Theriault, a professor of philosophy at Worcester State College, said the earthquake had brought out the best in Japanese society. “Even in the midst of this great crisis, so many Japanese people are setting an example for the rest of the world, showing what a true spirit of social concern is,” he said, referring to the calm yet determined participation of many ordinary Japanese in the rescue and relief efforts alongside military and relief agencies.
— Khatchig Mouradian
Varditer Harutyunyan was on the third floor of a building in southern Tokyo, while Nayiri Arzoumanian and her parents, Hrair and Arpi, were on their way to the subway in northern Tokyo, in Asakusa, when the 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the country’s northeastern coast on Fri., March 11.
“It takes a while to register, first that something is off and you’re not imagining it, and then that everything—the ground, the air, the buildings—is moving and that it must be an earthquake,” said Nayiri Arzoumanian, an Armenian American who works for a research institute in Boston and Tokyo, and also serves as copy-editor of the Armenian Weekly.