I just found out about this book via the Guardian, and I’ve already bought my copy. As the page will tell you, it’s a collection of personal reactions to the March 11th quake from people across the world with some connection to Japan. Most of them were in Japan at the time, and a fair few of them are Japanese, although, as the book is in English, the majority are foreigners in the country. All of the money from it is going to the Red Cross for earthquake relief; even Amazon has agreed not to take its cut.
I’ve read about half of the book, and it’s an interesting window into people’s reactions in the immediate aftermath. I found myself sympathising with the person who said he was in a very modern building and so didn’t feel much; there are also accounts from people who were much closer to the epicentre, making me very glad I wasn’t. Most of the book was written between one and two weeks after the quake, and a number of people comment on the continuing aftershocks. They still haven’t stopped; according to my student in Fukushima, they can hear the earth grumbling almost all the time, even when they can’t feel anything.
From what I’ve read, this book is a good way to both contribute to the recovery and find out more about what it was like, from multiple perspectives.
The link is an associate link, because that’s the easiest way for me to link to an Amazon book. I think that means I’ll get an Associate commission if people buy the book through the link. If it rises to a significant amount, so that it makes sense to do so, I’ll specifically donate it to the Japanese Red Cross. (They won’t take less than Â¥2,000, so that’s the lower limit.) If not, I’ve donated and will donate a lot more than that, so all my profits from it will also, in effect, be donated to the effort. If someone knows of an automatic way to channel my commission to the book’s fund raising, please let me know.
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