Japan through my eyes

2011 was a big year for the world.  We saw huge earthquakes in New Zealand, and the one in Japan was devastating because it was 3 major disasters in 1 day.  Japan was still in a bad recession - I knew a lot of friends who had lost jobs.  I was also worried I wouldn't be able to come back to Japan after the Earthquake, and would have to leave my friends behind.  I remember I was crying on the train to say goodbye to coworkers.  It was a really sad time. I lost my voice and discovered I had Vocal Cord Polyps which is really painful when I speak and sometimes breathing hurts. The conversation went like this "Don't speak or it could damage your voice" "But I'm a teacher" "Don't speak for 2 weeks, oh and the polyps come back, it's permanent. " I really Love to sing :( just have to sing in my mind these days because some days I can't even speak when I wake up.   But Japan moved on.  Everyone has been trying to be really positive...

Edited to provide more information:   This was right after the March 11th Earthquake in 2011.  A lot of people had similar experiences. I managed to catch the bus half way home.  When I got to the station there were thousands of people at the station.  All the nearby buildings were all evacuated.  Everyone was on the street.  Having no money & no idea of the extent of the damage etc, I decided to try find an ATM.  I walked from station to station trying to find a working one.  Still not knowing what had really happened I went to the ENT clinic.  They also didn't know the extent of what had happened, as they were still operating.  At that point I really wished I knew more Japanese so I could ask.  Still having no idea, I thought the trains should be up and running again, but it was starting to get dark.  It was freezing.  My phone was running out of battery, I was stuck and didn't know how to get home.  All I c...