Japan News (4/2)
Apr. 2nd, 2011 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarker3/31
There's video from Yamata. They have a group of 12-year-old kids who are putting together a time capsule, to be opened in eight years when they are 20 years old. Each of them writes letters, puts in keepsakes, and so on. They wrap each piece up in plastic, put everything in a large plastic tub, wrap that in plastic and seal it, and then bury the whole thing. They didn't really show us much of the letters -- apparently most of them are reminding themselves (in eight years) of what it feels like right now. They also showed the town where these kids are from (they are mostly living in a shelter, I think). The town is foundations, with a couple of ships perched in the middle. A backhoe works away.
April 1 (no fooling)
Apparently the IAEA and Japan are disagreeing about the evacuation area. The IAEA wants to make it 40 km. It's very confusing, the IAEA measurement teams apparently are measuring dust on the ground, while the Japanese measurement teams look more at vegetables and other sources, if I understand the reporter. Anyway, some difference in the methods of measurement and recommendations.
They also have experts from Chernobyl and 3 mile Island here who are happily lecturing the Japanese teams about what they need to do. The Americans are shown advising that the first thing to do is set up a control center. There is also a lot of talk about robotics versus humans. They show what looks like a sales video of something called Talon? It's an American robot that looks like an arm -- miniature jointed crane -- coming out of tracks. It apparently has a bunch of attachments to do various jobs, and comes with remote video operations.
The news tonight includes the first Sakura announcements! The cherry blossoms apparently are doing their thing. The prediction is for buds this week, not blossoms yet.
There's a short video about a fairly grim woman and her friend who do animal rescue. They've got dogs and puppies from the disaster area. They actually are arranging adoptions, and send a small white fluffy dog and a black pug -- the one with the big round eyes? -- off with a couple. I think they said they have 49 dogs in their center right now. They also show them going to help with a pet store that's been flooded. The owners are trying to clean up, and get animals out of the cages. The animal rescue people are going through the cages, and discover a rabbit -- long-haired bundle of fur -- who is still alive. It's been through the flood, no care or over two weeks, but it's still alive. They get it out of the cage, and the friend wraps it in a blanket. In their van, they are trying to get it to drink, or eat. Frankly, I think it looks terrified. Nose twitching, eyes closed. And it died in their arms. The friend tries blowing in its mouth, but it's no good. They bring it back to the pet store, and give them the limp bundle of fur. The friend is almost in tears, while the leader says it never really had a chance.
Lot of talk about it being three weeks since the quake.
There's another graduation. Middle school this time, in a shelter. The kids... one has his suit, but most are in more eclectic clothes. They have managed to get flowers, and pinned one on every kids.
Koi nobori -- carp wind socks? -- if you sew a tube of cloth, and color it, and hang it on a pole so that end is open, when the wind blows through it, it looks kind of like a carp swimming in the wind. They're traditional in Japan at this time, and one of the towns has put them up all over, but many of them have written messages encouraging people from the disaster area.
Iwate, Kamanoishi -- one of the ichiba -- shopping streets, full of small shops, is partly open for the first time. They show a fish store, with a woman who has some fresh fish on ice. The reporter asked her if she expects to do much business, and she says she just hopes they have some customers today. She certainly is ready to sell her stock. There don't seem to be many stores open, but she's trying.
Some more about the various foreign countries. Vietnam has a charity show for the relief. Moscow children are sending drawings to the Japanese kids. Stevie Wonder I just did a show and has something on his website? And in Washington DC, the cherry blossoms are out! There also is a memorial service in Washington, which is fairly well attended.
Quite a bit of coverage of Operation Tomodachi. This is the Navy effort. There is a shoulder patch, with Operation Tomodachi in English across the top, and matching Japanese across the bottom. There's a large kanji in the middle, and a slogan "Don't Give Up." There's a little bit of video of a landing craft -- those boats with the front end that drops down (#1627, I think). It pulled up somewhere, and dropped the front end -- and the Marines unloaded to help. They say that the Americans have 15,000 men involved. They show diapers, water, food all being loaded into helicopters and sent into the relief effort. They talk with an old Japnaese man, who says he is really surprised, and thankful for the help.
