On Friday, March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Tohoku, Japan’s rural northeast, combined with a destructive tsunami to wipe out villages, ignite a nuclear crisis, and cause the greatest mass loss of life in Japan since World War II.
Caught in the disaster were the children of Tohoku, who went from finishing a school year one moment to facing tragedy the next.
This page lists some news stories about children in Tohoku that have caught our attention. Below the news stories are lists of benefit projects, children’s and YA books, and teaching resources.
We hope to add further information. If you happen to notice a noteworthy news item or resource, either in English or Japanese, please leave a comment to tell us.
Thank you for visiting, reading, and providing feedback.
News on Children of Tohoku
Gloves donated by Ohtani arrive at quake-hit schools, about glove donation from Tohoku native Shohei Ohtani (a teen in March 2011) to survivors of Noto Peninsula earthquake in January 2024, The Japan Times, 5 March 2024
Iwate fans laud native son Shohei Ohtani, The Japan News, 10 March 2023
Ex-teacher looks at how students not at school on 3/11 died that day, Asahi Shimbun, 6 March 2023
War tightens bonds between kids in Ukraine and Fukushima, Asahi Shimbun, 11 January 2023
3/11 tsunami survivors become teachers to protect lives, about new teacher who experienced 3.11 as a sixth grader and now teaches in Miyagi, Japan News, 13 March 2022
Miyagi school that burned in tsunami revived as a monument, Asahi Shimbun, 11 March 2022
‘Children are born journalists’: A decade of young 3.11 disaster survivors sharing their stories, Japan Forward, 31 March 2021
10 years after Fukushima disaster, this nurse may be the region’s best hope, about geriatric nurse who experienced 3.11 at age 12 and has remained in region, New York Times, 9 March 2021
Sumo ring offering respite to [young] Tohoku victims a decade after, Japan Times, 9 March 2021
Memories and lessons for [Tohoku] children born after 3/11, Japan Times, 7 March 2021
Japan’s children of the tsunami shaped by tragedy, Jakarta Post, 4 March 2021
Households with kids who lost parents in Great East Japan quake and tsunami face poverty, The Mainichi, 12 December 2020
Late brother’s dream inspires teen to wait for Olympic flame together, about a boy aspiring to achieve his brother’s dream of becoming a Shinkansen driver, Japan News, 10 March 2020
A disaster frozen in time, about the ruins of Kesennuma Kōyō High School becoming a museum, Nippon.com, 11 December 2020
Theatre for Fukushima: voices from the silence, about 12 student survivors from Fukushima performing Yu Miri’s play “Still Life” about Fukushima, 20 May 2019
Newborn heart problems surged after Fukushima nuke disaster: study, HealthDay, 13 March 2019
A rose for her: Woman comforted by flowers with same name as [18-year-old] daughter killed in 3.11, The Mainichi, 11 March 2019
S. Korea kids encourage reconstruction with banner, The Japan News, 10 March 2019
2011 tsunami proved to be a ‘lifesaver’ for one Iwate resident in late teens at time of disaster, Asahi Shimbun, 9 March 2019
Better safe than sorry: long climb to school in disaster-hit area, Asahi Shimbun, 26 February 2019
Post-disaster children start elementary school in Tohoku, about first cohort of children born after the tsunami entering school, Asahi Shimbun, 1 April 2018
A young monk finds her calling, first-person essay by woman who was 15 at the time of the earthquake, New York Times, 10 March 2018
Miyagi school, which lost 74 kids in March 11 tsunami, closed, Nippon.com, 26 February 2018
The school beneath the wave: The unimaginable tragedy of Japan’s tsunami, about Okawa elementary school, Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, 24 August 2017
Alterations in physique among young children after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Results from a nationwide survey, Journal of Epidemiology, epub 30 May 2017
The children of Fukushima return, six years after the nuclear disaster, New York Times, 21 April 2017
Giving Tohoku children opportunities to enjoy the sea, Tokyo Shimbun, 11 July 2017
Six years after Fukushima—women and children still suffer most, Deutsche Welle, 10 March 2017
Miyagi survivor, 17, keeps memory alive via storytelling, Japan Times, 10 March 2017
Six years on, Fukushima child evacuees face menace of school bullies, Reuters, 9 March 2017
£11m awarded to families of 23 child victims from 2011 tsunami, The Guardian, 26 October 2016
‘I have no choice but to keep looking’: five years after the tsunami, a husband still searches the sea for his wife, joined by a father hoping to find his daughter. New York Times Magazine, 2 August 2016
Undertaker working for child survivors of Tohoku tsunami, Japan Times, 26 April 2016
Post-traumatic growth of children affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and their attitudes to memorial services and media coverage, Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 5 April 2016.
