Earthquake in Tokyo

jkblues wrote:

hi pochinkopotanko

Here in Spain, they always say Chernobyl is not Fukushima, that is a very different case from the beginning and they said in this way is not to be exagerating.

About Tokio, they said that there is a little, very little amount of radiation but is safe and the onlñy people who is leaving Tokio is the families with children and foreign people most of all from europe because France, Germany and other countries has recomended them to leave Japan, because Fukushima is not under control and is geting worse.

Anyway, here is Spain they think that, for example Germany is exagerating so much, they used words as apocalipsis and criticise german goverment.

i think the most alarmaded places right now around the worl is Europe in general and some people say thay are afraid that japanese goverment is not telling all the truth.

i think if worlds at the end are in Tokio during spring i think some countries for example Germany will not send skaters.

God i know what you mean! XD
Always when i listen to the news here im like and think things like "just shut the **** up"

So i think i cant really help Pochi here ne!
Today they said there is smoke again at the 3rd rreactor and said things like "its starting again"
But they managed to get rid of the smoke already, did they?

Here in germany they always talking about Fukushima is the next Chernobyl and that in the worst happening, the whole main islang of Japan is destroyed!

Im glad to hear, that other countries dont think so, that calms me down!

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For a few days - rumors about death of famous Japanese icons (idols/mangakas) spread like fire on the net! :/

Here in Brazil there's no overreacting, actually, news have been quite optimistic. It's never been reported as a nuclear "tragedy" but as a crisis instead. They emphasize Tokyo has low amounts of radiation. Actually, they've started talking about Libia again, so it seems the situation is better.

polosatik, jkblues, MaoChan756, Haidogirl, Alyssa...Thanks for telling me about the reports in your countires.

I'm pretty relieved that most countries haven't been overreacting that much and seem to be reporting the situation correctly. I suppose Germany is taking it a bit too seriously, maybe because many people are still against nuclear power??? I guess for such people, the situation in the Fukushima station would be the perfect example in convincing others to feel the same...

So far, there's been no reports of any famous Japanese icons being harmed by the earthquake, tsunami or radiation. But there are thousands still missing, so it may turn out that some known people will be amongst the casualties.

The nuclear station was quite out of control at one point, so I guess the French politician MaoChan756 mentioned might not have been totally wrong, but that was about 2 days ago, and things have become much better compared to then, although not perfectly well. And there has been reports on smoke coming out of the second reactor, but the amount and assumed affects haven't been confirmed yet. But they've managed to connect electric coolers to the first and second reactor so, if it works those 2 reactors should become stable.

I hope all the folks in Germany would at least acknowledge that only the northeastern parts of Japan has been crushed with debris, and the water from the tsunami has mostly gone back to the sea. A tsunami is a big wave, so most of the water will eventually flow back to where it came from!

But at this point the number of deaths has reached over 10,000 and several thousand people are still missing. It was a big disaster, yes. And to the people in the areas close to the center of the quake, it must have seemed like the end of the world when it happened. But they seemed to have calmed down now, and our Japanese forum's mod yukiusa mailed me saying they've gotten used to the after-quakes now, nobody panicks from them anymore. She said it's like it's shaking all the time like she's on a boat or something.

Since yesterday the amount of after-shakes in Tokyo which you can feel have reduced. It even feels like nothing ever happened, as long as you don't turn on the tv full of endless reruns of the tsunami and interviews of people in the damaged areas. And finally our news programs are broadcasting news on Libia too!

Thanks again for telling me what's going on in your countries my friends, and I assure you Tokyo is fine, and I'm guessing it will stay that way. Nobody around seems the least bit freaked out about crucial amounts of radiation coming our way. Even our dog has finally recovered from the earthquake shock and has started eating again.

