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A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, March 11 2011 earthquake, The Great East Japan Earthquake
Posted A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011, Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, My Non-fiction
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Posted A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011, Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, My Non-fiction
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11th Anniversary, A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Bombing of Nuclear Power Plant, earthquake, Eastern Tohoku, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima Prefecture, Koriyama, Koriyama City, March 11 2011 earthquake, nuclear crisis, nuclear meltdown, Nuclear Reactor, radiation, Russia, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Shelling of Nuclear Power Plant, The Great East Japan Earthquake, Ukraine
…and Russia is shelling Ukrainian nuclear power plants now. Have we learned nothing?
14 Saturday Mar 2020
Posted A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, My Non-fiction
in≈ Comments Off on “A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011, Japan Earthquake – A Foreigner’s Perspective” (4th Edition) Now Available!
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e-mail, earthquake, fourth edition, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, grammar, Great East Japan Earthquake, humanity, Koriyama, March 11 2011 earthquake, nonfiction, nuclear crisis, nuclear meltdown, photos, punctuation, revised story, To Sleep in the Ground, tsunami, writing
Lessons learned from writing and editing my first novel To Sleep in the Ground motivated me to revisit my older stories. A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011, Japan Earthquake is my only nonfiction book and the very first book that I self-published.
And was I ever green! The old cliché that ‘the more you write, the more you learn’ (or something like that) is true. I cleaned up the grammar and punctuation, and eliminated many redundancies in the story. The fourth and latest edition is by far the best version of the book. It’s a better reading experience overall.
The book contains personal e-mails that I wrote to family and friends in America, keeping them updated on the situation in Japan in the days, weeks and months following the initial quake. Photos of the damage to the city in Japan where I live are included, as are photos of one of the port cities devastated by the ensuing tsunami.
If you are interested in how the events of that day unfolded and what it was like to experience the fourth largest earthquake in recorded human history, as well as one of the worst nuclear disasters the modern age has seen, then I encourage you to check it out. I hope that you find it informative and educational. All of my books are available through Amazon.
In these volatile times of natural and man-made threats to our existence, parallels can be drawn between current events and the disasters and crisis of the past. Lessons can be learned.
Thanks for reading,
Brad
28 Thursday Feb 2019
Posted A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, My Non-fiction
in≈ Comments Off on The 8th Anniversary of the East Japan Earthquake
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A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Climate Change, climatologists, e-book, e-book price reduction, earthquake, Eastern Tohoku, environment, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Global Warming, humanity, Japan, March 11 2011 earthquake, meltdown, meteorologists, Mother Nature, nuclear crisis, nuclear meltdown, Progress, radiation, reconstruction, recycle, The 8th Anniversary of the East Japan Earthquake, The Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, writing
I deliberately avoid posting about politics on social media. I’m not qualified to talk about climate change or global warming, or what impact humanity has upon the environment. I’ll leave that to the climatologists, meteorologists and scientists of the world. The city where I live in Japan has a good recycling program and I do my part. In this post, I’m not going to share my personal views on the topic of whether or not climate change is real. My opinions would be inappropriate and irrelevant.
What I do know, based on personal experience, is that on March 11, 2011, Mother Nature had her say, and had a lot to say, when she unleashed her fury upon the Eastern Tohoku region of Japan. I witnessed the fourth largest earthquake in recorded human history. I live thirty-six miles west of the site of one of the world’s largest nuclear meltdowns. I lived it. I was terrified by it. I am still haunted by it. I will probably never be free from the memory of it in some capacity.
The Earth doesn’t care how we feel about climate change. It does what it wants to do, when it wants to do it, and it doesn’t give a damn what we mere humans think of it. It makes the rules and we have to suffer the consequences; good or bad, instigated by us or not. We are at its mercy. It’s the price we pay to live on this wondrous ball of life rotating on its axis in space.
If you’re interested in knowing more about the events of March 11, 2011, and its impact on the environment and the people of southern Tohoku, from someone who was there, then I respectfully encourage you to read my book. It’s available through Amazon in most countries where Amazon operates. I recently decreased the price of the book rather significantly, but Amazon retains the right to fluctuate the pricing when necessary. Thank you for understanding. You can access the book directly through the link provided on the “My Books” page of this blog. My humble thanks to all who have already purchased and read the book. Your kindness and consideration is truly appreciated and will not be forgotten.
Continue reading
18 Monday Jun 2018
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6.1 magnitude, deadly quake, epicenter, Great East Japan Earthquake, Horror, Kansei, magnitude, March 11 2011 earthquake, nine-year-old girl, November 22 2016 earthquake, Osaka, Osaka earthquake, quake, The Big One, The Great Hanshin Earthquake, Tohoku, trepidation, warning sign
It’s been a while since I posted anything, but I felt compelled to do so today.
Osaka is my favorite big city in Japan. I’ve been there many times over the years. It was hit by a 6.1 magnitude earthquake this morning…lots of damage, injuries and three deaths so far. The epicenter was on land, so the damage was severe. The youngest victim was a nine-year-old girl who was crushed by a wall that fell while she was walking on a sidewalk on her way to school. Horror beyond words.