There's also video of the Marines helping to clean. And joining in an elementary school graduation. In particular, the parents and teachers made a tunnel of hands -- and the Marines joined the line. So the kids walked through the tunnel. Big smiles. They also pointed out that one of the Marines had a green sheet in his hand -- an English/Japanese cheat sheet, to help bridge the language gap.
There's a lot of talk about the search and rescue units that have come to help. New Zealand, Los Angeles, lots of others. We thought they said 134 countries sent search and rescue teams, but that seems like too many. Maybe 34?
There are also quite a few medical teams. Apparently there are medical teams from 30 different countries. They show one set up from Israel, with doctors and nurses, x-rays, medicine and all the other trimmings. There is a woman who got her finger caught in a machine. The doctors x-ray it, and tells her that the bone is okay, but she will need some medicine to get the finger to heal. She's really glad that they are there.
There is some talk about the invitation. Apparently upper-level governmental requests for medical aid haven't really occurred, but in this case, the local town mayor knew someone in Israel, and asked directly for help. They came in response to that. I have to admit, I'm not sure that centralized handling of everything is needed in this scale of the disaster -- let the local people go ahead and take initiative. They know what they need.
Evening show.
Hum. Apparently they are checking the fish that have been caught recently on the east coast for radiation. So far, no problem.
There is a aquarium -- Aquaworld -- with seals, big tanks, all that kind of thing. They're in Ibaraki, and they're giving free shows.
A video of a gas station somewhere in the disaster area. From the line of cars, it's apparently open. However, they show that they have barrels of gasoline and a hand crank gadget to pump the gas.
Evening
Well, they've changed the name again. It's now being called the Eastern Japanese Greater Earthquake -- I guess they decided that it belonged to the whole country, not just Tohoku, or something.
Some sad news. Apparently the Americans have located 18 more dead, somewhere.
There is some news about eye doctors visiting the shelters. Apparently some people have been wearing their contact lenses a bit too long without rinsing or replacement? Anyway, they're doing eye exams, handing out solution and replacement lenses.
I have a feeling this is not going to be successful, but the mayor of Fukushima prefecture and some of the farmers and stores are doing a sale and show to tell people that there are safe vegetables from the area. The mayer happily eats some strawberries, and they have other stuff for sale.
Iwate -- there's a soy sauce company that has over 200 years of history. They show the factory which is an empty shell, with one half barrel sitting in front of it. The owner is meeting with his employees at the shelter. He holds up a paper bag and says this is really important. It's your pay for March. And he gets out little envelopes, and hands them out to everyone.
I'm not sure where, but they showed one city hall that had a whole bunch of city records. Thick notebooks stuffed with paper. Lots of them, all drowned, and left to sit for a while. And they've got an expert here who is happily collecting all this material. Apparently the Sumatra flood in 2005 also had a lot of trouble like this, with Buddhist scriptures. And what they have worked out is that freeze-drying gives you a good chance of saving these records. So he is bundling it all up to be taken to a large freeze-drying unit. Freeze-dried books, just add water?
Aomori -- north of the disaster area. There's a small fish processing company -- they show them doing frozen packages of squid -- which is starting the spring "new employees." This is the normal time for high school and college graduates to be starting new employment. This year it's especially poignant.
4/2
Aha! This morning there was a piece about one of the small communities. This was part of an hour-long "what can we learn" special. Anyway, this small community apparently organized itself almost immediately, putting together lists of available resources of foods and medicines, hauling water, and setting up old style stoves for everyone to stay warm, heat water, and cook. They actually had a seven person emergency committee. It looked like they organized 11 groups under that, with about 10 people each. So the community is 110 or so people. They showed old people taking care of the kids, while the other people worked, cooked, and so forth.
