Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (March 11, 2011)

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I find it quite silly that though the Japanese regularly call the Futenmma and 7th Fleet Americans "gaijin pigs" on 2ch, they still express gratitude when the Yanks jumped in to help with little regard for the political and sociological consequences (such as their own idiots back at home riling about "Pearl Harbour").

It would be nice if you do not generalize all Japanese into the 2ch population.
As for Futenma base it really is a problem with a helicopter base right in middle of a city.
The conflict completely went overdrive when one of their helicopters crashed into a collage nearby. To make the matter worse the local authorities were shut out by the US military to do any inspections and the whole school was marked off-limits until the US military removed the crashed vehicle from the premises and the bill for repairs were sent to Tokyo.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I don't think the same people who say thank you are the vocal minority of idiots on 2ch.

I included the apathetic. Sometimes I wonder if they allow themselves to be fuelled with anti-American sentiments from political rags by not showing the finger.

Then again, they are apathetic, so they wouldn't even bother about what those people wrote anyway.

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

It would be nice if you do not generalize all Japanese into the 2ch population.
As for Futenma base it really is a problem with a helicopter base right in middle of a city.
The conflict completely went overdrive when one of their helicopters crashed into a collage nearby. To make the matter worse the local authorities were shut out by the US military to do any inspections and the whole school was marked off-limits until the US military removed the crashed vehicle from the premises and the bill for repairs were sent to Tokyo.

Murphy's Law : shit will always happen no matter how many safeguards or probabilities there exist to prevent it. But that is quite appalling that they sent the bill to Tokyo, isn't that ridiculous? One causes damage and gets someone else to pay for it?

From a macro-perspective, it would be hard for the airbase to go, along with the US troops due to political clout from China, and the possibility of a long-range missile strike from North Korea. The military presence is a somewhat a counter-rhetoric to the anti-Japanese propaganda that elements of the CCP has been spreading since the 1940s - it is a lousy lose-lose situation due to the lack of trust and diplomacy on both sides that has dragged on way too long.

[Ithekro]

Least is isn't a base with mecha that could stomp through the city or trip and fall into a highrise.

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

From a macro-perspective, it would be hard for the airbase to go, along with the US troops due to political clout from China, and the possibility of a long-range missile strike from North Korea. The military presence is a somewhat a counter-rhetoric to the anti-Japanese propaganda that elements of the CCP has been spreading since the 1940s - it is a lousy lose-lose situation due to the lack of trust and diplomacy on both sides that has dragged on way too long.

Here is the thing that nobody mentions within the argument but, the US military controls approx. 3/4 of the entire island and there is a lot of open space within that controlled area and yet the US and the Japanese government wants to construct a base outside of that controlled area.
What is wrong within that picture?

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

Here is the thing that nobody mentions within the argument but, the US military controls approx. 3/4 of the entire island and there is a lot of open space within that controlled area and yet the US and the Japanese government wants to construct a base outside of that controlled area.
What is wrong within that picture?

Military doctrines. It is pretty standard for military bases around the world to have large patches of empty land around their main base, or be surrounded by tons of urban forms like drainage canals, roads, and a long way to the entrance of the main base.

The main reason is for ground defence, but I am afraid I can't tell you the specifics - I don't want to risk a coffee session with my local intelligence agencies.

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I find it quite silly that though the Japanese regularly call the Futenmma and 7th Fleet Americans "gaijin pigs" on 2ch, they still express gratitude when the Yanks jumped in to help with little regard for the political and sociological consequences (such as their own idiots back at home riling about "Pearl Harbour").

There are people (everywhere on this planet) who are so xenophobic, that they do not even need a concrete reason (maybe just inferiority complex) to hate other people. And usually they are the ones who are most vocal about their POV (which is most emberassing for normal people of the same origin, because you cannot really shut them up because of free speech and it is like feeling dirty to be associated with such people).
This can create the perception that the small number of very vocal right wingers (societal right wing) is actually the predominant group in a people.

