One of the news channels said the same thing. They where very impressed on how orderly everyone was and no need for riot police to come out and control things.
It looks like a number of people in my work group have been watching too much American news and they are all but panicking, so we're heading home tonight. I'm actually bummed to go home so soon. Like some have mentioned in this thread, there are many differences in the cultures between American and Japan, which is one of the main reasons I like coming to Japan so much. Some of those differences have been covered well on the news: total calmness in the long lines at the last few remaining gas stations, no rioting, no reported looting, and people working to help other people. Sure, people help other people in the US, but it's just not the same. I wish more Americans could truly understand what other cultures are like.
Lee - you could not have said it better. It's not just Japan either, it's the US that is so different - we could learn so much from other cultures. God speed and travel safe.
Radiation levels are slightly above normal up north, but we've been running around with radiation detectors all day south of Tokyo and they all read "0". Paranoia seems to be running rampant around here. Education is the best defense against this problem. The Japanese nationals that work on our base seem to be more worried about the Nuclear Plant than anything else. As you would expect, anything nuclear scares the you know what out of them. I would agree with Lee about the cultures. A lot of them are freaked out, but they do it calmly and without hysterics. I can just imagine what would happen back home... Sorry you had to go home Lee, we missed our opportunity to go riding. With rock slides and trail collapses, things could have been real interesting. Hit me up next time.
My officemate at work found this site that has raw footage from various locations: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theenvoy/20110311/ts_yblog_theenvoy/watch-raw-footage-of-the-japan-earthquake-and-tsunami We've all seen the tsunami coming ashore and the devastation it brought. I was watching it happen live the other night when I first posted up. It was silent and eerie as shown on television as it was happening, the cameraman aboard a helicopter high above the wreckage and carnage on the ground. You gotta know on the ground it was brutal -- a 20 foot wall of cars, trucks, homes (on fire!) and debris coming right at you down your street? Yeah, I think it would have been anything but silent. This is a stunning piece of unedited video where you can hear the tsunami warning alarms going off with footage of a few cars in the streets, followed by some water flowing into the streets that within a few short moments becomes complete and unadulterated annihilation. It is really humbling to watch the power of the sea from this ground-level perspective: [youtube]2uJN3Z1ryck[/youtube] - shud
A shame that some people, even those on this forum, use an event to sensationalize "2012" scares and other doom-pr0n causes. These things have always been happening, the news is just far better at reporting things in an international community these days. Does this ring a bell for anyone? http://www.smate.wwu.edu/teched/geology/eq-Kuril.html A quake of similar size in Japan - though near a less populated area, even a tsunami, though slightly more mild all around (8.1) - in 1994. Oh wait, was this a run-up to the Y2K disaster instead? (sarcasm) I am genuinely curious to find out what the next "doomsday prophecy" is that people will start talking about in 2013....
I've spent a good amount of time in Japan, and around Japanese here in the U.S. I think a lot of times we either mistake or don't recognize what "culture" really is. What we witness as culture is actually socio-political behavior. Groups of people behave a certain way because they've been conditioned to do so, not because it's natural to a particular people. Conditioned behavior is at times useful, yet at other times very, very dangerous. Glad you're safe and on your way home.
Anymore news on the nuclear power plants? I know they are pumping saltwater in one of them which pretty much means they are going to shut down that plant a little prematurally.
Radiation hell, from bad to worse. Yeah, now I'm very annoyed, who do you beleive? How does TEPCO: -go from "a small release therefore just need a 20km radius evacuation" to "30km radius and oh yeah, lock yourself in your home and seal it" to "detectors going off all across the northern region" -go from "all reactors are shut down" to 3 explosions, multiple fires and wildly varying radiation releases? -go from "we don't know the cause of smoke" to "we will be using helicopters to put water on the reactors". -go from "there has been no release" to "the release levels are not too harmful" and today "we are abandoning the facility, all plant workers are leaving, evacuating" Japan's prime minister yesterday said to TEPCO (translated) "what the hell is going on?" A nuclear plant expert says "all bets are off". I have now flipped from being understanding about the news to dubious. The suffering is bad enough, will it grow due to an abandoned nuclear powerplant left to the devices of it's designed-in catch basin? http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/24521815#video=24540793
I have a very difficult time believing most of the news sources during a disaster. I think there are way too many things swirling in the rumor mill and moreover, I believe they need to keep us tuned in and/or reading the updates "BREAKING NEWS" for their bottom line. ($$$$ sponsor watch) Kind of like when Fritz or Dallas or for JoeTruth, Jackie Johnson says there's a storm moving in and we are on storm watch but they very often over-hype a sprinkle and make it a flood. Don't believe everything you read.
So true. The news that's being reported in Japan is done so very differently than the news reports in the US. The US news sensationalizes every little detail they can pick up/make up, instead of reporting the facts. Even while I was in Tokyo, hearing the reports in Tokyo how bad things are in the Tokyo area was a bit disgusting, I thought, considering that I didn't believe most of it to be true. I further lost respect for US news. Can't US news just report the facts without trying to hype something up for ratings, or the reporter trying to earn an award for his broadcasting (sensationalizing/acting)? When broadcasters become famous for their acting, it's no longer news. Something else I got a kick out of: the US news would say "it's ...o'clock in Tokyo right now..." Most of the time they were an hour off. I know there was a time change over the weekend, but seriously? They can't even do the research to get that little detail correct?
Sadly we are there, loss of all containment and control of at least 4 reactors, storage ponds. This is going to make Deep Horizon look like child's play, Those poor people on the Japanese north east coast.
Nuclear Power! Thank You Thank You Thank You, very well put. I have a very difficult time believing most of the news sources. The news media is blowing this thing way out of proportion, this plant was just about to be decomisioned because it was so old and it performed and is performing marveloulsly. I tend to believe real experts, Rob Adams blog posts are keeping me pretty melow about this whole meltdown scenario. http://atomicinsights.blogspot.com/ da big hills, read these articles so you can calm your ass down. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/15/fukushima_update_tuesday/
Japanese news reports a decrease in radiation levels. The previously evacuated engineers have now returned. Don't trust the US News.
I'm now being critical of NHK news, way they glossed over on the nuclear plant situation, TEPCO baffles you with data, #'s and statistics that nothing short of hours worth of study would let you conclude there are bigger problems than they are telling. I actually think in THIS case it is the U.S. and Euro journalists that are dumbfounded over the images vs reported (sugar coated) info that is actually shaking out the truth. Yes, it's tragic enough but that's the point, compounding the earthquake and tsunami tragedy with radiation is worse. Remember, it all started with TEPCO saying all reactors were shut down. Leads everyone to believe all is OK when it really is not. Just look where things went from there. http://www.theprovince.com/news/Jap...lear+plant+back+from+brink/4440891/story.html
Thanks for this link. I swear every bit of small talk I've had in the last 48 hours has turned to peoples escape plans when the fallout blows over the western half of north america and nuclear winter sets in and we all of die of radiation sickness huddled around in our 1950s tv sets in our basements... Where knowledge is missing, they fill the void with fear. I'm passing this handy readable blog around. Thx
