Mar 30

Miyagi JET writes of ruin, survival, rebuilding

The below letter by current JET Waylon Bryson (Miyagi-ken, Sendai-shi) appeared recently in the Washington State University student publication where Bryson attended college.

The following letter was sent to WSU history instructor Roger Chan, who taught author Waylon Bryson, a philosophy graduate of 2007. Chan shared it with Noriko Kawamura, associate professor of history, who passed it on for WSU Today to share with the university community. Bryson is working in Sendai, Japan as an English teacher. This fall he will attend Vanderbilt Law in Nashville, Tenn.

I have lived in the city of Sendai, Japan for the past three and a half years, where I teach English for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme. I was at my desk in the teachers’ room of Hachiken Junior High School when the earthquake struck.

Earthquakes are quite common in Japan and I, like the other staff members, paid little attention at first.

Then the room moved several feet. I had to physically hold onto my desk so that it wouldn’t move away from me. A control panel on the wall lit up like a Christmas tree and alarm bells started sounding. I could hear students screaming from the floors above as cracks snaked along the concrete walls and the building started groaning ominously.

CLICK HERE to read the full article on the WSU Today site.


Comments are closed.

Page Rank