Live Your Dream: The Taylor Anderson Story

Directed by Regge Life. 2012. 85 minutes. In Japanese and English, with English subtitles.

Study areas: Japan, Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami, natural disaster, education, teaching

Three years have passed since the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that took thousands of lives in the Tohoku region of Japan on March 11, 2011, but the event (“3.11”) remains very much in the public consciousness as Japan continues to mourn its losses, wrestle with recovery plans, and struggle to help people put their lives, families and communities back together again. In many places, there are tangible signs of progress in the form of new infrastructure, business startups and provision of social services that have allowed displaced families to return to their communities and begin to rebuild their lives. Yet many, mostly young, community members have vowed to never return, and three years into the recovery, scars on the landscape remain, such as roped-off railroad tracks where trains no longer run and stretches of cleared land where neighborhoods once stood. The persistence of pre-fabricated buildings providing temporary housing for those displaced by the disaster further highlights the extensive work that continues. Having lived in Kobe following the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 and having worked more recently with university students in Tohoku reconstruction, I can attest to the vastness of the destruction that nature can so suddenly inflict and, by contrast, the long period of time needed to rebuild.

The physical devastation, of course is secondary to the trauma embedded in people’s memories of their former lives and of the devastation borne by the tsunami as they struggle to re-create normalcy in their daily lives. In the past three years, many stories have been told of the chaos and terror that accompanied the disaster, the lives of loved ones lost, and the challenges to recreate home, family, and employment. The emotional stories that locals tell are palpable, but as most of these poignant narratives are told in Japanese and reported within Japan, they are mostly inaccessible to those outside Japan and therefore inappropriate for use in classrooms abroad. Live Your Dream: The Taylor Anderson Story makes an important contribution, not only because it is accessible to English-speaking audiences but also because it relates a journey that many viewers will have taken or aspire to embark on in the future. Like Taylor and many thousand others, I was a young woman just out of college who traveled to Japan to teach in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, living out a dream kindled in childhood. Random initial assignments create deep lifelong connections and, as many former JET program participants who watch this film must feel, “it could have been me.”

Arriving in Japan in 2008, Taylor was assigned to Ishinomaki City about 240 miles north of Tokyo on Japan’s isolated northeast coast, teaching in eight local public schools. A foreigner in these parts stands out and, by all accounts, Taylor was no wallflower but actively participated in community activities, bonding with community members and especially her students. She succumbed to the March 11th disaster, last seen riding her bike away from an elementary school where she had remained behind to help students whose parents had been unable to retrieve them in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. Her body was later found in the devastation.

Beyond the acute sadness of the events that made her encounter with Japan all too brief, Taylor’s life represents an uplifting Everywoman’s experience in Japan, and director Regge Life’s 85-minute film is divided into ten chapters that elaborate and contextualize this personal intercultural encounter, beginning with Taylor’s early childhood. Through interviews with family, friends, and teachers, we learn that Taylor was an imaginative child who enjoyed reading, and her initial encounter with Japan began in elementary school where she became fascinated with learning as much as she could about Japan. In high school, her schoolwork continued to show her interest in Japan, including a painting of a Japanese woman in kimono. Finally, in college, Taylor was able to take her first trip to Japan, participating in a short term study abroad program. Confirming her lifelong interest in the country, Taylor applied to the JET Program and landed in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. It was a dream come true.

In the latter part of the documentary, we gain a greater sense of Taylor’s thoughtful and energetic personality. Her JET friends described her as a “ball of energy” and a “passionate karaoke fan.” She also thrived in the classroom and was adored by her students, which her JET friends witnessed first-hand after she convinced them to attend a summer festival at a local kindergarten one hot summer day after a grueling bicycle race. Taylor was approachable and generous with her time, and on the day before the disaster, she created personalized posters and cards for the graduating students. After the earthquake, she did not hesitate to remain at school to assist with taking care of the students.

Parts of this documentary are difficult to watch. Scenes of the tsunami moving across the landscape, the devastation left in its wake, and several interviews are emotionally weighty and probably best suited to students of high school age and older. Yet the very ordinariness of Taylor’s life and the profound impact she made in the local community leave a valuable message. After viewing the documentary, one of my university students noted: “The interviews showed just how many lives Taylor touched just by being herself, and how, even if we don’t notice it, we are much more loved than we know.”

In this sense, the strength of the documentary lies in Taylor’s personal story and its sensitive portrayal by director Regge Life. As one of my students commented, “Instead of focusing on the disaster from a wide-angle, it focused on one person’s life…. [H]er happy and friendly personality really came across, as well as how much they all cared for her. The documentary really showed how often it’s not the big events in our lives that define us, but the smaller things we do every day.” The documentary is not only a touching tribute to a young woman fulfilling her dream to live in Japan and the meaningful relationships she makes along the way, but also testament to the lasting contributions a single individual can have. By following her heart, Taylor touched the hearts of others, making an impact that extends beyond herself and continues to this day.

This film would support a lesson teaching students about the earthquake, thinking about how one might be a bridge between two cultures, and affirming the lasting impact of relationships both long-term and fleeting.

Dawn Grimes-MacLellan holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and teaches in the Center for Liberal Arts at Meiji Gakuin University. Her research focuses on Japanese education, particularly at the junior high school level, which was initially inspired by her experience as a Japan Exchange and Teaching Program participant in Okayama Prefecture. More recently, she is researching student volunteers participating in community revitalization after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Last Updated: May 2, 2014