Sarah Ruddy was an ALT in Rikuzentakata nearly four years ago. She took some time to reflect on her personal connections there as well as her recent return trip to Rikuzentakata in November of 2011. Her article was published in the Huffington Post on the 1-year anniversary of the tragedy.
After The Tohoku Earthquake: ‘I Gave Up My Family For Dead’
View from where my desk used to be in the Board of Education in Rikuzentakata.
My experiences traveling in Japan are unique to anywhere in the world I have ever been. It’s the reason I travel, to be surrounded by something unfamiliar. An avid traveller since I was young, I have never experienced a culture like Japan.
The first time I stepped foot there, nearly four years ago, was to live as an assistant English teacher in Rikuzentakata, on the northeastern coast of Japan. I applied and was accepted to the JET program a year out of college, after my love of travel had grown into a desire to live in a culture completely different from my own. Up till then I had backpacked through Europe and explored the U.S. but it was all too familiar. My experiences traveling and living in Japan were anything but.
To read the full article, click HERE.