In Germany the general relationship of US NATO base personel and local people is friendly. I've seen a lot of US forces' personel (those I could recognize because of their uniform - I can imagine there are more in normal clothing) traveling in the region of Nuremberg.
They are just normal, friendly people like everyone else here (well, maybe a little bit more friendly actually - because Germans are generally more reserved and shortspoken). Which is why I was a little bit confused when I heard of those stories about unfriendly base personel in US bases in Okinawa. Unless US base personel in Japan behaves very differently from US base personel in Germany, these stories must be kinda blown out of proportion.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by Jinto

Which is why I was a little bit confused when I heard of those stories about unfriendly base personel in US bases in Okinawa. Unless US base personel in Japan behaves very differently from US base personel in Germany, these stories must be kinda blown out of proportion.

I think one of the problems is the language barrier. It's hard to be friendly if you can't communicate. Not many US personnel try to learn Japanese, and not many Okinawans know a reasonable amount of English. And typically, the ones who try are looking to pick up girls.

There have also been a couple of bad incidents. Besides the helicopter crash (they seriously sent the bill to Tokyo? ), a 12yo girl was raped in 1995. A few years ago, there was another incident involving a teenage girl that resulted in a curfew that lasted for a few weeks (if I remember correctly). I met quite a few genuinely nice ones when I was there, but it only takes one to give the whole group a bad reputation.

(We) know the military are usually fantastic in times of crisis, and they have a huge influence on the Okinawan economy...but there are too many military personnel there - around 3/4 of the US military in Japan are positioned in Okinawa.

Oh, and US bases cover 12% of the island, not 3/4 as someone said before.

[Random32]

I doubt the majority of the people on the base are unfriendly, it just takes a few to ruin the reputation of everyone else.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I find it quite silly that though the Japanese regularly call the Futenmma and 7th Fleet Americans "gaijin pigs" on 2ch, they still express gratitude when the Yanks jumped in to help with little regard for the political and sociological consequences (such as their own idiots back at home riling about "Pearl Harbour").

So much for inventing the term tsundere. Nonetheless it's kinda great to see people thanking others who risk themselves help out - unlike the Arab League who's just condemning NATO even though they dropped bombs on Gaddafi's tanks.

2ch != Japan

They are a rather vocal minority. Sorta like the people in America screaming Pearl Harbor happened thus we should just take the opportunity and nuke the rest of Japan.

[TigerII]

I know I will get flamed about this, but one big difference between the US personnel in Germany, and US personnel in Okinawa is the branches. The ones in Germany are US Army. The US Army is usually more, how do I put this, laid back in their attitudes about what they are and what nation they are from.

The US personnel involved the the bad incidents are Marines. I am in the US Navy and I have had contact with Marines. They are brainwashed. They are taught that they are the greatest being on the planet, to be ultra nationalistic, and even hinted at that they are above the law. While not near the Schutzstaffel, they sort of have the same mentality of superiority.


I know that we(Americans) are hated by just about everybody(Even our neighbors Canada/Mexico) hate us, but I still present myself in a professional, non-psychotic manner when I am in other nations, even if they are yelling at me.

[RandySyler]

TigerII,
From the military personnell that I know (which is quite a few people) that is a true statement on the Marine Corps. It seems to be more prevelant in the new generation of marines however.

[Vexx]

Just something that makes the scale easier to comprehend:

ISHINOMAKI, Japan, April 21 (AP) - (Kyodo)—An elementary school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, started the new academic year Thursday after losing 70 percent of its students in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The opening ceremony of the municipality government-run Okawa Elementary School was held at another public school in the coastal city, as its school building was severely damaged and is now surrounded by debris and seawater even more than a month after the disaster.
Many children and teachers of the school, located some 5 kilometers from the mouth of the Kitakami River, were caught in the tsunami before they evacuated to higher land following the quake. The disaster killed or left missing 74 of its 108 students and 10 of its 13 teachers.
The new school year of Okawa Elementary School started with 22 students and 16 teachers.

[ganbaru]

Japan nuclear evacuation ring will be no-go zone
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...72A0SS20110421

[MisaoFan]

It's possible to reconstruct destroyed furniture completely to maintain the unharmed life of stricken victims ?

