Tsunami: Our Shock, Pain, and Resilience

In 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake left more than 20,000 people dead or missing. On 11 March 2011, shortly after taking offi-ce as mayor, Futoshi Toba, mayor of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture, experienced firsthand the earthquake and tsunami which destroyed city hall and killed many of his subordinates. His wife was also missing, but despite the pain, he struggled to carry out his duties as mayor, leaving his two children with relatives, only to find his wife's body on April 5.

Mayor Toba, in order to rebuild his town, has to face the government, which is slow in making decisions, and the residents, who are opposed to his bold actions and measures. This non-fiction book focuses on the 10-year journey of the mayor of a city hit by an unprecedented tsunami. Mayor Toba's account of the pain and trauma involved to rebuild his town is like no other story from the front lines. Toba builds a professional working relationship with an American woman, Amya Miller, who showed up to volunteer. Together, they learn from, push and support each other as they traverse the roads that hopefully will lead to recovery.

The book is unique in that it is told alternately from the perspectives of Mayor Toba (the insider) and his supporter Miller (the outsider). But that is not all. Their viewpoints represent men and women, Japanese and Americans, mayors and volunteers; those who remain in the town and those who leave it. These multiple perspectives combine to create a documentary that offers a multifaceted view of a disaster of unprecedented scale.