Tsunami hit Japan and soon Taiwan

[Mr Punch]

Ah, **** this. All I'm worried about is my kid. Of course I care about the families of the thousands of people (Japanese, English, Chinese, Americans, Koreans... people there'll have been some of all of them) who just got drowned or have lost everything, and I came to terms with my mortality a while ago, and nature's culling, but what I really just care about is my daughter.

If you're not seeing these people as people you're guilty of the same dehumanisation that the Japanese imperial army used on the Chinese and had used on their own people to get them into that mindset.

And there's nothing wishy washy liberal about that: it's just a long-standing method of perpetuating inhuman acts - try going further back into your history.

I'm out of here.

[Mr Punch]

Amen to this.

With increased populations come increase death tolls.
This was a horrific even, and horrific natural disaster and one that we hope will not get worse because of a man-created disaster, the nuclear reactors.

I have friends and family living in Japan, friends I made while there doing Judo and Kyokushin, and I am glad they are fine.
This was a horrible thing to happen and the images are truly frightening and amazing all at once.

When nature decides to flex it's muscles, It doesn't care who gets in the way, something we lowly humans seem to forget way too much.

Let us extend our help, our love and for those that are into that, our prayers to the people of Japan.

Regardless of any past issues with ANY government, the people that suffer during a natural disater are just that, people, like you and me.

BTW, if you're going to give, please use ShelterBox or the Red Cross, not one of these newer Christian groups. These people need food, medicine, shelter, not bibles.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Amen to this.

BTW, if you're going to give, please use ShelterBox or the Red Cross, not one of these newer Christian groups. These people need food, medicine, shelter, not bibles.

Quite correct, beware of giving to any of the new "tsunami oriented" funds, give to those that have been in this and other places liek the red cross, doctors without borders or call the Japanese consulate and embassy and they will direct you.

[SPJ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94wUy38Tg8E

tsunami research in Taiwan.

please donate to red cross.

I donated to Tzu Chi, a taiwanese buddhist group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE3eY...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Jf2qJBiIs

prayers to all the people in the disaster area.

[David Jamieson]

I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to help.

But Japan is really taking care of business.
The problem is not goods and services, it's logistics.

Japan has lots of food, lots of shelter and lots of doctors.

What they need are hundreds of evac choppers and sartechs on the ground in effected areas.

It is still assessment phase and there are many people who are actually attempting to capitalize on this with funds and so on. It's ridiculous.

It's a big problem and throwing money at it is not a solution. There's lots of money.

[mickey]

Greetings,

This situation is a very sad one; not just for the Japanese people but for the world. The losses bother me a great deal. I hope things get better sooner than later.

mickey

[Jimbo]

Ah, **** this. All I'm worried about is my kid. Of course I care about the families of the thousands of people (Japanese, English, Chinese, Americans, Koreans... people there'll have been some of all of them) who just got drowned or have lost everything, and I came to terms with my mortality a while ago, and nature's culling, but what I really just care about is my daughter.

If you're not seeing these people as people you're guilty of the same dehumanisation that the Japanese imperial army used on the Chinese and had used on their own people to get them into that mindset.

And there's nothing wishy washy liberal about that: it's just a long-standing method of perpetuating inhuman acts - try going further back into your history.

I'm out of here.

Good post.
I stayed out of this discussion until now, but will say my bit here.

My heritage is Japanese. No, I wasn't born in Japan, but we still have relatives there, though luckily in Kyushu and Shikoku, relatively far from the problem areas.
The Imperial Army beasts that committed the rape, murder and atrocities in China are, for the most part, dead and gone. Japan isn't the only country that has committed atrocities in the last century, and that includes other Asian countries that I won't name as well.

Nobody says anyone has to 'feel' for the suffering of others, but nature has a tricky way of ignoring borders and nationalities. Yes, there are those in certain countries who will gloat at the fact that the misfortune has struck Japan this time, as is so ****ed predictable. What happens not if but when the next big calamity strikes China or the U.S.?

One thing I've learned in my having lived and traveled in different countries is that there's good and not-so-good people everywhere. I met some close friends in Taiwan I never would have known existed had I not gone there. If I hadn't, I could have thought, "All Chinese/Taiwanese are this way/that way." And some of them were people who originally thought "All Japanese persons are such-and-such", and knowing me changed them to see and respect me as an individual. I've also known good and bad Japanese, Germans, English, Americans, etc. I'm sure some of those who died in the quake/tsunami would have helped or assisted some of those who are now unfeeling or outright gloating over their deaths now, had their paths somehow crossed under different circumstances.

This is not some PC rant. It's a fact. Anyone is free to hate whoever they choose to. But harboring hatred will eat you up from the inside, and is always more destructive to the hater(s). I learned this from experience.

[David Jamieson]

japanese army machine gunned my village. all their wealth and depravity was jump started by their war. tell me how the fuk am i supposed to feel anything for them.

Nazi's killed two of my uncles and their Fuhrer ordered dropping enough bombs to kill off many of my family on both sides (mom and dad), who I never even knew.

Now, I have many German friends and hold no grudges based on the wars of the past. I can't even think of reasons for holding racist or nationalistic grudges.

I don't understand the propencity for holding a grudge across generations.

Curious as to why you hold anger about people you never met from a time you didn't exist in.

[Dale Dugas]

After Sumatra, there were strong aftershocks for a month, so we're expecting the same. Several of them so far have been over 6 on the Richter.

