A group of Japanese residents yesterday unveiled a stone plaque in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) in commemoration of Taiwan’s assistance following an earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011.
The plaque, funded by Japanese residents in Taiwan, is inscribed with Japanese and Chinese text that memorializes the “unprecedented” Great East Japan Earthquake and Taiwan’s aid in its aftermath.
“Now 10 years later, Japan still remember vividly the kindness Taiwan displayed back then,” the inscription reads. “We therefore decided to set up this plaque in Tamsui to express our eternal gratitude to Taiwan.”
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
The plaque was put up on Tamsui Old Street (淡水老街), a popular tourist area lined with eateries and shops.
A commemorative ceremony was held by a group of Japanese residents to mark the 10th anniversary of the disaster.
Each year since 2011, a group of Japanese and Taiwanese university students in Taiwan, called Arigatou Taiwan, has been holding an event in commemoration of the disaster.
The magnitude 9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck northeastern Japan, killing nearly 20,000 people and causing a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
In the aftermath of the disaster, Taiwan’s government and private sector donated a total of ￥25 billion (US$230.72 million at the current exchange rate) in relief aid and sent search-and-rescue teams to Japan.
Arigatou Taiwan member Saki Sasaki yesterday said that as someone from northeastern Japan, she was extremely grateful to Taiwan for its assistance in the wake of the disaster.
The commemorative plaque would provide greater visibility to the friendship between Taipei and Tokyo, she said.
Murashima Ikuyo, secretary-general of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association’s Cultural Affairs and Public Relations Department, also spoke at the ceremony, thanking Taiwan for its assistance.
The tragedy had a silver lining, as it brought Taiwan and Japan closer together, and that rapport remains to this day, she said.
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