Lucy Walker’s “Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” goes to the epicenter of the natural disaster that struck Japan in 2011. The Academy-award nominated documentary filmmaker shoots during Cherry Blossom season, a powerful cultural image in Japan that speaks to rebirth and renewal.
Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Filmmaker Lucy Walker filmed along the northeastern coast of Japan in 2011 the weeks after the Fukushima disaster. (All photos courtesy Lucy Walker)
The March 2011 tsunami reduced entire towns to rubble.
Logistics were difficult for the film crew, given the broken roads, lack of bottled water and energy black outs.
Broken road in Japan after the tsunami
Tumbled house in Japan following the tsunami
After surveying what’s left of her house, a tsunami survivor vows to return.
Cherry blossoms frame the wreckage in Japan
Cherry blossoms, a cultural icon in Japan, are a symbol of rebirth.
Despite the somber mood after the tsunami, people in Japan celebrated the annual return of the cherry blossoms.
Walker says a single blossom tells a story of life and death and how to live with tragedy.