before the Tsunami became a 'trend' in the last couple of years, in 2004 on the shores of the indian ocean and most recently - few weeks ago in Japan, i believe that only few in the western hemisphere knew what this exotic japanese word means. since the information and the interest maybe, were a little bit limited, i was always wondering if the huge waves in Hawaii were some kind of Tsunami, that could also be fun and challenging for surfers...
however, i first knew about the 'big wave' (alias - Tsunami) many years ago, reading the book with the undisclosed title - The Big Wave. the book was written by Pearl S. Buck (winner of Nobel Prize for literature in 1938) and it tells the story of a japanese fisherman kid who had to face life after escaping a Tsunami that swept away his entire family and village.
the book, which is defined for young crowd, was fascinating (i was then in my japan-period) and it described the rural life and customs in the raising sun country.