That isn't going to help the reactors.

With the exception of some ****s on Chinese message boards and some christian freaks in the US blaming it on Pearl Harbor karma, and Tokyo's very own Governor Ishihara (the ass) who blamed divine retribution for Japan's sloth and selfishness, the international response has been good. The US army/navy or someone put out the big fire at Daiichi Unit 4 about 3 hours ago. The radiation levels spiked then but have gone down to near enough normal again now. The levels for Fukushima and around the plant aren't available on the disaster prevention site; presumably censored. Ibaraki is a little high. Kanagawa/Yokohama peaked at a still safe level (less than a flight) two hours ago and fell again when the fire was put out and the wind direction changed. Tokyo got to marginally higher than before but nothing worse than a couple of cigarettes and a couple of bananas!

Misc oddities:

On the way home on Fri everything was closing early except the conbinis and... car showrooms! They still all had staff and customers in them, with the doors closed, presumably working hard for sales!

Bikes and running shoes sold out in many parts of Tokyo on Fri evening as people rushed to get home with the trains out.

Panic buying only started yesterday in earnest. Now there are no toilet rolls, rice, batteries, torches, packet foods, instant noodles etc, canned foods, bottles of water, bread products anywhere. The strangest thing you can see is people walking out of shops with armfuls of twenty or so bentos. They'd be pretty **** by the next day even if you put them in the fridge!

We ordered a big torch over Amazon, which was then cancelled by the Japanese govt to be sent to Sendai.

I just had the graduation ceremony at my junior high: everybody was very (absurdly?) calm and happy, with the exception of the mayor who was nearly hysterical in his speech. It was hilarious and quite surreal!

We've got rolling brownouts, first today (a day after scheduled) of three-four hours, excepting central Tokyo which presumably they're trying to keep going for economy's sake. This has caused a huge backlash on the net against pa*****o parlours, conbinis, neon and sex joints for working all night and using ridiculous amounts of power. Quite right too.

With the current state of reactors Japan will lose 20-30% of its power output for up to two months. The brownouts will continue till the end of April.

Apart from a few childish ****s like Bawang, the Chinese response has been lovely, with many people remarking how the Japanese helped in the Szechuan quake. Ditto the US response vs a few Tea-Partyish fundamentalist blow-hards.

Volunteers are of course not wanted near the site.

The 10000 people who were thought to have been swept away from one town were found to have evacuated.

Gotta go: got an outage on the way. Anyone want any direct links to any aspect of what I've been on about, I'll bung some up later.

Glad to hear you and yours are well.

I lived in Yamada Machi in Iwate, and it has been ruined.

Hoping they can find the many people missing.

[Lucas]

I live on the jet stream in the pacific nw...people here are freaking out kind of.....all of the potasium iodide are sold out lol

[bawang]

curious as to why you hold anger about people you never met from a time you didn't exist in.

chinese culture is static and there is less disconenction to the past. grandparents live with the family instead of nursing homes so they pass on their thoughts to the grandchildren.

[David Jamieson]

chinese culture is static and there is less disconenction to the past. grandparents live with the family instead of nursing homes so they pass on their thoughts to the grandchildren.

I don't buy that really. Too superficial.

There's plenty of multi-generation families from all cultures.

I don't have a disconnection from my past at all and can trace our family back hundreds of years! I'm of Scottish and Welsh heritage and we have plenty of reasons to have a beef about some past indignity foisted upon us.

But we don't because it's pointless and a waste of time and energy to hang onto that crap.

so, is it really just a Chinese thing? Because that is a seriously detrimental state of being for everyone involved.

[Lucas]

in reality if you look into it many upon many of europian families have the same process of living with the and holding reverence for elderly. its not just an asian thing lol. dont think the world is littered with free elder homes or something.

while many people in america do put their elders in homes, thats not all inclusive. you cant just do a blind sweep of everyone based on your own personal ignorance of other cultures lol

[David Jamieson]

in reality if you look into it many upon many of europian families have the same process of living with the and holding reverence for elderly. its not just an asian thing lol. dont think the world is littered with free elder homes or something.

while many people in america do put their elders in homes, thats not all inclusive. you cant just do a blind sweep of everyone based on your own personal ignorance of other cultures lol

Many people can't afford to get their elders into assisted care living or retirement homes either. It's not like they are shelving zones for used up old people. lol

Retirement homes are excellent for elderly folks because it gives them access to a familiar world instead of maintaining them in a world that is ever and ever stranger to them as it grows stranger to me as I age as well.

I have several neighbours of euro descent who have gramma and granpa, mom and dad, the kids all under one roof. Almost all of my Chinese neighbours are freaking yuppies! lol

I live in a town called Markham which is populated mostly with Chinese as well.

[bawang]

I don't buy that really. Too superficial.

There's plenty of multi-generation families from all cultures.

I don't have a disconnection from my past at all .

you just said before you dont know anything about your uncles and relatives that died against germany in ww2.

and can trace our family back hundreds of years! I'm of Scottish and Welsh heritage and we have plenty of reasons to have a beef about some past indignity foisted upon us. .

when theres photos and videos and the atrocities are stamped into your mind its hard to shrug it off.

so, is it really just a Chinese thing? Because that is a seriously detrimental state of being for everyone involved.

its not a chinese thing, its a european thing. europeans believe in forgive and forget and sometimes assume other cultures do that also.