Year's end

It's been a short year here in Japan, because it essentially began on March 11. The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant breakdown changed Japan for the year; changed those affected for ever; and we'll see if it continues to change the country as it perhaps should.

This is a screen-style illustration I made using a few of the few photos I took in Sendai. The text says, "Our house was washed away," which is what one child whispered to us. The tsunami wave in the illustration is meant to be a reminder of the initial TV images of the wave viewed from above. In fact, in the middle tree of the third screen from the left, there is a concrete panel stuck on the bent trunk (you can just see it in silhouette), so the illustrated wave also reflects the height the wave reached here along the open shoreline.