[Newsbot]

Filibuster Cartoons
Title: Weak Japan, Strong Japan (click to view)
Date: March 13, 2011
If you don't get the reference, I apologize. It's about Pokemon.

As someone who spent a year of my life living in Japan, I've obviously been incredibly moved by the devastation unfolding in that country. The destruction has impacted a number of people I care about there, although nowhere even approximating the scale of the suffering experienced by those closest to the epicenter of the quake.

So much of Japanese history, mythology, and culture — even popular, nerdy culture — is shaped by this omnipresent theme of vulnerability to the elements. The most famous Shinto deities always are those who can command the thunder or wind, just as many of the strongest moves in RPGs are the powers to summon earthquakes or blizzards.

Even during my short time in the country, in my mild, comfortable region, I still experienced wild storms, extreme temperatures fluctuations, and yes, even a quake or two. And the residents just shrug it off as a fact of life, having long ago made peace with the geographic realities that comes with being an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. It's a crude and unglamorous fact that we often forget amid the technological wizardry that we associate with contemporary Japanese society: at the end of the day, the country is just a few small, unguarded, delicate scraps of land in a vast and hostile sea. The security and safety we take for granted living on large, fortress-like continents is a privilege many in this world envy, no matter how advanced their computers may be.

There was a lot I disliked about living in Japan, not the least of which was the anal-retentive and workaholic nature of the people I worked alongside. Yet now, as I watch the chaos of malfunctioning nuclear plants and the like, all I can do is take comfort in knowing that if there are a people in this world who have been trained for the sort of obsessive perseverance that emergency times demand, it is the Japanese.

It's one of the reasons why, as we open our hearts and wallets to the country in its hour of need, we should also pay our honors and respects to Japan's amazing ability to focus and persevere in this time of crisis. Theirs is not a nation of victims, nor a nation of hysterics, no matter the tragic fates that so often befall it. Instead, there is a fundamental sense of seriousness to Japanese life that can be a great asset in times like these, an asset that many of us in the west, who, for better or worse, lack a "just learn to suffer through it" culture, so often lack.

I know this is a site about commentary, and it's hard to engage in much "commentary" when the issue at stake is a human tragedy of such epic proportions. But since I know a lot of my readers have been to Japan, or are at least Japanophiles themselves, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on my impressions of Japanese stoicism. I'm not just spouting flippant words of maudlin comfort, I honestly did walk away from the country with the impression that theirs is a culture more resigned to, and thus unemotional about, the concept of suffering and crisis than we in the west.

What's your take?

[martin14]

Newsbot wrote:

Theirs is not a nation of victims,

Inside 6 months the affected areas of Japan will look better than Haiti
with billions of dollars of aid, and a 2 year head start.

[andyt]

Amen. I've never been there, but have gathered the same impressions of the Japanese as you did. I'm against large scale immigration, but Japanese are one people I think we could do with more of. I think they will come out of this with flying colors. Maybe even help to rally them a bit and figure out a way out of their economic slump and what seems like a national depression.

I guess Kami gives, and Kami takes away.

[martin14]

andyt wrote:

Amen. I've never been there, but have gathered the same impressions of the Japanese as you did. I'm against large scale immigration, but Japanese are one people I think we could do with more of. I think they will come out of this with flying colors. Maybe even help to rally them a bit and figure out a way out of their economic slump and what seems like a national depression.

I guess Kami gives, and Kami takes away.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110313/162985847.html

Quote:

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the colorful and flamboyant leader of Russia's LDPR party, has called on Japanese to leave "the dangerous islands" and move to the unpopulated Russian territories, the newsru.com website reported on Sunday.

Zhirinovsky, 64, also deputy speaker of the lower house, offered Russian government to start talks with Japan over Japanese nationals' migration to Russia.

"In this case we do not share any islands, we offer the way to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe," newsru.com quoted Zhirinovsky as saying. "Russia will even benefit if such hardworking people join us," he added.

The politician said he was serious since "the Japanese nation is under the threat of extinction in the near future."

Zhirinovsky's statement came in the wake of a 9.0 - magnitude tremor, which struck the Japan's northeast on Friday. The quake triggered a 10-meter tsunami wave that swept away people, houses and cars.

In late February Zhirinovsky invited Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to move to Moscow.

In his address to Gaddafi, he said: "I invite you to make Moscow your place of permanent residence."

Only the Whaki Gaddafi comment made a mess of it.

[Scape]

Is There Really a Silver Lining to Such a Catastrophe?

Quote:

"Friday's catastrophe, horrific as it is, could serve one positive purpose: It may be the catalyst that will force the country to unify and rally."

[andyt]

I think the same as the WSJ - the horror.

[Bodah]

I've never been to Japan but have read a lot about the country and it's culture. When I heard the news that morning, my first thought was my god, my second the Japanese are tough-asses they'll pull through it and move on. Everything designed and built in Japan for the most part is built with the thought of this thing will have to survive an earthquake, tsunami etc. One thing they are is thorough.

If it happened to any other country I would imagine the loss of life and damage would be far greater.

