We will soon begin Tweeting evacuees' short comments, or mutterings (tsubuyaki), originally picked up by volunteers of the Nippon Foundation ROAD Project.

Compared to comments obtained through formal interviews or reports, these short, unsolicited comments made by the evacuees in a relaxed setting (often while receiving a foot bath/massage from volunteers) may give us an even deeper insight into the evacuees’ true and honest feelings. The few words, which tend to be much implicative and display a mixture of hope and despair, convey so much more than meets the eye. While there are only few words to translate, the task is daunting – to maintain the brevity and depth of the short expressions while providing enough context for the readers to appreciate their meanings. To this end, please note that the words in brackets [ ] were added for clarification based on additional information as well as the translators’ and editor(s)’ subjective interpretation. We acknowledge that misinterpretations may be possible.