Saga of lost Rikuzentakata tsunami boat forges pan-Pacific friendship, about bilingual children’s book written after Takata High School’s boat washed up in California, Japan Times, 13 March 2016
“Watch me now, Grandma”: Bereaved 3.11 survivor, now 19, studies earthquakes, Mainichi Shimbun, 11 March 2016; in Japanese
Five years after Japan’s 3.11 quake, survivors find relief in recovery, Vanity Fair, 10 March 2016 (includes photos of children)
Japanese national trauma: Changing trends in Japanese picture books since the Tohoku earthquake, Worlds of Words (WOW) blog, University of Arizona, 21 December 2015
Thyroid cancer rates higher in kids near Fukushima nuke plant, NBC News, 8 October 2015
Survivors speak of grief, guilt and life after tsunami, includes profile of boy who was 16 when tsunami struck his Miyagi town and swept away his father, Japan Times, 10 March 2015
NGOs looking out for little lives in the wake of 3/11, Japan Times, 8 March 2015
Tohoku teens plan thank-you festival in Paris, Japan Times, 11 July 2014 / TOHOKU teenagers bloom in Paris, TOMORROW, NHK World, 13 October 2014
Tohoku man honors [five-year-old] brother killed in tsunami with hundreds of blue carp streamers, Rocket News, 7 May 2014
PTSD plagues Tohoku three years after March 11 disaster: More than 30 percent of children in disaster area battle with the psychological side effects, The Diplomat, 11 March 2014
Tohoku kids stressed, haunted by trauma, Japan Times, 10 March 2014
Girl who wrote letter to missing mum after tsunami ready for school, Asia One, 26 March 2013
Power of poetry penned by survivors of 3/11 is showcased by ASIJ project, Japan Times, 9 March 2013
Iwate teen’s soccer ball floated to Alaska, USA Today, 23 April 2012
Pupils excelled on 3/11 but life since a struggle, Japan Times, 10 March 2012
Tohoku teen feels guilt of being lone survivor, Japan Times, 24 February 2012
Grandparents stifle grief to raise orphaned boy, Japan Times, 23 February 2012
Teen girl separated from friend narrowly survives tsunami, Asahi Shimbun, 11 April 2011
Tohoku teens share views of survival, Japan Times, 10 November 2011
Ishinomaki girl comforts friends’ families, Daily Yomiuri, 12 October 2011
Teenager’s tsunami art on postcard lifting spirits, Daily Yomiuri, October 8, 2011
Fukushima high school golfer shoots for glory in tourney, Daily Yomiuri, 23 September 2011
Two boys who lost mother to tsunami express feelings through art, Mainichi Daily News, 12 May 2011
Japan: After the earthquake and tsunami, back to school, BBC, 9 May 2011
Children’s 99.8 percent survival rate in Kamaishi was “not a miracle”, WEDGE Infinity, 22 April 2011
Japan struggles with how to heal “children’s hearts”, National Public Radio, 22 April 2011
Five-year-old’s view of events, Mainichi Shimbun, 21 April 2011
One room schoolhouse, Kyodo News, 21 April 2011
March disaster affecting school operations in new fiscal year, Jiji Press, 4 April 2011
“Dear Mommy. I hope you’re alive. Are you okay?” 4-year-old quake survivor writes, NBC News, 30 March 2011
Local wisdom a lifesaver for kids, Daily Yomiuri, 29 March 2011
Man’s dying wish saves children’s lives, Asahi Shimbun, 29 March 2011; in Japanese
Survivors strive to start picking up the pieces, Japan Times, 27 March 2011
Tsunami’s children, OPEN Magazine, 26 March 2011
“Cinderella baby” cheers evacuees, Sankei News, 18 March 2011; in Japanese
Japan earthquake: 100,000 children displaced, says charity, The Guardian, 15 March 2011
Benefit Projects for, about Children of Tohoku
APRICOT, Allied Psychotherapy Relief Initiative for the Children of Tohoku
From Hand to Hand exhibition
Kidzuna project in Nagoya
Children’s Literature about Children of Tohoku
Beyond Me, middle grade novel in verse by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu
Hotaka: Through My Eyes—Natural Disaster Zones, middle grade/YA novel by John Heffernan
The House of the Lost on the Cape, middle grade novel by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Yukiko Saito, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa
Kenta and the Big Wave, picture book by Ruth Ohi
Riku and the Kingdom of White, middle grade novel by Randy Taguchi, translated by Raj Mahtani
TOMO: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories YA anthology including ten translations from Japanese, edited by Holly Thompson (ebook; proceeds to teen survivors)
Up From the Sea, YA novel in verse by Leza Lowitz
Resources
The Kamaishi Miracle television program. Kazuyo Fukuda, dir. Tokyo: NHK. 50 mins.
