東日本大震災翻訳プロジェクト〔第1話〕

Thoughts on the 2011 Tohoku Quake

SATO Minori, 12, student of Iwaki Chuodai-minami Junior High School
Translated by TAKAHASHI Reina

　On April 6, I attended the entrance ceremony of junior high school, wearing a slightly bigger uniform. I saw the smiles of friends for the first time since the disaster. At that time, they were so frightened. As I had been reminded of that image, I was relieved with the smiling faces.

　After the ceremony, I received my diploma with a delay of 14 days. There was no school song and no speech. But I was pleased to meet my teachers who had been taking care of me. Well, we could not sing the song that we practiced so hard… When I was lost in thought, my tears dropped naturally.

　The disaster changed our lives completely. Microsievert, cesium, and meltdown. This is not a movie or a game world. This is the real world that no one had ever imagined.

　No water, no electricity, no food, no gasoline, no shops open, and no going out. I have thought many things in a life without daily necessities, and noticed a lot. We can spend our daily lives with the support from so many people. How much heart-warming encouragement and kindness we are given…When I lost things that I used to take for granted, I have come to understand that I should be grateful to them. Now I know that how we cherish our hometown, how we wish for restoration.

　Our lives with anxiety against radiation will continue. Still, I want to live such a life that I can draw on this experience in future. I want to keep my gratitude and a passion to study.