It was the spring of 2011 and I was lying in bed with my fiancée when I first read the news of the Tohoku earthquake disaster. Images of the wreckage began pouring onto the Web; I was overwhelmed by the pictures of people trying to survive.

In this Internet age, people often forget the news as quickly as they learn it. To combat social amnesia, I wanted to create a lasting memorial that would honor the victims and survivors of the disaster. I wanted to reconnect with a society and a culture that I have been separated from, having lived here in America for so long. Most importantly, I wanted my viewers to feel empathy for the people of Japan, empathy that would turn into a desire to help these people rebuild their lives.