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Newseum Acquires Hand-Written Newspapers Chronicling Japan Earthquake

This hand-written newspaper was posted outside a relief center in Ishinomaki, Japan.
Ohmi Kochi
/
Newseum
This hand-written newspaper was posted outside a relief center in Ishinomaki, Japan.

This piece of news is for the journalism junkies out there: The Newseum has acquired seven hand-written newspapers produced right after the March earthquake in Japan.

The Washington, D.C. museum of news explains on their website:

When the worst earthquake in Japan's history and the subsequent tsunami knocked out all power in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, editors at the Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun, the city's daily newspaper, printed news of the disaster the only way they could: by pen and paper.

For six consecutive days after the twin disasters, reporters used flashlights and marker pens to write their stories on poster-size paper and posted the "newspapers" at the entrances of relief centers around the city. Six staff members collected stories, while three spent an hour and a half each day writing the newspapers by hand.

This one from March 13th will become part of the museum's permanent collection:

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.
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