. I learned quite a few things, but none of the reporting went particularly deep into any one area, so it felt somehow disjointed and unsatisfying. Probably the book came too soon after the disaster.
August 23, 2017
Excellent research and analysis of what happened in the quake/tsunami/nuclear disaster of 2011. I found the actual facts and figures fascinating and it answered many questions I had. Enough human interest to tie it together and keep it from getting too dry.
April 14, 2016
This book is great for anyone who wants to know more about the 2011 earthquake and the disasters that resulted from it. Don’t be expecting a fictional story though, this is more like a fact book describing first-hand accounts from survivors, giving you the facts and figures, along with scientific explanations. I found it very eye opening, because though I obviously knew about the disaster, I’d never really comprehended just how bad it had been, especially the parts about the nuclear ‘meltdown’, or that potentially it could have been a global disaster, not just isolated to Japan. Also, there were some shocking, heartbreaking truths there, such as the fact that scientists predicted a massive earthquake and were days away from doing a presentation about it.
Despite the fact that it was written in quite a blunt, to the point kind of way, it was actually quite an emotional read, especially when you hear about the victim’s stories and all the loss they suffered and not just from the disasters but also from the lack of government help and compensation in the years afterwards. I find it sickening that TEPCO made it so hard for people to get compensation and tried to wiggle their way out of taking responsibility for what happened. This book was a very educational read and, though I was anti-nuclear anyway, this book has made me wonder why so many counties choose to go in that direction, ignoring all the warning signs and past lessons. It is true what they said, ‘Will the world be safe with 1,000 nuclear reactors?’
Despite all the disaster and heartbreak that befell Japan though, it was uplifting in the end to hear about the way people moved and got one with their lives, no matter how hard it was and also, there were a lot of heroic moments that stemmed from the disasters. Isn’t it strange how things like this have a way of bring people together?
There was a good range of first-hand accounts, from people with different experiences, ages, nationalities, and in different zones, but I actually would have liked to have heard more, especially about the tsunami and earthquake, since I felt a majority of the book focused on the nuclear disaster. Also, all the scientific facts and figures got a bit confusing at times and I found myself having to flick back a few pages, or read the sentence again, but on the other hand, knowing all those facts and figures made it more real and added to the depth of the book. However, it was quite repetitive and, though split into sections, sometimes one section would cover an area you’d just read about in the section before, which was a bit annoying.
All in all though, this was a very informative and interesting book, which gave you the details of the disaster and the after affects in a straightforward nature, with diagrams and facts to help you realize the true extent of what happened on March 11 2011.
For more reviews, or to see my favourite quotes from this book, check out my blog at http://mlsparrow.wix.com/mlsparrow
Despite the fact that it was written in quite a blunt, to the point kind of way, it was actually quite an emotional read, especially when you hear about the victim’s stories and all the loss they suffered and not just from the disasters but also from the lack of government help and compensation in the years afterwards. I find it sickening that TEPCO made it so hard for people to get compensation and tried to wiggle their way out of taking responsibility for what happened. This book was a very educational read and, though I was anti-nuclear anyway, this book has made me wonder why so many counties choose to go in that direction, ignoring all the warning signs and past lessons. It is true what they said, ‘Will the world be safe with 1,000 nuclear reactors?’
Despite all the disaster and heartbreak that befell Japan though, it was uplifting in the end to hear about the way people moved and got one with their lives, no matter how hard it was and also, there were a lot of heroic moments that stemmed from the disasters. Isn’t it strange how things like this have a way of bring people together?
There was a good range of first-hand accounts, from people with different experiences, ages, nationalities, and in different zones, but I actually would have liked to have heard more, especially about the tsunami and earthquake, since I felt a majority of the book focused on the nuclear disaster. Also, all the scientific facts and figures got a bit confusing at times and I found myself having to flick back a few pages, or read the sentence again, but on the other hand, knowing all those facts and figures made it more real and added to the depth of the book. However, it was quite repetitive and, though split into sections, sometimes one section would cover an area you’d just read about in the section before, which was a bit annoying.
All in all though, this was a very informative and interesting book, which gave you the details of the disaster and the after affects in a straightforward nature, with diagrams and facts to help you realize the true extent of what happened on March 11 2011.
