Statistically, it’s unlikely that most of the world’s population will encounter firsthand a true natural disaster. Of course, likelihood is dependent on proximity to areas geographically prone to a disaster, but for the most part, when one occurs, we will witness it from afar. In Elmer Luke and David Karashima’s collection March Was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown, readers are led by the hand to the scene of a disaster unlike any other, where earth’s mighty hand meets one of mankind’s most mammoth achievements.

It has now been more than a year since the catastrophic earthquake hit the northeast coast of Japan, setting off a chain reaction including a fifty-foot tsunami and major breakdown in five nearby nuclear plants. Those of us stateside watched and read the news – horror-stricken and sympathetic – but still relatively removed. As with anything that happens half a world away, we can only sympathize so much; it’s rare that any among us can truly empathize with what a nation is experiencing during a time of true crisis.

In this collection of both fiction and nonfiction, twenty-two writers interpret their own thoughts, experiences, fears, and hopes surrounding the events and present their interpretations through their writing, where the line between fact and fiction sometimes blurs. The writing is – across the board – beautiful, and there exists within much of it a certain serenity and clarity one might not expect to pour forth from an examination of such a horrid situation.

Though every story in the collection shines in its own special way, it was Hiromi Kawakami’s “God Bless You, 2011” that stood out to this reader. The author revisits a short story she wrote in 1993, revising it to reflect the impact of the events of March 2011. In between the new telling of “God Bless You” and the old, Hiromi pauses for the story of the god of uranium, taking a moment to reflect on what happens when humans “break the laws of nature and turn gods into minions.” The story is one of a bear, a new neighbor, and a walk. The before-and-after treatment of the story results in a piece both heartbreaking and brilliant.

When a disaster such as the 2011 Japanese earthquake occurs, those geographically removed from the incident certainly don’t wish to be nearer. What we -- as collective humanity -- do wish, however, is to find the ability to be more sympathetic, compassionate, and understanding to those affected. The collection March Was Made of Yarn will certainly help us along in that endeavor, providing us with unique, bold, and personal perceptions of those events.