TOMORROW television series on NHK World TV
Article for children “Surviving the Tsunami,” Storyworks. Vol. 19, No. 5.
BBC Children of the Tsunami documentary
Books Children of the Tsunami (Vol 1, Vol 2), 80 essays by children from the disaster zone and in-depth stories of seven children, in Japanese
Book Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Perry, centered on the story of Okawa Elementary school in Miyagi prefecture. Related podcast, The School Beneath the Wave (32:38).
SCBWI Japan Translation Group 
Posted by Andrew Grimes on June 22, 2014 at 3:10 pm
Hello. My name is Andrew Grimes and I am the founder and director of Tokyo Counseling Services. Over the last two years we have in our free time created and initiated an organization to provide funding to support and enable professional mental health care, emotional counseling and psychotherapy services for all of the children under stress in the long recovery period of Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate Prefectures.
The charity we created is called APRICOT and this is as you may well guess an acronym as follows:
APRICOT = Allied Psychotherapy Relief Initiative for the Children of Tohoku.
We have created a basic website which we will soon be replacing with a new one which has been created by professional web designers, illustrators, writers, editors and others all of whom have freely donated their time, expertize and passion to help the children of Tohoku.
We are not professional translators and although our receptionists are doing their best we are in need of kind hearted individuals or companies who are professional J – E and E – J translators.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could consider helping us in any way you may be in a position to do. You can see our current website at: apricotchildren.org
Thank you.
Andrew
*******************************************************
http://apricotchildren.org
Most importantly APRICOT’s mission is set in our hearts and minds: that we will together volunteer and work to protect the mental health and the healthy emotional and psychological development of the Children of the Tohoku Region over the coming seventeen years, that is until all of them enjoy their Coming of Age Days, when they will become young adults, healthy and happy:
http://apricotchildren.org/en/donation/
Please Support the Team Apricot Children by making a donation to secure their mental health and promote their healthy emotional development:
********************************************************
Andrew Grimes JSCCP (#4572), JCP (0061)
Director, Tokyo Counseling Services.
東京カウンセリングサービス
http://tokyocounseling.com/
********************************************************
Posted by SCBWI Japan Translation Group on June 28, 2014 at 8:43 am
Thank you, Andrew, for sharing this information with us. We have circulated it on the SCBWI Japan and SCBWI Japan Translation Group email listservs and hope for the success of APRICOT.
Posted by Andrew Grimes on September 9, 2014 at 2:44 pm
No, it is I who should thank you! Thanks to you kindly circulating the information I posted on your SCBWI Japan and SCBWI Japan Translation Group email listservs APRICOT had several very positive replays and now two J —> E translators have joined us and as ‘Apricot Ambassadors’ are donating their free time and talents to translate for APRICOT’S monthly newsletter
(email: teamapricotchildrenATgmail.com if you are interested in subscribing! 🙂 .
What would be of great help to us would be if one or two kind souls who can translate from E —> J would be so gracious as to volunteer likewise. yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
Thank you for you great help and support for the APRICOT! We really do appreciate it very much. APRICOT – “For the children of Tohoku – no child left behind”
Posted by Naomi on January 26, 2017 at 3:17 am
Hi my name is Naomi and I was wondering if you guys are going to translate the last of the Jade Trilogy Dragon Sword and Wind Child I love that book and the second book so much and it makes me a little sad that the last book is not translated yet so I was hoping if it’s possible for it to be translated as well as the other books of the Moribito series too
Posted by SCBWI Japan Translation Group on January 26, 2017 at 11:32 am
Hello! We would love to see further books in these series come out, too. Publishers make that decision. If you as a reader wish to see more books come out in a series, you can try contacting the publisher of the first books in the series: VIZ Media https://www.viz.com/company-contact for the Dragon Sword and Wind Child books, and Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic Inc.) http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/contact.asp for the Moribito books. Both publishers are also on Twitter and Facebook.
Posted by Carmen Grau on January 8, 2022 at 10:51 pm
My name is Carmen Grau Vila, I am a Spanish Journalist and researcher based in Japan. Here I attach a link. It is a news story on young japanese students expressing their experience during the disaster through theatre. The story has Spanish, English and French available. I hope is useful to be included. My best regards and thank you for this website and information. https://www.equaltimes.org/theatre-for-fukushima-voices-from#.YdmVTyVKOEc
Posted by SCBWI Japan Translation Group on January 24, 2022 at 10:48 am
Thank you very much for sharing this story!
Posted by House of the Lost on the Cape with Avery Udagawa | SCBWI Japan Translation Group on October 28, 2023 at 10:16 am
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