It has been three weeks since the earthquake.
Tonight there was another biggish one - only magnitude 5.1 - but 5+ on the Japanese scale, centred within 15 km of Hiro's parents' place in Akita. There is a range of mountains and 600km between us and them and I only became aware of it when Hiro's aunt Yasuko rang to ask if we had been able to get through to them. I didn't have the television on and had no idea. The landlines weren't connecting, but I was able to get through to Hiro's sister in law's mobile - she had called them straight after the quake and could report that all were fine.
There is much to be thankful for despite the magnitude of the earthquake and height of the tsunami. The worst affected areas - Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima comprise 10% of Japan's land area, but contain less than 5% of the population. No consolation to those who were affected. I shudder to think of the devastation of a tsunami in Tokyo Bay.
With a tragedy of this magnitude it is natural for the country to be in mourning. The Japanese response to death and tragedy encompasses the idea of jishuku 自粛 - voluntary self-restraint. A friend defined it for me as "refrain from activities, especially felicitous ones, because of a tragedy, usually a death or an illness, elsewhere". Elsewhere seems important to me. Across Japan entrance ceremonies that mark the start of the new academic year have be cancelled in places relatively and totally unaffected by earthquake damage.. Annual festivals -including the Kanagawa's Fertility Festival, Tokyo's Sanja Matsuri, Kyoto's Hanatoro festival are being cancelled, because it's considered insensitive to be having fun and festivities while others are mourning. A friend who was in Fukuoka last week says local spring festivities have been cancelled through out Kyushu as well.
Jishuku, a virtue, reduces conspicuous consumption and frivolity in an effort to express solidarity. It's a hard balance though. And sometimes it's hard to understand - horseracing gets cancelled but not baseball... The prefectural school boys baseball tournament - which is a big event - goes ahead to cheer the spirits of people in affected areas - but the brass band which was supposed to play there too gets cancelled. Too bad for the kids who have been practicing for months playing their instruments... A brass band would cheer me more than a game of baseball...
If it were me making decisions about university entrance ceremonies, they would all go ahead but with acknowledgement of the devastation and passing around the hat to raise as much money as possible to help rebuild areas damaged by the earthquake. But that's not how it's done. I am not sure how long the spirit of jishuku is likely to remain.
Friday, 1 April 2011
A story from the quake
I'm not usually given to sentimentality, but this came into my inbox today. Though there are parts that make the veracity of the story somewhat questionable, it seems to be authentic. It's certainly believable.
It is a letter written by a Vietnamese working as a policeman on the Sanriku Coast back to someone in Vietnam. (This is part of the problem as AFAIK VN haven't sent police, he may be an immigrant naturalised as a Japanese though.)
I was suprised to see the Shanghai Daily had an edited version of the article. There is a window of opportunity for improving China-Japan relations - if both sides make the effort. Even if it does turn out to be fake, I'm happy to see China finding positive things to say about the "Japanese character".
Brother, there are so many stories I want to tell you - so many, that I don’t know how to write them all. But there was a really moving incident. It involves a little Japanese boy who taught an adult like me a lesson on how to behave like a human being:
Last night, I was sent to a little grammar school to help a charity organization distribute food to the refugees. It was a long line that snaked this way and that and I saw a little boy around 9 years old. He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
It was getting very cold and the boy was at the very end of the line. I was worried that by the time his turn came there wouldn’t be any food left. So I spoke to him.
He said he was in the middle of PE at school when the earthquake happened. His father worked nearby and was driving to the school. The boy was on the third floor balcony when he saw the tsunami sweep his father’s car away. I asked him about his mother. He said his house is right by the beach and that his mother and little sister probably didn’t make it. He turned his head and wiped his tears when I asked about his relatives.
The boy was shivering so I took off my police jacket and put it on him. That’s when my bag of food ration fell out. I picked it up and gave it to him. “When it comes to your turn, they might run out of food. So here’s my portion. I already ate. Why don’t you eat it.”
The boy took my food and bowed. I thought he would eat it right away, but he didn't. He took the bag of food, went up to where the line ended and put it where all the food was waiting to be distributed. I was shocked. I asked him why he didn’t eat it and instead added it to the food pile …
He answered: “Because I see a lot more people hungrier than I am. If I put it there, then they will distribute the food equally.”
When I heard that I turned away so that people wouldn't see me cry. It was so moving -- a powerful lesson on sacrifice and giving. Who knew a 9-year-old in third grade could teach me a lesson on how to be a human being at a time of such great suffering? A society that can produce a 9- year-old who understands the concept of sacrifice for the greater good must be a great society, a great people.
It reminds me of a phrase that I once learned in school, a capitalist theory from the old man, Fuwa [Tetsuzo], chairman of the Japanese Communist Party: “If Marx comes back to life, he will have to add a phrase to his book, Capital, and that ‘Communist ideology is only successful in Japan.’”
Well, a few lines to send you and your family my warm wishes. The hours of my shift have begun again.
- Ha Minh Thanh
The whole article is available here.
Last night, I was sent to a little grammar school to help a charity organization distribute food to the refugees. It was a long line that snaked this way and that and I saw a little boy around 9 years old. He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
It was getting very cold and the boy was at the very end of the line. I was worried that by the time his turn came there wouldn’t be any food left. So I spoke to him.
