How one man s determination to resurrect a miracle piano helped heal Japan s tsunami scars By Lucy Craft Fukushima, nine years after devastation
Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan Graduation day dawned sunny and beautiful at Toyoma Junior High, and the 47 members of the senior class were in a buoyant mood. Just being at Toyoma Junior High was a day at the beach: The school overlooked Usuiso, one of Japan s most popular strips of seashore, and the giddy mood was captured in a scrawled blackboard message: Thanks for the last three years! It s been fun!
In the gym, as teachers, families and classmates looked on, the students in their navy-colored uniforms sang the school song for the last time, accompanied, as always, by Toyoma s fine grand piano.