A memoir of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster and their profound impact on our family

私たち家族の人生を劇的に変えた東日本大震災、そして福島原発事故の記録

Peter Popovics spent 10 years in Japan with his family and was living in Yokohama, 280 km from Fukushima, at the time of the historical earthquake in March 2011, the consequences of which were to have such a radical impact on their lives. The present memoir was written partly as a way for the author to share with his children the story of the family’s roots in Japan, and partly as a way of working through the family’s ordeal in a way that had not been possible in the upheaval that followed the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. The central section of the book provides a day-by-day account of the catastrophe, starting from the day of the earthquake, and in parallel traces what happened to the family right up until their departure from Japan. The story is illustrated with the author’s own photographs, as well as original Facebook posts and e-mails.

著者ポポウィチュ・ペーテルは、家族とともに10年間を日本で過ごす。2011年3月11日、当時彼ら家族は横浜に住んでいたが、この日を境に生活は一変する。本書は、著者の最愛の子どもたちに向けて書かれた回想録である。なぜ両親は日本と深く関わるようにな ったのか。福島の原発事故発生後、どのような行動をとったのか。彼らには、愛する日本を去るという選択肢しかなかった。東日本大震災、原発事故の経緯を時系列で追いながら、彼ら家族に起こった出来事を記録していく。