[Vexx]

Reporting from Tokyo (John Glionna, LA Times) — Naoko Sugimoto has heard the news through the nation's fledgling mental health grapevine, ominous reports of suicides in the region devastated by last month's magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami. It's a trickle she fears may soon become a river: the farmer who hanged himself, distressed about a cabbage harvest ruined by radioactive fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant; the overworked government worker near the complex who took his life; the father who killed himself after a fruitless search for his child after the tsunami.
"I feel sorry for these people in the same way I do for those who died in the tsunami," said Sugimoto, 67, who heads a national suicide support group, Izoku Shien. "But they didn't die in the tsunami; they died afterward. They took their own lives. And that makes you ask yourself, 'What could we have done?'"
As Japan rebuilds from the March 11 disaster, public health officials worry that a lingering sense of hopelessness among those affected might lead to a surge in suicides in a nation already coping with one of the developed world's highest rates of self-inflicted deaths. They have created suicide hotlines, pumped more money into therapy programs and sent more suicide counselors into the field as they wait and worry.
In the coming months, as those displaced by the quake and tsunami seek to move on with their lives, the true gravity of the disaster will slowly sink in for many, say government officials, aid organizations and mental health workers.
...
Full story at Los Angeles Times
...
In 2007, central government officials passed a law requiring municipalities to help stem the rising rate nationwide, mandating that each prefecture fund a prevention office.
The suicide rate in northern Honshu has since dropped. But three prefectures in hard-hit disaster areas recently created a suicide hotline just for survivors, Sugimoto said.
Fernando said the Japanese government should establish a financial safety net for farmers, fishermen and others whose livelihoods have been hurt by the disaster.
"The potential for depression is out there," she said. "It's not just driven by the big traumas; it's the years afterward when people try to rebuild their lives, the daily hassles of getting water, kids with no electricity," she said.
Family members said the Fukushima prefecture farmer who took his life believed he had lost "everything he had ever worked for during his life." The man's daughter told reporters, "We have no idea how long this situation will continue. What will become of us? I think everyone involved in agriculture is worried. I pray there will be no more victims like my father."
Sugimoto has the same hope.
"We never know what we have waiting for us on the next page of our lives," she said. "People need to wait and see what happens."

[Vexx]

Politics of the kind I hate:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0110427a3.html

The opposition and others chirping that Kan is handling the disaster lousy and should resign but offering no solutions of their own.

[Vexx]

Various news stories --

SENDAI, April 26 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The annual Tanabata star festival will be held as usual from Aug. 6 to 8 in Sendai, northeastern Japan, with this year's theme set on recovery and requiescat, following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit the area on March 11, its organizer said Tuesday. The three-day summer festival, which around 2.35 million people had visited last year, is known for colorful streamers and bamboo branches decorating the city's shopping arcades, but citizens are encouraged this year to decorate their homes as well so the event will return to its original shape, said the organizing group under the Sendai Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.
In the wake of last month's disaster, however, it expects a downturn of sponsorship from local firms, and thus cut the budget of the festival to around 76 million yen from the initially planned 100 million yen such as by not holding some events during night hours.
Instead, the organizer will newly ask people in tsunami-devastated coastal areas to write their wishes on strips of paper to be tied to bamboo branches, it said.
About 3,000 Tanabata decorations are expected to be put up in the center of the city, unchanged from last year, as the organizer will subsidize them as usual, it added.
"Tanabata is an event to make wishes to stars. We hope to cheer up people in the Tohoku region by organizing the festival," said Hiroshi Kamata, chairman of Sendai-based 77 Bank Ltd. who heads the organizer.
The Tanabata festival, which has its origins in China, is observed in Japan as an occasion for people to write their wishes on strips of paper and tying them to bamboo branches.

Lucky Reporter's Personal Encounter with Tsunami caught in photos

Rebuilding... one soy sauce business at a time

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Politics of the kind I hate:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0110427a3.html

The opposition and others chirping that Kan is handling the disaster lousy and should resign but offering no solutions of their own.

That is what politicians from opposing parties do, don't they?

Heck over here this and next month, we have the same situation, except that the opposition is harping about the inflating prices of housing (thanks to property speculators who even dip their hands into public housing, as well as Dr Breen Bernanke who's printing USD and cutting interest rates like no tomorrow and sending everything around the world skyrocketing) without giving any concrete solutions.

