A Tokyo Reunion (Revisited)

In the aftermath of Japan's devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, family—as it always does—came first.

Tokyo skyline, Jan. 23, 2021 (photo credit: Nryate / Creative Commons)

On March 11, 2011, at precisely 2:46 in the afternoon, just before schools let out, Japan experienced the strongest earthquake in its recorded history—a devastating 9.1 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter, deep below the North Pacific, was 81 miles east of Sendai, the largest city in Japan’s Tōhoku region, and 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, which, with its 37.1 million residents, is by far the world’s largest metropolitan area.

The Great Tōhoku Earthquake, as it later came to be known, triggered a massive tsunami with waves up to 40 meters (132 feet) high. More than 450,000 people were left homeless as a result of the tsunami; more than 122,000 buildings were completely destroyed by the earthquake. Together the two disasters resulted in nearly 20,000 confirmed deaths—2,500 men, women and children are still missing.

In addition to the devasting loss of life and property, the tsunami caused the meltdown of three nuclea…