People here are fearful that this quake was just a warning sign of what is yet to come. Their trepidation is based on the fact that a similar situation happened here, where I am, just a couple of days before the East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. We got a big quake on Wednesday, and the ‘big one’ hit on the following Friday. Many of you know the rest of that story.
We are hoping that the worst has already happened, and that Osaka will not experience an even deadlier quake in the wake of the one that happened today.
Despite the tragedy today, I can’t help but be thankful for the fact that we were spared here in Tohoku. I live very far away from Osaka and we didn’t feel any effects of the quake at all.
For those of us who write and dare to delve into the realm of horror fiction, we should always remember that true horror is not fictional, it happens to many people around the world every day.
I ask your prayers for the victims of the Osaka quake today, for their families and for the people of Osaka and the Kansei area of Japan.
Thank you.
12 Monday Mar 2018
Posted A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, My Non-fiction
in≈ Comments Off on March 11, 2011 (Reblogged from my Facebook page).
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7th anniversary, A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima Prefecture, honor, Japan, March 11, March 11 2011 earthquake, memorial, nuclear meltdown, Progress, radiation, remember, The Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, writing
Here in Japan we remember all those who lost their lives in the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami seven years ago today.
I ask your prayers for all of the victims and their families and friends who remain and mourn their loss. Some people lost their entire families on that day.
I was thankfully spared the horrors of the tsunami that day because I live farther inland in Fukushima prefecture. But, I remember the earthquake well (too well) and the subsequent radiation crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant which I live roughly 36 miles from.
Thankfully, radiation levels have dropped dramatically in the past seven years, but the threat of long-term radiation exposure continues to haunt me and plague my psyche.
I wrote a book about my personal experiences during the earthquake and nuclear crisis. It’s available in e-book form on Amazon in the U.S., Japan and Europe, etc. You can access the link from the “My Books” section of this blog or search for it on Amazon in your country.
Koriyama (where I live) and Fukushima prefecture in general are recovering, slowly but surely. However, a lot of work still needs to be done. The courage and dignity of the Tohoku people is incredible to behold. We are all in this together and have been walking hand in hand on the path to recovery.
Please keep the people of Northeastern Japan in your thoughts and prayers today…and always.
04 Saturday Mar 2017
Posted A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective
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3rd Edition, 6th anniversary, Amazon, Great East Japan Earthquake, Japan, March 11 2011 earthquake
As promised, “A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake – A Foreigner’s Perspective” has been revised and updated and is now available from Amazon. Thank you for your patience. As mentioned in my previous post, I was very green when I first wrote and published it. It was my fledgling self-publishing venture. I feel that this new edition is a long overdue improvement in the overall readability and user-friendliness of the book. The book has also been updated with recent facts and figures on the status of the crisis.
The book is a detailed account of my experiences with the earthquake and the nuclear crisis. It gives information about the event from my perspective, an American living in Japan. It also gives a little insight into Japanese life and culture. If you’re curious about that fateful day in the history of Japan (and the events that followed in its wake) or if you wonder what it’s like to live here, then I encourage you to check it out. A link to the new edition of the book is located on the “My Books” page of this blog.
To those who have already purchased and read my book, thank you. Amazon recently informed me that previous purchasers of the book will be able to access the latest edition via the “Manage Your Content and Devices” page in their Amazon accounts. Continue reading
07 Tuesday Feb 2017
Posted A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective
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I recently discovered that there are some major format flaws and issues that are negatively affecting the readability and user-friendliness of my first e-book effort, “A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake.” For those who have purchased my book over the past five years since its first publication, I emphatically apologize. As mentioned before, I’m not a techie. Besides, it was my first self-publishing experience and I was very green.
It’s been a challenge keeping up with the upgrades and trends in the self-publishing business and without the help and support of a major publishing powerhouse behind one, it can be a daunting task to keep an e-book current, especially when one considers the complications involved with improvements in self-publishing software and the various requirements of different e-book readers and devices.
I’m currently in the process of reformatting (in a major way) my March 11th book. Once that update is complete and the new version is available, then I’ll be sure to post the announcement here.
As always, thank you for your patience and understanding.
22 Tuesday Nov 2016
Posted My Non-fiction
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Amazon, Bradley Lobue, Fukushima, Japan, Kindle, March 11 2011 earthquake, November 22 2016 earthquake, Tohoku
Being new to the whole “Blog Thing,” I was wondering where the inspiration for my next, and second, blog entry was going to come from. Well, I got that inspiration this morning as I was woken up at 6 A.M. by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake; the largest of its kind since the “Big One” on March 11, 2011. My area was still receiving frequent aftershocks until six hours after the initial quake. The aftershocks have died down and are less frequent now, thankfully.
The quake triggered a small, and fortunately benign, tsunami that didn’t do any major damage aside from raising the inland river levels a tad and likewise raising a few eyebrows. We were lucky this time. However, today’s quake definitely raised my blood pressure and got my heart pumping. Flashbacks to 2011 infected my thoughts, especially as the images on TV today showed a small wave moving through rivers and streams in the region. I live many miles inland in the interior of the Tohoku region of Japan. Major tsunamis, like the March 11, 2011 wave that devastated the northern coast of Japan, are not a big concern for me where I live. If a tsunami were to ever reach my area, then it would probably be as a result of the Apocalypse, and that’s not a joke.