[Taospark]

Just imagine how vulnerable Los Angeles or Vancouver would be in the face of a large tsunami.

[xerxes]

Anyone is vulnerable. If this disatser has proved anything it's that, in spite of the best preparations we can concieve of, nature wins every time.

[Murray_Smith]

California is a few years overdue for what is being called the "Big One".

An earthquake likely wouldn't trigger a tsunami (at least, not in Los Angeles), but I'd bet good money that the Big One will bust up major highways, not to mention a very important aqueduct. Additionally, the levees that separate freshwater reservoirs from the San Francisco Bay are, last I heard, in piss-poor shape. I'm not worried about surviving the quake itself, but the aftermath is an entirely different story.

xerxes wrote:

Anyone is vulnerable. If this disaster has proved anything it's that, in spite of the best preparations we can conceive of, nature wins every time.

Not so. Nature just happens to have nigh-unlimited energy at her disposal. Most of the time, though, she does not unleash so much energy at one time that it rearranges the landscape.

To be fair, entropy (the tendency towards disorder) does win every time.

[ShepherdsDog]

Quote:

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the colorful and flamboyant leader of Russia's LDPR party, has called on Japanese to leave "the dangerous islands" and move to the unpopulated Russian territories, the newsru.com website reported on Sunday.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky is absolutely bonkers. I still remember him screaming at people, telling them he was going to shoot them with his atomic gun.

[Psudo]

Murray_Smith wrote:

To be fair, entropy (the tendency towards disorder) does win every time.

This is true in a universal scale, but entropy can be reversed in smaller scale subsystems so long as energy can be dragged into the system from outside to power reorganization. On, say, a planetary scale, entropy won't be a system-killer for many billions of years.

[bootlegga]

As bad as this earthquake is, the Tokyo area is overdue for one similar in magnitude (they've had one about every 75 years for several centuries). The scope of devastation and death in such an earthquake would be far greater than what is happening in Miyagi prefecture. The last major quake in Tokyo killed 140,000 people in 1923...and Tokyo's grown a lot since then. Even with their infrastructure investment and using concrete more than wood for construction, a major quake in Kanto would kill a lot of people and do even more damage.

The statement, "theirs is not a nation of victims" is rather questionable, because every August the world hears how bad America was for dropping nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now while I don't agree with that decision (dropping nukes), the prevaling Japanese attitude that it was totally undeserved is proof that they are at times a nation of victims, especially considering the atrocities they committed around Asia during the course of the war.

I would also question labelling their country as "small, unguarded scraps of territory" accurate (although the hostile sea bit is okay - moreso because of reluctance on Japan's part to atone for atrocities during WW2). Japan is roughly the same size as the UK (which is not usually considered small by most people), and their armed forces are the most powerful in Asia - excepting perhaps the US forces stationed around Asia. Their navy and air force are without equal and their army has more MBTs than most of its neighbours.

[JJ]

bootlegga wrote:

The statement, "theirs is not a nation of victims" is rather questionable, because every August the world hears how bad America was for dropping nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now while I don't agree with that decision (dropping nukes), the prevaling Japanese attitude that it was totally undeserved is proof that they are at times a nation of victims, especially considering the atrocities they committed around Asia during the course of the war.

I would also question labelling their country as "small, unguarded scraps of territory" accurate (although the hostile sea bit is okay - moreso because of reluctance on Japan's part to atone for atrocities during WW2). Japan is roughly the same size as the UK (which is not usually considered small by most people), and their armed forces are the most powerful in Asia - excepting perhaps the US forces stationed around Asia. Their navy and air force are without equal and their army has more MBTs than most of its neighbours.

I think the Japanese establishment's approved, weepy remembrance of World War II has always seemed a bit forced and phoney for precisely that reason. I think the resilient way the country rebuilt itself after the bombings, and indeed, the widespread ignorance of post-war generations about what even happened during the war, is a stronger monument, and more iconic of the Japanese "just get on with it" spirit.

And I meant they were unguarded by natural protectors, like say, mountain ranges, the way many of us are in North America.

[BartSimpson]

In 1983 I was over to visit my brother who was teaching English in Hachioji. I rather enjoyed the trip and found myself enthralled with the nuances of Japanese culture. When I arrived on the train from Narita my brother had sent me a note with the instructions to go outside the train station when I arrived, find a cop, and hand him the note. I did. The police officer read the note and then led me to my brother's apartment (which was a luxurious 250 square feet). Seems the local cops are supposed to keep tabs on foreigners and by having me report to one of them right off the bat under the polite guise of 'needing directions' my brother had scored points.
I enjoyed tea, the various noodle houses, the girls, vending machine beer, and etc.

In reflection, the tidy homes, the clean streets, and etc. are all testimony to the fact that the Japanese will clean up this mess and move on. Likely in a year or two there will be little evidence left that this happened save for changes on satellite pictures.

Already, some Japanese coastal towns are considering massive engineering feats to prevent future tsunami devastation and I do believe that they may well do these things if the nuclear thing is ended safely.

Most of all, I wonder at how well any of us would do in the same circumstance?