When the earthquake and tsunami hit the northeast on March 11, Robert Campbell, an Irish-American scholar of Edo Period to early Meiji Era literature, was in Tokyo.
Not having ever been to the most severely affected areas of Tohoku, he said the whole picture of the disruption, both physical and geographical, was something he initially found hard to understand. "I have to say it was eerie to me, living in Tokyo basically feeling secure, and being inundated by images of all of the pain."
The 53-year-old professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Fine Arts — also widely known recently for his frequent appearances as a TV commentator — said he felt like he was in a "depressed fog" after the quake. For a whole week, he was anxious and could not do any work. He just sat in front of the TV, listened to the radio and read newspapers.