Japan | Photos One Year Later

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Japan | Photos One Year Later

March 9, 2012

One year ago on March 6, 2011, a trifecta of disasters hit Japan. First was a 9.0 earthquake which caused a massive tsunami to hit the shore. A tsunami so large that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered a triple meltdown. A combination of all three killed as many as 20,000 people, left tens of thousands of homes and businesses in ruins, and turned that area of Japan into a ghost town.

With the radiation contamination in the area, clean up has been slower than expected. Only 5% of the nearly 23 million tons of debris have been disposed.

I was just getting in bed and turned on CNN this fateful night last year. The news coverage had just started and I sat riveted for hours unable to go to sleep watching the disaster unfold before my very eyes. Having a degree in earth sciences, I completely understood the magnitude of what just occurred – the force and energy to displace that amount of water was, and still is, completely mind boggling.

Here are some photos of Japan one year later. All photography by James Nachtwey courtesy of TIME.

tsunami_japan_1_year_later_searching for dead on the shoreline — Feb. 27, 2012. Namie, Japan. Police from Futaba District Police Station, which is inside the exclusion zone, search for the dead and still-missing along the ocean front near the power plant, the stacks of which can be seen in the far distance.

tsunami_japan_1_year_later_pile of destroyed cars covered by snow — Feb. 25, 2012. Ishinomaki, Japan. Cars destroyed by tsunami.

tsunami_japan_1_year_later_pile of clothes and textiles — Feb. 23, 2012. Rikuzentakata, Japan. Mountains of clothes and household textiles that cannot be recycled.

tsunami_japan_1_year_later_stumps of trees on shoreline — Feb. 23, 2012. Rikuzentakata, Japan. Shattered stumps of trees at the edge of the sea.

tsunami_japan_1_year_later_ship left inland from tsunami wave — Feb. 25, 2012. Kesennuma, Japan. A ship deposited inland by the tsunami.

tsunami_japan_1_year_nachtwey_destoyed building — Feb. 23, 2012. Rikuzentakata, Japan. A landscape of destruction.

tsunami_japan_1_year_cloths covered due to radiation — Feb. 24, 2012. Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Workers cover bags of soil contaminated by radiation.

tsunami_japan_1_year_burying family remains — Feb. 25, 2012. Ishinomaki, Japan. A family buries the remains of family members lost almost a year before.

tsunami_japan_1_year_cemetery — Feb. 29, 2012. Namie, Japan. Cemetery near the shore.

Japan Cover of TIME one year later — TIME Magazine cover Japan One-year later

TAGS:

earthquake, Fukushima Daiichi, Japan, nuclear meltdown, One-year later, photos, tsunami

19 responses to “Japan | Photos One Year Later”

El Guapo

March 9, 2012 at 8:38 am

Unbelievable. And a shame the story has faded out of the news…

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1. She speaks….
  
  March 9, 2012 at 8:48 am
  
  Just like any news, fades away. Oh, I see Japan come up more often than other past news. Very tragic.
  
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zannyro

March 9, 2012 at 8:41 am

Just a heartbreak..

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1. She speaks….
  
  March 9, 2012 at 8:48 am
  
  Yes it is.
  
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knudsens

March 9, 2012 at 9:36 am

Strong images.

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1. She speaks….
  
  March 9, 2012 at 10:15 am
  
  Yes they are. Thanks for visiting!
  
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  1. knudsens
    
    March 9, 2012 at 10:31 am
    
    Nothing to thank for:)
    
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Four Blue Hills

March 9, 2012 at 9:44 am

Such desolation and sadness in these pictures. ;(

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1. She speaks….
  
  March 9, 2012 at 10:15 am
  
  Such a different Japan than we all are familiar with. Horrible tragedy.
  
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  1. Four Blue Hills
    
    March 9, 2012 at 10:34 am
    
    It is very sad. I was struck very much by the photo of the men on the beach looking for bodies. The first picture, I think. Very, very sad and tragic. 😦 After all this time to have to still look.
    
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    1. She speaks….
      
      March 9, 2012 at 12:44 pm
      
      I just could never imagine losing everything like that. horrible.
      
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    2. Four Blue Hills
      
      March 10, 2012 at 9:27 am
      
      Same here, whole families lost. I can’t even imagine either. 😦
      
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morezennow

March 9, 2012 at 9:49 am

When the flurry over our recent storms hitting Middle America hit the airwaves my first thought, no lie, was “But what about Japan!?” Not that I am negating the destruction of many lives or property because it is horrible. But I kept wondering why we haven’t had a serious update on one of the most horrific tragedies to occur in my lifetime.
Thanks for the post.

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1. Four Blue Hills
  
  March 10, 2012 at 9:29 am
  
  I agree. 😦
  
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Chris Sheridan

March 9, 2012 at 10:20 am

A tragedy of staggering proportions and an example of the potential for a massive natural disaster to be made even worse by a dangerously flawed man made technology. The photos are depressing and disturbing but still very striking. Thanks for sharing.

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1. She speaks….
  
  March 9, 2012 at 12:45 pm
  
  I don’t think that area will ever return to anything that resembles normalcy. The radiation alone will have forever destroyed that area.
  
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PiedType

March 9, 2012 at 3:53 pm

Still as heartbreaking as it was a year ago.

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Fake Wisdom

March 10, 2012 at 5:17 am

I am recalling horror and sad memory… I am thinking about my brother, a soldier who was working in Fukushima for many weeks after the disaster by watching those photos. Now he is in other country in Africa to help the life of the destitute. Nobody should forget to help fellowmen in this age. Thank you for your thinking about our Japan…

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Nishizaki

March 10, 2012 at 4:51 pm

Mr Edano, former Cabinet Secretary, repeatedly announced, “There is no immediate effect by radiation”. Some people still pretend to believe it facing this tragedy, not having enough financial support to move.

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