Iwate 岩手
The last days have been an emotional limbo of worry. The gigantic earthquake Japan suffered is horrible- but it was also too close to home because it hit Tohoku the worst, and Tohoku was home for a while. The coasts of Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori are in shambles- the seawall in Kamaishi didn't work; Ofunato and Rikuzentakata have been destroyed. These are real places to me- places I have been, and places with astonishing beauty. Friends were missing- everyone, luckily, is now accounted for, but this disaster has made me remember how a single place can get under your skin and never leave.