Japan

After three weeks Japan, I’m still absorbing the rich and profound encounters I had there. As guest of the Japanese government, I visited different parts of the country as key note speaker in symposiums on grief care.

In the tsunami-ravaged areas around Sendai and Fukushima, people are still aching for family, friends and homes they lost five and a half years ago. Vast tracts of land are desolate, apart from graveyards and the occasional school building that has been preserved as a memorial.

Their stories touched me deeply and will stay with me a long time.

The human spirit is strong.

Even after the worst has happened, there is hope.

Sendai airport with Professor Manami Yasui. A blue line shows the height of the wave that struck.

A memorial marking the height of the wave in an area where thousands lost their lives.