Nursing student whose mother died on 3/11 hopes to play trumpet for patients

[AsahinaKimi]

RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture--It is one of countless indelible images that came from the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake.

One month after the deadly tsunami swept through Rikuzentakata, The Asahi Shimbun ran a photograph of a high school girl standing alone amid the rubble that was once her home, clutching a golden trumpet.

A gift from her grandparents, Ruri Sasaki played the popular hit song “Makenaide” (Don’t give up), by Zard, as a dedication to her grandparents and mother, who all died in the disaster.

Two years later, the 19-year-old Sasaki does not play the trumpet as much as she used to, as most of her time is devoted to her college studies. She plans to eventually become a nurse.

Sasaki returned to Rikuzentakata on the second anniversary of the disaster. On March 11, at 2:46 p.m., the exact time the temblor struck, she put her palms together and bowed in prayer as light wisps of snow blew in the early spring sky. Sasaki remembered her grandparents, an aunt and a cousin, all of whom perished in the disaster.

more..http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/life_and_death/AJ201303120112