For more reviews, or to see my favourite quotes from this book, check out my blog at http://mlsparrow.wix.com/mlsparrow
June 12, 2014
I got Strong in the Rain through the Librarything Early Reviewer program because I was interested in understanding the experience of what the people of Japan had gone through when the earthquake and tsunami hit. It is human nature to want to absorb as much information on a disaster as is possible, in part so that you can prevent it from happening again, and in part because of the compassion we hold for others. I knew people in the country at the time and this book helped me to understand the feelings and experiences that those people went through, in a way that I would not have been able to experience otherwise.
There is actually very little about the earthquake and tsunami. Most of the book covers the nuclear disaster that follows and tries to point fingers without pointing fingers, all the while explaining why things happened the way they did and why they were unavoidable. It sounds like more to take in than it actually was. The book is ordered well and is not too disaster or fact driven. Nothing feels overwhelming or overpowering and the stories of the survivors are told in a very calm, yet meaningful way.
Still, I wasn't really sure how to feel about this book until I got to the description farther in about the grieving process in Japanese culture. Once I saw the book in that light, I was very comfortable with the way it was written. In fact, I can almost certainly say that if the goal was to write the book in a style that reflected that grieving process within the culture of Japan, the writers certainly hit the mark. When you have completed the book and have a chance to take it all in as a whole entity, I think you will realize it has really affected you or touched you in a way you hadn't expected.
There is actually very little about the earthquake and tsunami. Most of the book covers the nuclear disaster that follows and tries to point fingers without pointing fingers, all the while explaining why things happened the way they did and why they were unavoidable. It sounds like more to take in than it actually was. The book is ordered well and is not too disaster or fact driven. Nothing feels overwhelming or overpowering and the stories of the survivors are told in a very calm, yet meaningful way.
Still, I wasn't really sure how to feel about this book until I got to the description farther in about the grieving process in Japanese culture. Once I saw the book in that light, I was very comfortable with the way it was written. In fact, I can almost certainly say that if the goal was to write the book in a style that reflected that grieving process within the culture of Japan, the writers certainly hit the mark. When you have completed the book and have a chance to take it all in as a whole entity, I think you will realize it has really affected you or touched you in a way you hadn't expected.
December 16, 2012
In March of 2011 a 9.0 earthquake struck Japan, followed shortly thereafter by a devastating Tsunami. These set in motion the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
In Strong in the Rain the authors tell the stories of six survivors from areas affected by the disasters. Their stories are written in the third person, and even with the occasional historical background information (how the communities planned, built and trained for tsunamis for example), the real-life horrors that they faced make the tension palpable.
Even though I had followed the news broadcasts closely for several days when the events were happening, and had seen the horrific tsunami videos; these close-up personal stories had more long-term impact on me than aerial footage and sound bites from the news.
Some other topics which are brought to the readers attention:
The social impact of resettling families; breaking up entire communities so that people no longer have a social support network.
The actions of the nuclear power company, which seem to be less than ethical in retrospect.
Options for rebuilding communities on higher ground or in ways that would withstand future tsunamis.
Speculations about long-term impacts of the meltdown.
Strong in the Rain is one of the best nonfiction books I have read this year. It has a good balance between personal accounts of survival and factual background information. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in natural disasters and/or the dangers of nuclear power.
*I received a free copy of this book via Goodreads First Reads.
In Strong in the Rain the authors tell the stories of six survivors from areas affected by the disasters. Their stories are written in the third person, and even with the occasional historical background information (how the communities planned, built and trained for tsunamis for example), the real-life horrors that they faced make the tension palpable.
Even though I had followed the news broadcasts closely for several days when the events were happening, and had seen the horrific tsunami videos; these close-up personal stories had more long-term impact on me than aerial footage and sound bites from the news.
Some other topics which are brought to the readers attention:
The social impact of resettling families; breaking up entire communities so that people no longer have a social support network.
The actions of the nuclear power company, which seem to be less than ethical in retrospect.
Options for rebuilding communities on higher ground or in ways that would withstand future tsunamis.
Speculations about long-term impacts of the meltdown.
Strong in the Rain is one of the best nonfiction books I have read this year. It has a good balance between personal accounts of survival and factual background information. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in natural disasters and/or the dangers of nuclear power.
*I received a free copy of this book via Goodreads First Reads.
June 24, 2016
This is an interesting narrative of the events leading up to and following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan. I enjoyed the personal stories, although I got people a little confused since the timeline line would advance and circle back to each individual. This is partly my fault. I didn't take the time to try to remember each individual or tie their story back to the correct person--a downside of my quasi-skim reading.
