| Efforts of Higashimatsushima City library |
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On March 11th 2011, a massive natural disaster never experienced before, the Great East Japan Earthquake,occurred. The earthquake and the tsunami claimed the lives of the people we loved, and destroyed and swept away places of which we had fond memories and our keepsakes.
Immediately after the Tohoku earthquake happened, our city library started collecting documents about the disaster. Addition-ally, since June 2012, we have collected stories from residents of the city using video cameras and recorders, and these reportshave been made partially open to the public since April 2013.
Further, since February 2015, about 20,000 photos related to the earthquake have also been made available to view on a regional basis.
Our involvement in this project is based on the relationship between human activities and natural disasters. Memories, even of the unprecedented disaster, will fade as time goes by and be completely forgotten someday. We are passing the record of the disaster on to generations yet to come for the disaster prevention and mitigation of our descendants, hoping they will prevent such tragedies that we have been through.
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| About "Great East Japan Earthquake experiences" translation |
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| Higashimatsushima City Library |
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Winter 2014
We really appreciate the way "Words to the World" and "PwC Japan" cooperated to translate "Experiences of the Earthquake" into English.
This project began at the "Harrison Japan Spring Festival. " Ms. Rie Shibata, Ms. Mayuko Yoshida and Ms. Yoko Yorihiro, the members of operating committee, offered to donate some of the profits to the Higashimatsushima City Library. At their kind suggestion, we were able to supply many interesting books for our library.
After that, we wanted to make our website, "Experience of the Earthquake" available in English, to let people know all that we experienced in this painful and sorrowful disaster, and to thank the many countries who supported us in our recovery. However, we hit against a language barrier: who could be our translator?
Fortunately, this problem was solved in the summer of 2014, when the Yorihiro family visited the Higashimatsushima City Library and was able to give us some advice and help us find many volunteer translators for this project.
We would like to thank Yoko Yorihiro and all of the many other translators who worked so hard on this project. The translation of dialect and names of place must have been very difficult. We plan to continue to add new “Experiences of the Earthquake” to the website, and we will continue to recover, thanks from the bottom of the heart to acts of kindness from all over the world.
Higashimatsushima City Library
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| Words to the World |
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Since the Greater East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, many Japanese people and groups in New York have supported the victims through various fundraising efforts. As an active supporter of the relief work, I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Kato of the Higashi Matsushima City Library. I learned of the Library’s need for people who could translate the victims’ stories which the Library had compiled.
The translation was a very difficult task due to the nature of the disaster and the difficulties of the people who are suffering. Although our translations are not as fluent as those of professionals, we read each word carefully and tried to listen to the victims’ voices. Through the translation work, we learned a lot from the stories which we had never heard from the news, and we are eager to share what we learned with our friends and the people around us. I believe that it is our mission.
Our members of the volunteer translation group, “Words to the World,” consist of Japanese housewives, students in elementary school, middle school, high school and college, representatives of Japanese firms living in New York, and their friends who had lived in New York and later moved to various countries in the world.
Only one-third of the proposed reconstruction has been completed in most affected areas during the past three years. Many victims are still living in temporary houses. I hope that everyone who reads these stories will become aware of the current situation of the victims and have concern for the future together.
December, 2014
Yoko Yorihiro
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[PDF]Words_to_the_World member
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[PDF]Impressions of translator
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| PwC Japan |
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"Keep the Great East Japan Earthquake in mind" – More than 100 volunteer staff of PwC Japan have participated in this Kizuna project. PwC Japan member translated two chapters, “Future” and “Gratitude” and reviewed the “Experiences” chapter that Words to the World has been translated.
PwC Japan works on a variety of volunteer activities such as charity run, career education and more. For Tohoku region, we have continues to support the reconstruction though launch of Japan Reconstruction Task Force, release thought leadership on Japan after the earthquake and installation of Tohoku Innovation Promotion Office.
The Kizuna project, not only Japanese staff but also foreign staff in Japan /staff on overseas assignment have participated. All volunteer staff paused to realize the woeful earthquake and tsunami and prayed for earlier reconstruction.
Translation work was so difficult because the nature was quite different from our usual work. However, we made efforts to bring down Tohoku memories to people around the world including foreigner living in Japan.
PwC Japan prays that all the towns that were damaged by the disaster will be rebuilt soon and wishes the best for your future.
* PwC provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory & consulting services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders, with member firm offices in 157 countries.
PwC Japan represents PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata, PricewaterhouseCoopers Kyoto, PricewaterhouseCoopers Co., Ltd., Zeirishi-Hojin PricewaterhouseCoopers and their subsidiaries.
PwC Japan
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[PDF]PwC member and Impressions of translator
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