On Friday, March 11, the north-eastern part of Japan was hit by a 9.0 earthquake, which subsequently produced a tsunami that, in some places, reached up to 33 feet. The resulting devastation from this tsunami took thousands of lives, destroyed whole villages and caused a potential nuclear disaster. Japan has a long history of recovering from disasters, but they also have a history full of color and stories.

The library has many books, fiction and non, about Japan and its people. And while we do have books on tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters, we encourage you to learn about the country of Japan. The library has a display which includes non fiction titles such as Japan: A Modern History, Wrong about Japan: a father's journey with his son, and Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa. In addition, you can check out some novels by Japanese authors (look in the teen and adult graphic novels sections for manga), books on Japanese art (check the 700s for books on drawing manga), Japanese movies (look at the end of the foreign films for anime) as well as audio books to help you learn Japanese.

For more information on the developing situation and the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, here are some links.

Official Government Sites:

• JPN_PMO (Official English twitter account of Prime Minister’s Office of Japan)
• NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration): Tsunamis
• NOAA: Tsunami Event - March 11, 2011 Honshu
• USGS Earthquake Information
• US State Department: Japan
• Countermeasures for 2011 Tohoku - Pacific Ocean Earthquake (Prime Minster of Japan and His Cabinet)
• Japan Meteorological Agency

New (and similar) Sources:

• Resources related to the 2011 Japan Crisis (Google)
•  Japan earthquake LIVE (Reuters) 
• Japan earthquake live blog (CNN)
• LIVE: Japan Earthquake (BBC)
• Japan — Earthquake and Tsunami (2011) (New York Times) 
• Japan Nuclear Crisis (Kyodo News – English)
• Japan Quake (Kyodo News – English)
• NHK World (apanese Public Broadcasting - English) 
• Japan earthquake and tsunami (The Guardian) 
• Japan In Crisis (NPR)

Selected Blog Posts:

• Online resources for Japan quake info (Digital Home/CNET) 
• Japan’s nuclear reactor overreaction (Bad Astronomy/Discovery)
• Clearing up nuclear questions (Cosmic Log/MSNBC) 
• Several ongoing interviews with a retired nuclear engineer (Georneys – a geology blog)

How to Help:

If you’re looking for ways to help, here are some places to donate. (The library does not necessarily endorse these groups and encourages patrons do to their own research before donating.):

• Oxfam
• The Red Cross
• Mercy Corps
• Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) 
• Red Cross through WePay
• Global Giving
• ShelterBox 
• Crisis In Japan: Here's How To Help: A list of aid groups (NPR/USAID/InterAction)