Was it a year ago? The big earthquake which amounted to a near 20 thousand deaths and people missing.

On that day, the seismograph registered an intensity 5 even in Tokyo. For the first time, I experienced such strong quake. I could recall that the building was swaying so much that I wouldn’t be surprised if it came tumbling down.

Though what I had experienced was nothing compared to people in Tohoku (Northeast) & Fukushima who lost their family members and homes due to the tusnami, the impact was so big that I could vividly remember until now.

Today, Japan’s TV host special program about 3.11. I was made to recall once again how powerless humans are towards earthquakes and tsunami, when painful images of the day were played.

I recalled Jupiter, a song by Ayaka Hirahara.
It was originally released in year 2003, but there was an increased dedication request recently, after the earthquake. It was said that this song somehow bring hopes to lots of people.

I was quite shock to hear the news that Elpida, a semi-conductor company filed for bankruptcy yesterday. This news is heart-rending as my previous job in Singapore, in a semi-conductor company had given me opportunities to work with many wonderful Japanese companies and Elpida was one of them. It had been a very memorable experience in my life.

Elpida was made up of NEC and Hitachi which manufactures memory chips. They are Japan’s only surviving DRAM maker and are supposed to have the top technology in the world. It comes as a great pity that they need to abandon DRAM business.

I think nobody can deny that Japan’s brands has very high class and high quality image. Somehow, it is very ironical that it took decades to build a name, but one moment is all it takes to become a “legend”. I really hope that they will make a comeback someday.