Sunday, 12 June 2011

Three months later

Three months have passed since the devastating earthquake and tsunami took place on March 11th in the Tohoku region of Japan. My apologies that the blog here has been quiet during this time. Although we weren't directly affected, for quite awhile, it was hard to think of much else, or read much of anything other than news reports and updates on the situation in northern Japan.

However, life has a way of moving on, and I'm glad to see that you all have been continuing to read and submit your reviews of Murakami's books. In fact, Haruki Murakami's After the Quake is one of the books that got me reading again. The stories in that collection were inspired by a different earthquake, The Great Hanshin earthquake that occurred in 1995, and is only on the periphery of the stories. Yet they certainly resonated now after the most recent disaster. 

Speaking of short stories, there have been several collections, both fiction and non-fiction, released in the last three months to raise money for the survivors. You may have already heard of these but in case you haven't come across them, here are a few bookish ways you can help Japan get back on its feet. The proceeds from each of these books goes to the Japanese Red Cross to aid in the recovery effort. Just click on the links or banners for more information on the books and how to purchase.

#quakebook.org - A Twitter-sourced charity book about how the Japanese Earthquake at 2:46 on March 11 2011 affected us all. Raising money for the Japan Red Cross.

Write for Tohoku



This one isn't available quite yet, but should be soon.

Plus a portion of the proceeds from Banana Yoshimoto's newest book to be translated into English, The Lake, will also go to Japan Disaster Relief.

Have you read any of these?
And if you know of any other Japan aid anthologies that I haven't mentioned here, please let us know in the comments.

Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Suport

Since cats often show up in Murakami's stories, I'll also just mention Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support, which has been working very hard and doing a wonderful job to rescue and care for as many animals, that have been orphaned or abandoned due to the quake, as it can.

Stay tuned for more news and our first Murakami Challenge giveaway soon.
Posted by tanabata
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3 comments:

  1. I hadn't realized there are so many books to benefit the relief effort! That's good news. Will look forward to Banana Yoshimoto's new book!

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  2. Glad to see that you and your loved ones are okay.

    I started the challenge with this book and it was weird how relevant it was (and still is) after all this time. If anything, that is the mark of great literature.

    ReplyDelete

  3. Hi tanabata.
    This was the Murakami book I chose for the 2011 Murakami Reading Challenge and my first--but not last--Murakami book.

    ReplyDelete

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