One of the experts on the panel said that in this kind of emergency, there are three pieces. Your power -- things you can do yourself -- community power -- things that a group can do together -- and outside relief. He thought this small community really showed the strength of your power and the community power.
One of the other experts said that the most important thing is to have a strong leader. He thought that if they looked closely, they would find one person in the small community who really made a difference.
A young woman on the panel who was identified as a expert volunteer organizer, suggested that it's really important to have an image, and events, and use the skills of everyone.
As part of this special, they were taking questions from telephone or website. One of the questions started out by saying that this person lives in a rental apartment, doesn't have family nearby, and doesn't really know anyone. If they were in a disaster, how could they get along? The volunteer organizer said even now, when you see someone in the elevator or on the steps, ask small questions or offer to help. They also suggested that when a disaster hits, being willing to help and talk gets easier -- everyone has something in common then.
They showed a video of another area that only got power yesterday. Still, the principal of the local elementary school had gone ahead and organized classes in a house -- with the kids all sitting around low tables, with teachers. He's also taken charge of organizing for temporary housing. He's gone out to the local farms and households, looking at what land might be available, and talking to residents in the shelters and so forth about where they would be willing to go. Some people want to stay close to their home, even if it has been destroyed, while others are more willing to move.
I have to admit, this principal is not exactly what I would've expected. He's got a black baseball cap, pencil tucked over one ear, stubble. He's 60 years old. Blue jacket, grey fishing vest over two or three shirts. But he does seem to be the kind of "leader" that the one expert said you needed -- he's certainly organizing things in his area.
In another random video of people at a shelter, I notice that the boxes being unloaded and carried in are labeled "Samaritan's Purse" in English. I wonder if anyone will know what that is -- or if it really matters. Might be fun explaining the story -- people forget sometimes that the Christian cultural heritage really isn't universal.
Cute picture of a fairly large catamaran -- double hull, anyway -- boat perched on top of a two story building.
Lunch time. They're reporting that the SDF and Americans have found 25,000 dead in the ocean? They are showing divers going out of rubber boats, along with fairly large ships in the ocean.
The SDF is calling up reserves. They showed someone in Kyushu (southern island) being given his notice at work.
13:05 there's a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. Fours and threes across Japan.
5:43. They just rescued a dog. At sea, floating on a piece of wood. They think he's been floating since the earthquake/tsunami -- three weeks. He certainly seems happy to see the people, anyway.
There are pictures of the sakura in Nara. There's a type of cherry tree that looks like a willow tree -- the blossoms are like a waterfall, and there's a large famous one. It's blooming!
One of the people analyzing and simulating the earthquake and tsunami says that he gets the closest to what was experienced by having about 180 km of sea floor move 8 meters. That gives the kind of line source that people had been saying, and helps quantify just how much movement was involved.
There's a video of hairdressers visiting the shelters. They're giving haircuts, shampoos, all that sort of thing. I suppose after three weeks, some of the men probably could use a cut, and there definitely were quite a few pleased looking women.
A little piece about 20 Chinese young people who were caught in the quake/tsunami. Apparently they were here because of a 55 year old organizer, who teaches Japanese to them. He got all of the students out of town and up the stairs to safety, then went back into the town to double-check that everyone was out. There is a short clip of the tsunami covering the town and the bottom of the stairs, with the students yelling for him to hurry up. He never came.
There's also a short piece about Taylor Anderson. She was a young English teacher in a middle school in the disaster area. She's from Virginia. Her family and boyfriend came to Japan. Her father says that seeing the area, he knows there was no hope. At the school, they have collected written messages from her to the graduates, and let the family and boyfriend read them. Her father reads some of them, then looks at the principal and says, "She was a good teacher." The principal agrees.
There's some more video of various rescue, volunteer, relief groups from various countries. New Zealand, China, Turkish. They showed Sri Lanka and Pakistan serving curry at one of the shelters -- the young Japanese kids say they love curry, but when they try the curry being served, they are surprised and say, "It's HOT!" Apparently there are something like 19 countries helping with relief efforts in the shelters.
