Strong in the rain

“Ame ni mo makezu / kaze ni mo makezu / Yuki ni mo Natsu no atsusa ni mo makenu / Joubu na karada wo mochi / Yoku wa naku / Kessite ikarazu / itsumo shizukani waratteiru / ... / so iu mono ni / watashi wa naritai”

This is the Japanese poem wrote by Kenji Miyazawa, who was the famous poet and fairy story author in Japan, discovered after he died. In this poem, he describes how he wants to be ideally. “Strong in the rain / Strong in the wind / Strong against the snow and summer’s heat / With a strong body / Unfettered by desire / Never losing temper / Always quietly smiling / … / That is the kind of person / I want to be”

Why I introduce this poem here is because I’ve found the book titled “Strong in the rain”, telling about the big earthquake, tsunami, and the meltdown of nuclear plant occurred in the east of Japan on 11 March, 2011. This book was written by Lucy Birmingham and David McNeill. They try to describe what exactly was happening and what the survivors was thinking and acting.

When the earthquake occurred, I didn’t feel the shake because I was in Hiroshima prefecture located in the west part of Japan, far from the seismic centre. I just watched the TV news, and I was really shocked when I saw the tsunami devastating a number of buildings or sweeping up cars and all kinds of stuffs.

No matter how hard I think about this disaster, I can never understand the survivors’ feeling precisely because it must be beyond imagination. Fortunately I haven’t been near the seismic centre when catastrophic earthquakes occurred, though I have experienced several small and middle earthquakes. However, as long as I live in Japan, I cannot avoid the risk of encountering earthquakes and other natural disasters. The most important part is to take measures to lessen the damage to the minimum. We need to learn from the history.

Individually, when I encounter the natural disaster, I want to be the kind of person Kenji Miyazawa described in his poem. To be honest, I am not that kind of person at the moment. I am weak, I don’t have a strong body, I feel difficulty to be quietly smiling and I often lose my temper.

I haven’t seen and being conscious about his poem for a long time but I am impressed again when I read this book. “Strong in the rain, strong in the wind, … that is the kind of person I want to be.”