Fukushima kids give silent officials an earful on crisis | The Japan Times Online
Kaya Hashimoto, 13, said she evacuated with her family from the town of Miharu in June due to concerns over radiation exposure. The family now lives in Tokyo, and she said she misses her friends in Fukushima and worries about them. “Can you understand the feelings of people who left their hometowns in Fukushima?” she [...]
Spooked consumers snapping up cheap Geiger counters | The Japan Times Online
Astonishing. A society which has been trained to obey orders, to undertake nothing on one’s own initiative without consulting superiors and peers/fellow group or community members, is taking matters into its own hands at an accelerating pace. Reality is forcing itself into people’s consciousness. The idea that they might have been living in a dream [...]
Email, maps and travel guides most wanted on foreign trips | 世論 What Japan Thinks
let’s have a look at this timely survey from goo Ranking into what uses Japanese would like to make of their mobile phones overseas. via Email, maps and travel guides most wanted on foreign trips | 世論 What Japan Thinks. No. 2 was “using maps to look up routes”. Can you guess what #1 was? [...]
Wall Street Journal: How the Japanese Government Failed Residents of Namie, Fukushima | EX-SKF
“We assumed the authorities would tell us….” I can imagine these words on Japan’s tombstone… “It never occurred to us radiation would come our way,” says Hidehiro Asada, a 43-year-old owner of a lumberyard who was in the crowd. “We assumed the folks from the town or the prefecture would tell us if it was [...]
Spotting a pain in the bum at the office | 世論 What Japan Thinks
This online survey is interesting. It’s supposed to be about offensive or annoying office behaviour. But look at the range of responses! There is a well-known behaviour called in Japanese 足を引っ張る – which does not mean a practical joke, but pettily criticizing others and getting in their way, ruining their efforts, holding them down. Looking [...]
Radiation in Japan: As it is being spread almost willfully, the country is getting unhinged: EX-SKF
My respect for this Japanese blogger grows by leaps and bounds. (S)He not only writes perfect English, he also is familiar with Ron Paul and non-mainstream economics! He also provided the following gem. I would only change the “government sources” to “anyone in authority” or maybe even “anyone in a uniform”: People say that the [...]
Protected: “When the politicians are afraid of the voters, they will make meaningful changes. ” Till then, it’s all Kabuki theatre
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
In Japan, is a Tepco apology enough? – The Washington Post
The president of Tokyo Electric Power Co. came to an evacuation center here to apologize to whoever would listen. One of them was Yoshio Sato, wearing a pink trucker cap and a graphic T-shirt marked with a skeleton. via In Japan, is a Tepco apology enough? – The Washington Post. This post is about the [...]
Prosecutor transferred for releasing crime suspects after quake+
A lot of ink has been spilled in writing about slow or inadequate responses by Japanese governmental and other officials to the earthquake/tsunami/Fukushima nuclear crisis. However, such slow response is built-in to the system. The fact is, personal initiative is not highly valued in Japan. On the contrary, it often gets you into deep doo-doo, [...]
Two months later, whereabouts of 9,500 still unknown | The Japan Times Online
There are a number of interesting points about this story from the point of view of someone observing Japanese culture. But read the story first. More than two months after a devastating earthquake and tsunami ravaged the Tohoku region, about 9,500 people remain unaccounted for. Police and Self-Defense Forces personnel continue to search the wrecked [...]