He said he was in the middle of PE at school when the earthquake happened. His father worked nearby and was driving to the school. The boy was on the third floor balcony when he saw the tsunami sweep his father’s car away. I asked him about his mother. He said his house is right by the beach and that his mother and little sister probably didn’t make it. He turned his head and wiped his tears when I asked about his relatives.
The boy was shivering so I took off my police jacket and put it on him. That’s when my bag of food ration fell out. I picked it up and gave it to him. “When it comes to your turn, they might run out of food. So here’s my portion. I already ate. Why don’t you eat it.”
The boy took my food and bowed. I thought he would eat it right away, but he didn't. He took the bag of food, went up to where the line ended and put it where all the food was waiting to be distributed. I was shocked. I asked him why he didn’t eat it and instead added it to the food pile …
He answered: “Because I see a lot more people hungrier than I am. If I put it there, then they will distribute the food equally.”
When I heard that I turned away so that people wouldn't see me cry. It was so moving -- a powerful lesson on sacrifice and giving. Who knew a 9-year-old in third grade could teach me a lesson on how to be a human being at a time of such great suffering? A society that can produce a 9- year-old who understands the concept of sacrifice for the greater good must be a great society, a great people.
It reminds me of a phrase that I once learned in school, a capitalist theory from the old man, Fuwa [Tetsuzo], chairman of the Japanese Communist Party: “If Marx comes back to life, he will have to add a phrase to his book, Capital, and that ‘Communist ideology is only successful in Japan.’”
Well, a few lines to send you and your family my warm wishes. The hours of my shift have begun again.
- Ha Minh Thanh
The whole article is available here.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
News flash
These days my phone is set to sound an alert when there is an important news update.
It's a bit of an overkill but I am a news junkie and I figure it's good to be precautionate.
Beeep beeep beeep.
A heart flutter... quick look.... breaking news....
Tokyo Disneyland is reopening on 6 April but on reduced hours.
Hmmm... perhaps I can disable the function.
It's a bit of an overkill but I am a news junkie and I figure it's good to be precautionate.
Beeep beeep beeep.
A heart flutter... quick look.... breaking news....
Tokyo Disneyland is reopening on 6 April but on reduced hours.
Hmmm... perhaps I can disable the function.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Earthquake information
Outside earthquake countries, the idea of earthquake warnings probably seems alien. In Japan it's an embedded part of the infrastructure. On our mobile phones we have earthquake alerts that usually (not always) go off about 10 seconds before a high magnitude earthquake. It's not much time, but time to put down a boiling pot or get down from a ladder. Sometimes they go off and there is no perceptible quake - but better to be forewarned. Since there have been so many earth tremors lately, from time to time TV shows are interrupted by the alerts. On live shows (of which there are many) the announcer will read from autocues to prepare for a quake. No one jumps under tables... people just sit still and wait... and usually it's nothing to be very concerned about.
It's hard to overstate the importance of earthquake information & tsunami alerts though. Every time there is a tremor above 3 on the Japanese scale news about it is broadcast on television. The size of the earthquake and the perceived danger determine the prominence that it is given. Along the coast lines there are tsunami siren and without doubt the tsunami alerts that followed the earthquake on the 11th saved the lives of many thousands of people - I have not seen any attempt to quantify this though.
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| From a couple of days ago. In the middle of a show broadcasting about health matters, there is an alert notifying about an earthquake that has occurred just off the Iwate coast line. There is nothing written about tsunami on here, nor is there a flashing line by the coast - the visual that goes with a tsunami alert. Earthquake reports usually end with - there is no danger of tsunami. The 11 March earthquake had tsunami warnings for most of the coastline. |
The following are from a tremor tonight. It was a 6.4 magnitude earthquake off Fukushima.
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| http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/20110329200430391-291954.html |
On the TV screen in the pictures below, you can see the writing across the top which informs which places experienced which level on the Japanese seismic scale and whether there is any danger of tsunami. The character in the top left - 震度３- means it was three on the Japanese scale. Three means -
| 3) / 2.5–3.4 | Felt by most people indoors. Some people are frightened. | Dishes in a cupboard rattle occasionally. | Electric wires swing slightly. |
Wikipedia gives a good explanation of the Japanese seismic scale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Meteorological_Agency_seismic_intensity_scale
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The writing on top of the TV screens notes that the earthquake was rated 3
on the Japanese shaking scale in
Natori City, Kakuda City, Iwanuma City,
Zao Town, Shichigama Town, Ogahara Town.
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Also 3 in parts of Akita and Yamagata.
Akita City, Daisen City, Kamiyama City,
Murayama city Tendo City, Nakayama City.
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Also 3 in much of Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures. Ibaraki prefecture- south,
Tochigi prefecture - north, Tochigi south,
Chiba prefecture north east
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Shindo 3 in Higashi Matsushima, Matsushima, Rifu, Daigo,
Tomiya, Ohira (Miyagi)
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A warning that it may change sea levels but there is no
danger from this earthquake.
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Or the list of the previous 10 or so.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/quake_local_index.html
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