Ghosts of the Tsunami

The human cost of the 2011 Japanese tsunami is examined in this absorbing work. Richard Lloyd Parry focuses on Okawa Primary School in the country’s remote north-east, two miles inland but wiped out by a wave 120 feet (37 metres) high. The disaster killed more than 18,000 people, but of the 75 children who died while in the care of teachers, 74 were in Okawa. Parry documents with great insight the impact of such staggering loss on people living in a society not noted for its emotionality. ■