I would have like to had more content in the book about everything that led to the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. I don't believe it had to occur and I expected to get an understanding from this book of precisely all the mistakes made and how things could have turned out differently if better decisions had been made or if the plant/utility had been more prepared. I also think the story only focuses on details within the month after this disaster (nuclear and tsunami). I wonder what an epilogue would like like if it were written today.
I would have like to had more content in the book about everything that led to the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. I don't believe it had to occur and I expected to get an understanding from this book of precisely all the mistakes made and how things could have turned out differently if better decisions had been made or if the plant/utility had been more prepared. I also think the story only focuses on details within the month after this disaster (nuclear and tsunami). I wonder what an epilogue would like like if it were written today.
February 17, 2016
I knew only a little about Japan when I went there for my internship and almost nothing at all about Sendai (despite seeing all of the footage about the earthquake and tsunami). So it was a little strange to read about descriptions of the people in the Tohoku region that matched my own interactions with them, and even with their experiences with the tragedy of 3/11. The book glossed over some negative interactions between Japan and the US, which I had heard rumored of while in Japan. However, the book also proved useful in explaining the exact serious situation of the nuclear reactor in Fukushima. (I was pretty surprised to see the protesters when I was in Sendai and, after reading this book, I fully understand why they were protesting) as well as why, as an American in the US, I did not hear about the seriousness of the situation (because, frankly, the US was largely in the dark about the situation). Overall, though, this book just made me miss Japan.
August 18, 2013
I was particularly interested in the personal accounts of the five Japanese people profiled. It gave a remarkable insight into what the average Japanese citizen was experiencing at the time as well as a bigger picture of Japanese culture. The history of Japan's reliance on nuclear energy was also eye-opening. I had no idea the nation was so reliant and the reasons behind it. Lessons applicable for every nation ... as I read the book I continually thought of New Orleans in terms of an over-reliance on unsubstantial floodgates despite what scientists had advised for years. Also, the oil spill just a few years later was equally prophesied by scientists. Too bad these harsh lessons must be learned over and over despite different histories and cultures.
August 25, 2016
A myriad of poignant accounts which also observe numerous failures conducive to the death toll (e.g. inadequate tsunami barriers, poorly planned safety points, complacency with issued warnings due to prior false alerts). People's actions and experiences as tragedy unfolds are revealing of their core disposition and the book's a fascinating insight into individuals' mentality during an extreme ordeal.
My two primary complaints are:
1 - Anecdotes are disjointed, no clear organisation when switching between narratives and regularly vague on who's the topic,
2 - Overly politicised subtext, fixated on the Fukushima disaster, that's inherently controversial and overrides the central theme: survivors' tales.
My two primary complaints are:
1 - Anecdotes are disjointed, no clear organisation when switching between narratives and regularly vague on who's the topic,
2 - Overly politicised subtext, fixated on the Fukushima disaster, that's inherently controversial and overrides the central theme: survivors' tales.
October 9, 2015
Through what six families went through this "triple-disaster", this book, published one year after the event, allowed us to have a thought-provoking review of how ordinary Japanese faced with all the various challenges. Some of the predictions really are on the way, such as the recent re-opening of reactors in Japan! It also pinpointed how the government failed to look after their citizens such as raising the threshold and withholding information and even telling lies! It also includes some scientific information (not much, yet readable) that improve our understanding...
February 20, 2013
I found this book informative , well written . Tells the stories of a few people directly affected by this catastrophe and also provides data regarding the reactor situation. We have family ( daughter & family .. Canadian working in Japan 13 yrs, living approx 150 K south of the reactors , ) so found this book most informative. They now have the e book and can relate to what has happened in the lived of re people . Good book, not a sit down and read right through type though !
May 6, 2013
I gave this a four, but would have preferred 3.5. The subject matter is very timely--the stories of ordinary people who went through the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster. Yet I thought the book could have been better written, or at least edited better. It had the feel of "let's rush this to print."
May 20, 2014
Fascinating look at the earthquake, the tsunami and the aftermath. I liked the opportunity to meet individuals and hear their stories. I also appreciated the broader overview to explain what was happening in the government, with the utility company and world wide in response to the catastrophe. This was a different and broader look that Gretel Erlich's book. Both were very good.
April 18, 2013
I found this to be a very compelling book because of the unusual combination of understandable science and personal stories. The authors also included some insight into Japanese culture which at times served as a hindrance to survival.
April 15, 2013
For informational purposes, perfectly adequate. Some good journalism here, but also some prose/narrative that tinges purple and some journalism that looks yellow. Evan Osnos' two pieces on the Tsunami are better written and dig deeper.
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