There's a little bit about volunteer efforts here in Japan. They show volunteers in Kyoto packing boxes to go to shelters. There's instant ramen, soup, various cans.
The Takarazuka stars -- the stars of the all-women show at Takarazuka -- are in a train station, singing. They're collecting for the relief efforts.
7:22 Magnitude 4.3?
They showed volunteers collecting and boxing donations of books. Apparently they have asked kids to bring in their favorite manga, picture books, and so on, with a message. And they are packing those up to go to the shelters.
Somewhere today there was a report that it is now estimated that it will take at least six months to get people out of the shelters into emergency housing. So there will be time to read the books...
There's video from Yamata. They have a group of 12-year-old kids who are putting together a time capsule, to be opened in eight years when they are 20 years old. Each of them writes letters, puts in keepsakes, and so on. They wrap each piece up in plastic, put everything in a large plastic tub, wrap that in plastic and seal it, and then bury the whole thing. They didn't really show us much of the letters -- apparently most of them are reminding themselves (in eight years) of what it feels like right now. They also showed the town where these kids are from (they are mostly living in a shelter, I think). The town is foundations, with a couple of ships perched in the middle. A backhoe works away.
April 1 (no fooling)
Apparently the IAEA and Japan are disagreeing about the evacuation area. The IAEA wants to make it 40 km. It's very confusing, the IAEA measurement teams apparently are measuring dust on the ground, while the Japanese measurement teams look more at vegetables and other sources, if I understand the reporter. Anyway, some difference in the methods of measurement and recommendations.
They also have experts from Chernobyl and 3 mile Island here who are happily lecturing the Japanese teams about what they need to do. The Americans are shown advising that the first thing to do is set up a control center. There is also a lot of talk about robotics versus humans. They show what looks like a sales video of something called Talon? It's an American robot that looks like an arm -- miniature jointed crane -- coming out of tracks. It apparently has a bunch of attachments to do various jobs, and comes with remote video operations.
The news tonight includes the first Sakura announcements! The cherry blossoms apparently are doing their thing. The prediction is for buds this week, not blossoms yet.
There's a short video about a fairly grim woman and her friend who do animal rescue. They've got dogs and puppies from the disaster area. They actually are arranging adoptions, and send a small white fluffy dog and a black pug -- the one with the big round eyes? -- off with a couple. I think they said they have 49 dogs in their center right now. They also show them going to help with a pet store that's been flooded. The owners are trying to clean up, and get animals out of the cages. The animal rescue people are going through the cages, and discover a rabbit -- long-haired bundle of fur -- who is still alive. It's been through the flood, no care or over two weeks, but it's still alive. They get it out of the cage, and the friend wraps it in a blanket. In their van, they are trying to get it to drink, or eat. Frankly, I think it looks terrified. Nose twitching, eyes closed. And it died in their arms. The friend tries blowing in its mouth, but it's no good. They bring it back to the pet store, and give them the limp bundle of fur. The friend is almost in tears, while the leader says it never really had a chance.
Lot of talk about it being three weeks since the quake.
There's another graduation. Middle school this time, in a shelter. The kids... one has his suit, but most are in more eclectic clothes. They have managed to get flowers, and pinned one on every kids.
Koi nobori -- carp wind socks? -- if you sew a tube of cloth, and color it, and hang it on a pole so that end is open, when the wind blows through it, it looks kind of like a carp swimming in the wind. They're traditional in Japan at this time, and one of the towns has put them up all over, but many of them have written messages encouraging people from the disaster area.
Iwate, Kamanoishi -- one of the ichiba -- shopping streets, full of small shops, is partly open for the first time. They show a fish store, with a woman who has some fresh fish on ice. The reporter asked her if she expects to do much business, and she says she just hopes they have some customers today. She certainly is ready to sell her stock. There don't seem to be many stores open, but she's trying.
