3rd Anniversary of 3.11

Yesterday was the third anniversary of 3.11.

First, let me share with you a few links...

This article called "Still hunting shadows" gives you insight into the efforts that are put into pacifying the spirits of the dead in a culture where spirits never find rest.  Here, they don't say, "Good-bye.  Rest in peace."  There are so many ceremonies / times of the year when spirits of the dead supposedly come back and need to be pacified again and again.  I know that being able to bury remains is important in any and every culture, and that a lot of closure comes from it too, but in Japan, it's a different level...  It's not so much about closure for the people who are remaining, but for the well-being of the spirit of the dead.  The author also writes this...

"Midorikawa believes that many Tohoku residents are currently in worse shape than they were in 2011. The number of volunteers has shrunk to a fraction of the number that used to travel to the region to help cleanup operations.

In 2011, residents were genuinely hopeful of a brighter future. The reality now, however, couldn’t be starker. Over the past three years, more people in Fukushima Prefecture have died as a result of stress-related illnesses as a consequence of the quake and tsunami than the number of people killed on March 11, 2011, a joint report released last month by the prefectural government and the local police showed."

With regards to the statement beginning "Over the past three years," I don't think it's accurate as the number of people killed on 3/11/2011 is over 15,000 and I don't think it's possible that over 15,000 people died in three years in just one Prefecture where most of the area is actually empty now.  This article, "Survivors still overwhelmed by 3/11 losses", mentions that approximately 3,000 have died since the tsunami due to stress-related illnesses and suicide in the Tohoku region, and I think this statistic is more credible.  I was shocked to read more in this article about the number of people suing the Japanese government.  This would have been pretty much unheard of pre-WWII.  From a nation that used to worship the Emperor as a god and had so much respect for its leaders/politicians...  Filing lawsuits is a big change...  And for a natural disaster nonetheless...

There are so many other titles, "Tohoku kids stressed, haunted by trauma", "Widower to tsunami dives on in hope", "Survivors cling to memories of lost and missing"...  And these are just some of the articles from Japan Times.

But let me turn the focus now from the immense grief, sorrow, and pain to one of hope...

We have friends in the Tohoku area, friends who have moved up to the Northeastern area of Japan after the Triple Disaster.  They uprooted themselves, took themselves out of their "comfort" zones, and started loving on the people there as best as they could.  They have my complete and total respect.

The largest group of volunteers that flooded the area after the Triple Disaster were Christians.  The only group of volunteers that continues to constantly send volunteers are Christians.  Most of the international organizations are now no longer there and most other religious organizations have stopped coming.  Well, at least regularly anyway.

As I already mentioned, we know amazing men and women of God who have moved up there.  Colby & Theresa are doing an amazing job working together with a Japanese pastor, working on the Ippo Ippo Project and their church plant.  Stephen worked with Samaritan's Purse for two years and is now Director of the Ishinomaki Christian Center, drawing Christian leaders and churches in the area together (cooperation and being unified is important!).  Dawn's Facebook posts never cease to amaze me as to how difficult living conditions are up there.  There are people like Sue who have started a business, helping women to make beautiful jewelry out of broken pieces of pottery (short youtube clip, long youtube clip, watch both if you can!).

These people left their homes in Japan to make a new home in an area that was full of heartache and devastation.  Can I just say...  There are two very important parts to that last sentence.  It takes a long time to make a "home" in a country where you don't speak the language and you don't know the culture.  It takes a lot of faith and guts to follow God when He calls you to leave that place where you're now finally feeling settled in and have friends, to go somewhere else, especially a disaster zone!  I can imagine how concerned their friends and family would have been when they found out...  And perhaps the missionaries that are there now, they themselves had fears too.  But they're up there and God is doing amazing things through them.  There is more work being done now there than ever before and people's hearts are being opened as they see the love of God through short-term volunteers and long-term missionaries.

Pray for the survivors in the Tohoku region of Japan.  Pray for the missionaries living there.  Pray that a revival will start there and spread throughout the country!

That would be amazing...  Absolutely amazing...!!!  Nothing is impossible with God!!! :)