This is a story about when I lived in Japan. I was born in a prefecture called Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. I lived there until I was 13, having a regular life, until March 11, 2011. That is when the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami occurred.

I still remember that exact moment. It was around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and I was reading a book in Japanese literature class. That is when the earthquake happened. Small earthquakes were pretty normal, but that day, everyone knew this was different. The whole building started moving slowly back and forth.

Everyone panicked and went under our desks. I remember some students were crying. I was afraid, but I also tried my best to remain calm. After five minutes our teacher told us to go outside. We all ran. Another earthquake hit, and it was bigger than the first. We saw our school moving slowing to the left and the right. Everyone was panicking. We were terrified. I remember everything, even the ground was moving to the point where I couldn’t stand still.

After thirty minutes, our school dismissed us and we raced home. I arrived to see my mom packing. “Where are we going?” I asked. She told me, “We are going to your aunt’s house, it’s safer.” She told me to pack my stuff. I threw clothes into a bag. Even now, I can’t remember what else I packed.

At my auntie’s house, we put everything in her guest room and went to get emergency food. At the supermarket there were so many people, so we had to grab whatever we could before everything ran out. At my aunt’s house, I slept hoping everything was a dream. But the next day, every TV channel was all emergency alerts.

It was two weeks before we could go to work, school, or go back to our own house. But I remember that when everything settled down, I saw the video of the tsunami on TV. Tohoku prefecture is far away from where I lived. On TV, it said there were almost 20,000 people who were missing and 7,000 people were injured. I was just 10, and this was the most terrifying thing that had happened to me. I felt so bad for those who lost their families.

Three weeks after the earthquake, my mom took us to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where we have family, to wait for things to settle down. In Cambodia, I did pretty much nothing. My family tried to convince us to stay, but we couldn’t just throw away our life in Japan.

We returned home. Everything was normal, except in Tohoku. Nobody was allowed to go there and there were still many missing people. The earth- quake’s magnitude was 9.0 to 9.1, compared to a regular magnitude of 3.0. My mom had so much stress and panic attacks from the earthquake. I didn’t feel anything at all, maybe because I was only ten. I mean, I was afraid at first but I got over the feelings of fear in a week or so.

Two years later, my mom decided to fly halfway around the world to Nashua, New Hampshire where we had an aunt. My mom was so happy. She released all her stress. And then one day, she decided to stay in America where we had family. Of course I disagreed. I was angry. I loved my life in Japan. I cried all night for a week, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and my cousins.

It took me a year to learn English. Now I really love living in America. Maybe I’d have lived a better life back in Japan, but I don’t regret not living there. I love my family and my friends here. Maybe one day I will visit Japan again.

© Monika. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.