Some more about the various foreign countries. Vietnam has a charity show for the relief. Moscow children are sending drawings to the Japanese kids. Stevie Wonder I just did a show and has something on his website? And in Washington DC, the cherry blossoms are out! There also is a memorial service in Washington, which is fairly well attended.
Quite a bit of coverage of Operation Tomodachi. This is the Navy effort. There is a shoulder patch, with Operation Tomodachi in English across the top, and matching Japanese across the bottom. There's a large kanji in the middle, and a slogan "Don't Give Up." There's a little bit of video of a landing craft -- those boats with the front end that drops down (#1627, I think). It pulled up somewhere, and dropped the front end -- and the Marines unloaded to help. They say that the Americans have 15,000 men involved. They show diapers, water, food all being loaded into helicopters and sent into the relief effort. They talk with an old Japnaese man, who says he is really surprised, and thankful for the help.
There's also video of the Marines helping to clean. And joining in an elementary school graduation. In particular, the parents and teachers made a tunnel of hands -- and the Marines joined the line. So the kids walked through the tunnel. Big smiles. They also pointed out that one of the Marines had a green sheet in his hand -- an English/Japanese cheat sheet, to help bridge the language gap.
There's a lot of talk about the search and rescue units that have come to help. New Zealand, Los Angeles, lots of others. We thought they said 134 countries sent search and rescue teams, but that seems like too many. Maybe 34?
There are also quite a few medical teams. Apparently there are medical teams from 30 different countries. They show one set up from Israel, with doctors and nurses, x-rays, medicine and all the other trimmings. There is a woman who got her finger caught in a machine. The doctors x-ray it, and tells her that the bone is okay, but she will need some medicine to get the finger to heal. She's really glad that they are there.
There is some talk about the invitation. Apparently upper-level governmental requests for medical aid haven't really occurred, but in this case, the local town mayor knew someone in Israel, and asked directly for help. They came in response to that. I have to admit, I'm not sure that centralized handling of everything is needed in this scale of the disaster -- let the local people go ahead and take initiative. They know what they need.
Evening show.
Hum. Apparently they are checking the fish that have been caught recently on the east coast for radiation. So far, no problem.
There is a aquarium -- Aquaworld -- with seals, big tanks, all that kind of thing. They're in Ibaraki, and they're giving free shows.
A video of a gas station somewhere in the disaster area. From the line of cars, it's apparently open. However, they show that they have barrels of gasoline and a hand crank gadget to pump the gas.
Evening
Well, they've changed the name again. It's now being called the Eastern Japanese Greater Earthquake -- I guess they decided that it belonged to the whole country, not just Tohoku, or something.
Some sad news. Apparently the Americans have located 18 more dead, somewhere.
There is some news about eye doctors visiting the shelters. Apparently some people have been wearing their contact lenses a bit too long without rinsing or replacement? Anyway, they're doing eye exams, handing out solution and replacement lenses.
I have a feeling this is not going to be successful, but the mayor of Fukushima prefecture and some of the farmers and stores are doing a sale and show to tell people that there are safe vegetables from the area. The mayer happily eats some strawberries, and they have other stuff for sale.
Iwate -- there's a soy sauce company that has over 200 years of history. They show the factory which is an empty shell, with one half barrel sitting in front of it. The owner is meeting with his employees at the shelter. He holds up a paper bag and says this is really important. It's your pay for March. And he gets out little envelopes, and hands them out to everyone.
I'm not sure where, but they showed one city hall that had a whole bunch of city records. Thick notebooks stuffed with paper. Lots of them, all drowned, and left to sit for a while. And they've got an expert here who is happily collecting all this material. Apparently the Sumatra flood in 2005 also had a lot of trouble like this, with Buddhist scriptures. And what they have worked out is that freeze-drying gives you a good chance of saving these records. So he is bundling it all up to be taken to a large freeze-drying unit. Freeze-dried books, just add water?
Aomori -- north of the disaster area. There's a small fish processing company -- they show them doing frozen packages of squid -- which is starting the spring "new employees." This is the normal time for high school and college graduates to be starting new employment. This year it's especially poignant.
