Off Topic - Aftermath Pictures of My Old Apartment

As many of you who have read this blog know, I spent three years teaching English in Japan. I taught in a small town called Shinchi in Fukushima Prefecture at Shoei Junior High School.

Shinchi is located on the coast and suffered terribly during the tsunami that struck on March 11th. My fiancee, Hanako, drove with her dad to Shinchi to visit the place where I used to live. She took some incredible photos that shows the damage that the tsunami did to my house. I was pleased to see that it was still standing, as I had thought that it had been completely swept away like so many other houses. Nonetheless, the damage was total and it's now uninhabitable.

My nameplate in front of my house. It says "Forrest Merrill" in katakana.

What a mess! You can see on the wall how high the water level got. I'd estimate a good 5 feet.

The kitchen, laundry room and shower.

The living room.

My old bedroom. Can't sleep here anymore.

View from outside my house.

My house and some of the neighboring houses.

The view down my street. Looks like they cleaned up the roads pretty well. There are some houses in the background that are missing.

Another view down my road.

It's very strange and surreal looking at these photos. These scenes are more suited for apocalyptic movies. I'm sure the people of Shinchi are still pulling things back together. As soon as I get the chance, I'm flying over to pay my respects.