Tomorrow is a New Day

Once a week, on the day that class periods are nearly 2 hours long, I always show my students photos from one of the countries we've visited. The photo slideshow includes music from that nation and is always followed by my favorite stories from that country and, of course, math problems that are thematically linked to that country. The "country of the week" is something many of my students look forward to.
Just over a week ago, the country of the week was Japan. Following the slideshow, we discussed the Pacific Ring of Fire and the number of active volcanoes in Japan as well as the fact that the prospect of a volcanic eruption or major earthquake is something that all Japanese live with and have come to accept. The next day, the massive 9.0 earthquake near the city of Sendai hit and north-eastern Honshu was devastated by this quake and the tsunami and aftershocks that followed.
On the Saturday following the disaster, we took Rai and Ko to Saratoga, home of the beautiful Hakone Japanese Gardens. We thought it would be a special place to spend a few hours thinking about the difficult times ahead for the people of Japan.
For a week, I haven't stopped thinking about my friends in Japan and about the life-changing year I spent there back in 2001. During my year in Japan, a re-make of a famous song first recorded in 1963 was released. That song is "Ashita ga Aru Sa" and it's chorus may be relevant for those coping with the aftermath of the earthquake. The song accompanies the slideshow below and the translated chorus is:
"There's always tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a new day.
In my youth I have dreams.
Someday surely, someday surely.
You'll come to understand this.
There's always tomorrow.
There's always tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a new day."