4/2
Aha! This morning there was a piece about one of the small communities. This was part of an hour-long "what can we learn" special. Anyway, this small community apparently organized itself almost immediately, putting together lists of available resources of foods and medicines, hauling water, and setting up old style stoves for everyone to stay warm, heat water, and cook. They actually had a seven person emergency committee. It looked like they organized 11 groups under that, with about 10 people each. So the community is 110 or so people. They showed old people taking care of the kids, while the other people worked, cooked, and so forth.
One of the experts on the panel said that in this kind of emergency, there are three pieces. Your power -- things you can do yourself -- community power -- things that a group can do together -- and outside relief. He thought this small community really showed the strength of your power and the community power.
One of the other experts said that the most important thing is to have a strong leader. He thought that if they looked closely, they would find one person in the small community who really made a difference.
A young woman on the panel who was identified as a expert volunteer organizer, suggested that it's really important to have an image, and events, and use the skills of everyone.
As part of this special, they were taking questions from telephone or website. One of the questions started out by saying that this person lives in a rental apartment, doesn't have family nearby, and doesn't really know anyone. If they were in a disaster, how could they get along? The volunteer organizer said even now, when you see someone in the elevator or on the steps, ask small questions or offer to help. They also suggested that when a disaster hits, being willing to help and talk gets easier -- everyone has something in common then.
They showed a video of another area that only got power yesterday. Still, the principal of the local elementary school had gone ahead and organized classes in a house -- with the kids all sitting around low tables, with teachers. He's also taken charge of organizing for temporary housing. He's gone out to the local farms and households, looking at what land might be available, and talking to residents in the shelters and so forth about where they would be willing to go. Some people want to stay close to their home, even if it has been destroyed, while others are more willing to move.
I have to admit, this principal is not exactly what I would've expected. He's got a black baseball cap, pencil tucked over one ear, stubble. He's 60 years old. Blue jacket, grey fishing vest over two or three shirts. But he does seem to be the kind of "leader" that the one expert said you needed -- he's certainly organizing things in his area.
In another random video of people at a shelter, I notice that the boxes being unloaded and carried in are labeled "Samaritan's Purse" in English. I wonder if anyone will know what that is -- or if it really matters. Might be fun explaining the story -- people forget sometimes that the Christian cultural heritage really isn't universal.
Cute picture of a fairly large catamaran -- double hull, anyway -- boat perched on top of a two story building.
Lunch time. They're reporting that the SDF and Americans have found 25,000 dead in the ocean? They are showing divers going out of rubber boats, along with fairly large ships in the ocean.
The SDF is calling up reserves. They showed someone in Kyushu (southern island) being given his notice at work.
13:05 there's a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. Fours and threes across Japan.
5:43. They just rescued a dog. At sea, floating on a piece of wood. They think he's been floating since the earthquake/tsunami -- three weeks. He certainly seems happy to see the people, anyway.
There are pictures of the sakura in Nara. There's a type of cherry tree that looks like a willow tree -- the blossoms are like a waterfall, and there's a large famous one. It's blooming!
One of the people analyzing and simulating the earthquake and tsunami says that he gets the closest to what was experienced by having about 180 km of sea floor move 8 meters. That gives the kind of line source that people had been saying, and helps quantify just how much movement was involved.
There's a video of hairdressers visiting the shelters. They're giving haircuts, shampoos, all that sort of thing. I suppose after three weeks, some of the men probably could use a cut, and there definitely were quite a few pleased looking women.
A little piece about 20 Chinese young people who were caught in the quake/tsunami. Apparently they were here because of a 55 year old organizer, who teaches Japanese to them. He got all of the students out of town and up the stairs to safety, then went back into the town to double-check that everyone was out. There is a short clip of the tsunami covering the town and the bottom of the stairs, with the students yelling for him to hurry up. He never came.
