When the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami hit Higashi-Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture, over 1,100 of the 40,000 residents lost their lives. A project began in the summer of 2011: the Higashi-Matsushima survivors would create a musical. The goal was to express their gratitude for the aid received after the disaster. In November 2011, a hundred people gathered to create a musical for the Tokyo stage. The project was started by Yoriko Ando who lost her high-school daughter in the tsunami, and by Hiroshi Maetani and his wife, who lost their home. They were joined by Tokyo director Tateo Teramoto. Work began on the musical before the script was written. Teramoto asked the survivors about their experiences and based his script on what he heard. The cast practiced singing and dancing as Teramoto collected a wide variety of stories. One man bitterly regrets that all he could do for his parents' bodies was wash them in a bottleful of water. A high-school student watched helplessly as his house went up in flames. There were powerful, life-affirming stories as well. 100 different experiences of the disaster went into the musical script. But although Ando helped start the project, she cannot speak of her dead daughter to the others. Each survivor comes to terms with the tragedy through the musical. After five months of work, the show is staged in March 2012 in Tokyo. The 2,000-strong audience make it a huge success. What was the finished musical like? How did this experience change the survivors? A hundred survivors make sense of the disaster and of their future. When the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami hit Higashi-Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture, over 1,100 of the 40,000 residents lost their lives. A project began in the summer of 2011: the Higashi-Matsushima survivors would create a musical. The goal was to express their gratitude for the aid received after the disaster. In November 2011, a hundred people gathered to create a musical for the Tokyo stage. The project was started by Yoriko Ando who lost her high-school daughter in the tsunami, and by Hiroshi Maetani and his wife, who lost their home. They were joined by Tokyo director Tateo Teramoto. Work began on the musical before the script was written. Teramoto asked the survivors about their experiences and based his script on what he heard. The cast practiced singing and dancing as Teramoto collected a wide variety of stories. One man bitterly regrets that all he could do for his parents' bodies was wash them in a bottleful of water. A high-school student watched helplessly as his house went up in flames. There were powerful, life-affirming stories as well. 100 different experiences of the disaster went into the musical script. But although Ando helped start the project, she cannot speak of her dead daughter to the others. Each survivor comes to terms with the tragedy through the musical. After five months of work, the show is staged in March 2012 in Tokyo. The 2,000-strong audience make it a huge success. What was the finished musical like? How did this experience change the survivors? A hundred survivors make sense of the disaster and of their future.