Last year on this exact date, March 11, I stared at my computer and TV in a daze.  My Japanese TV looked like this:

One of the largest earthquakes in history had just hit Japan and a tsunami washed away towns in an instant.  On top of that, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was severely damaged and leaking radiation.  Even several hours after the disaster, I had no idea that more than 19,000 lives were lost in a single moment.  All of us in Japan were still trying to understand what had just happened.  With constantly watery eyes and an uneasy stomach, I refreshed the BBC’s Website for the latest news and phoned my family back home as much as possible.

I was safe in a warm and clean apartment with clothes, food and friends.  Meanwhile our neighbors to the northeast were grappling with how to survive.

Being in…