There's also a short piece about Taylor Anderson. She was a young English teacher in a middle school in the disaster area. She's from Virginia. Her family and boyfriend came to Japan. Her father says that seeing the area, he knows there was no hope. At the school, they have collected written messages from her to the graduates, and let the family and boyfriend read them. Her father reads some of them, then looks at the principal and says, "She was a good teacher." The principal agrees.
There's some more video of various rescue, volunteer, relief groups from various countries. New Zealand, China, Turkish. They showed Sri Lanka and Pakistan serving curry at one of the shelters -- the young Japanese kids say they love curry, but when they try the curry being served, they are surprised and say, "It's HOT!" Apparently there are something like 19 countries helping with relief efforts in the shelters.
There's a little bit about volunteer efforts here in Japan. They show volunteers in Kyoto packing boxes to go to shelters. There's instant ramen, soup, various cans.
The Takarazuka stars -- the stars of the all-women show at Takarazuka -- are in a train station, singing. They're collecting for the relief efforts.
7:22 Magnitude 4.3?
They showed volunteers collecting and boxing donations of books. Apparently they have asked kids to bring in their favorite manga, picture books, and so on, with a message. And they are packing those up to go to the shelters.
Somewhere today there was a report that it is now estimated that it will take at least six months to get people out of the shelters into emergency housing. So there will be time to read the books...
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-02 02:11 pm (UTC)Some sister cities in California (probably elsewhere as well) have invited children to come to the United States to study in those cases where schools have been destroyed. I'm not sure how well thought out that plan is. Are they inviting the whole family? I know college age students are being encouraged to stay here rather than go home. One student saw her sister on a newscast. She hadn't been able to reach her sister and her sister took the opportunity of the news interview to say the family was all right.
Thank you for the continued insights on what is going on there. We get a very limited view, and it's mostly statistical and broad camera views. The news reports aren't as intimate as your summaries.
Take care.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-03 12:54 pm (UTC)BUT I really don't think people are doing that. I don't believe it is a choice between human lives and pets, in most cases. Instead, people are trying to "keep the faith" with our pets -- they put up with so much from us, and do give us love and attention, so if we can help them, we owe it to them and to ourselves to do so. Or to deal with them as humanely as possible (e.g. not leaving them to starve somewhere or some of the other inhuman treatment that I have heard of in various circumstances). I.e., I'm one of those who thinks we should do what we can. Anyway...
no subject
Date: 2011-04-03 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-02 05:33 pm (UTC)I think sometimes it is the little comforts - haircuts, sakura in bloom, opening a shop, book - that give people hope. Life in the shelters must be pretty grim, and digging through debris is ... well, I can't really imagine.
Thank you for your word pictures. This story is fading from the news here and seems mostly focussed on radiation, although the dog story made it.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-03 12:22 am (UTC)from the dearth of information here....
Date: 2011-04-05 10:58 am (UTC)I am sickened by the fact that this is my country, these are my fellow Americans. It's hard, when I think along those lines, NOT to immediately consider how we covered the post-war clean up after we, personally, created this kind of destruction (and worse in some ways but not worse in others).
NOWHERE has anyone ever remarked on the fact that in 2-3 years, the famine from the devasted farmland and destruction of much-needed natural resources will STILL be crippling Japan.
I completely agree regarding the naive Americanism of "Oh send your children here to go to school"; stupid American thinking, never actually thinking things through. I have always known I didn't fit in here (I immediately felt a sense of belonging when I emigrated to Israel). It's at times like this when I have to keep quiet or be told I'm rude, insensitive or mean and that those people inviting children to come study here are doing something "oh-so-wonderful" whereas I KNOW they are idiots, not thinking it through OR realizing how much MORE could be done to help children in Japan if they had food and clothing and shelter--before school. It's at these times, I just am ashamed to be Boston-born-and-bred.
Anyway, I really appreciate being able to read your first-hand accounts. If it's not "drama" then the American MSM won't cover it and ugly cleanup is never dramatic enough for them so we hear nothing. It's good to read the real-life story SOMEWHERE :)
Keep up the good work--and your own strength.