Ghosts of the Tsunami - Richard Lloyd Parry

In this book, Parry talks about the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and the devastation that the tsunami caused.  The primary focus is the death of students at Okawa Elementary, and the after effects.

It was very sad, but also illuminating of Japanese culture and to that end, it was very interesting.  I felt that the brief sections on ghosts and possessions was almost gratuitous, and perhaps didn't need to be in the story.  More interesting was the determination of the parents to find their children, and the government's unwillingness to take responsibility for the deaths, which were preventable and attributed to negligence on the part of the administration.

It was also interesting that the author worked in the election of Shinzo Abe as Prime Minister.  It almost seemed unrelated to the aftereffects of the Tsunami, but perhaps represented a shift in the way the Japanese saw their government, much like what the U.S. is going through now.

I wasn't sure if I'd like is as much as I did, but it was a good book.