Hoipefully there comes along a guy/girl who tells them all to shut their mouths, open their eyes and use their brains instead of complaining. I thought Asian politics should be radically more rational than Western ones, but apparently both sides have the same proportion (read : majority) of idiots too.

[Vexx]

This concerns me about many of the smaller towns, particularly with Japan's birth rate crash.

Tsunami Towns Face ‘Empty Monument’ Risk as Japan Rebuilds


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...-rebuilds.html

[Vexx]

Elementary School that lost 70% of its pupils in tsunami mourns...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0110429a1.html

Spoiler for article content:

Valediction: Family members pray for students killed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami Thursday at Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, after a memorial service. KYODO PHOTO
School that lost 70% of its pupils mourns

Buddhist rites: Tohoku marks 49th day since thousands died

Kyodo
ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Pref. — An elementary school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, held a memorial service Thursday for the 70 percent of its students lost in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami — marking in Buddhist terms the 49th day since death when the souls of the departed enter another world.

New life: Cherry blossoms come into bloom along the Okawa River in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on Thursday near a house destroyed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. KYODO PHOTO The photos of the 84 victims — 74 children and 10 teachers — from the city-run Okawa Elementary School were displayed in honor of the dead at the ceremony, which had to be held at another school due to building damage. Okawa Elementary School started a new academic year there on April 21.
The altar placed inside the school gym was decorated with pink and white flowers, and photos of the smiling children were arranged by grade.
Attendees included the families of the victims as well as members of the Self-Defense Forces, police and fire departments who searched for them.
One of the attendees, Nao Takahashi, 73, from Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, lost two young relatives in the disaster, a girl in the second grade and the other in the fourth.
"Although I wasn't feeling very strongly that (their deaths) are real, looking at their portraits displayed like that." she said, her words tailing off. "I want them to get along well in heaven."
Many pupils and school staff members perished in the tsunami that rushed upstream along a local river while they were fleeing to higher ground from Okawa Elementary School, which was located about 5 km from the mouth of the river.
Of the 108 children at the school, 67 were confirmed dead as of Wednesday morning with seven still missing. Of the 13 schoolteachers and others, nine were killed and one was still missing.
Meanwhile, Ground Self-Defense Force troops mounted an intensive search on the Miyagi coast on the same day to look for those still missing, many of them believed to have been washed away by the waves.
Counting March 11, Thursday marked the 49th day since the disaster. Buddhist services are normally held to mark the day in the belief that it is when the souls of the dead can depart for another world.
After the memorial service, some families headed to Okawa Elementary School, where they lost their children.
At the school, Takao Karino, 42, and his wife, Akemi, 42, were informed that their 12-year-old daughter's body had been found under rubble, and they rushed to see their daughter.
"It would be strange to say that I'm glad to hear that, but she was finally found on the 49th day since the disaster. She may have been waiting for us," Karino said with tears.
"I could easily recognize that it was her when I saw her. We can finally take her home," Akemi said as she wiped away her tears with her handkerchief.
Throughout Thursday, countless services were held at temples and graveyards in the region battered by the tsunami, including Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.
At a temple in the town of Watari, Miyagi Prefecture, about 200 grieving family members and others gathered to pray for those who have been buried on the premises on a temporary basis.
"It still feels as if this isn't real," said Ayako Suzuki, 56, who lost her mother in the tsunami. "I want to hold a funeral service for her soon" so she can be cremated, she added.
The tally of dead from the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami stood at 14,564 in 12 prefectures as of Thursday morning, with 11,356 missing in six prefectures, according to the National Police Agency.

[sa547]

Sad... methinks of "Children's Day" holiday. Even for those kids who survived, it's like as if their childhood were taken away, scarred for life. Indeed, it'll take years or even decades for victims to move on.

Originally Posted by Vexx

This concerns me about many of the smaller towns, particularly with Japan's birth rate crash.

Tsunami Towns Face ‘Empty Monument’ Risk as Japan Rebuilds


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...-rebuilds.html

I was thinking: why can't the government implement a "food for work" program?