But lastly, about Japan not telling the truth sometimes...well, I don't necessarily think that our government would try to hide anything from the world, even concerning radiation. Besides, to be honest I don't think we have a government smart enough to pull anything like that right now. However, it is true that the electric company which is in charge of the nuclear stations in our country has tried to hide some very important facts from the government and our people in the first stages of an accident occuring in their stations. They've done so when there was a leak in the Ibaraki station in 1999, and it's said they had done more or less the same this time too. They always try to make it seem at first that it's nothing serious, even though they know it is. And also do not report they had made mistakes in some of the procedures it seems. But it all comes out eventually, and the govenment gets furious about it, and we all think 'here we go again!'. So, I think our government won't try hiding anything, but the electricity company sure has, so as a result, some of the info may be announced far more later than it actually should to your countries. It might be a little bit better to keep that in mind!

I came across this video on twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH7JYAphuTE

When I clicked the video, I screamed it's Daniel Kahl!! I realized how much I missed him when I saw this video.

He's angry at the foreign media for agitating anxiety.

He is American and living in Japan, speaks fluent Japanese and Yamagata dialect. Yamagata is one of the Tohoku prefectures severely hit by the earthquake. His Yamagata dialect has heartwarming effect. He's a popular TV person, but I hadn't seen him for several years. I'm glad he hasn't lost his native language after living so many years in Japan.

He's got part 2 video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfa3QZEJGW0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

He apologizes for being harsh in the previous message and talks about the developments over last few days.

Oh, I really like this guy, really good man!

Germany is indeed overreacting, but they are also very authentic, thats why i freak ut here day by day!
I guess, they always advert all the infos they get from France, since France is the best experts when it comes to nuclear things! *full of sarcasm*
I tell always to myself to not believe what german news are saying, but its just impossible to stay calm!

And now im confused: Here they said the reators 5 and 6 are on electric line and out of danger and you now say 1 and 2 too? Thats great!
Then its still 3rd and 4th one that makes trouble ne!
And all the grey and white smoke is gone?

You know, here in Germany they always talk about the Super-GAU and that it had happen already and that all the work the ppl are doing there is completely useless! Well, thats typical german pessimism i guess. I dont even know, how i can translate the GAU, its like "biggest assuming accident" or so, well just that, what happened to Chernobyl! They dont stop comparing Fukushima with it!

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I suppose Germany is taking it a bit too seriously, maybe because many people are still against nuclear power???

The ppl here are much much against it! My family not though *lol*
But the worst is, that the ppl here using Fukushima as politicial pressure!

Haidogirl, it seems like the people from your country are taking things way too seriously.

klarification wrote:

Haidogirl, it seems like the people from your country are taking things way too seriously.

I think thats typical german attitude

Libya has returned to the top of the headlines here, as well. With regards to the situation in Japan, the news I watch has been pretty much along the lines of what you've told us, Pochi. They were concerned for awhile about whether the situation would get worse, but they never said it was like Chernobyl. They said it was definitely worse than Three-mile Island, but since that one wasn't so bad in the end, that's not saying much. And though radiation was a concern, they reported very specifically on the amount of radiation in the immediate area of Fukushima versus Tokyo and other parts of the country, and it was clear that Tokyo had very low levels.

They mentioned that the power company had kept information hidden, and they did suggest that the government may not have been as open as it could be. Overall, I think the situation is viewed as a tragedy because of the destruction from the tsunami, but the nuclear situation was still considered more of a crisis (something ongoing that can still be fought). It's a relief to see that things seem to be looking up in the last couple of days. May the people fighting this continue to meet with the same success.

illani wrote:

They mentioned that the power company had kept information hidden, and they did suggest that the government may not have been as open as it could be. Overall, I think the situation is viewed as a tragedy because of the destruction from the tsunami, but the nuclear situation was still considered more of a crisis (something ongoing that can still be fought). It's a relief to see that things seem to be looking up in the last couple of days. May the people fighting this continue to meet with the same success.

Thanks illani for the info. I had a feeling that the US is talking all this most calmly, and that you guys probabaly have some of the most correct info concerning our situations. You've got lots of US army bases here, so our government has an obligation to report to your country whether they're in danger or not as well.

Our government right now is run by the Democratic Party (Minshuto) right now, and this is the first time in history that they've ever been in charge of the country. So they lack political skills in almost every way imaginable, and people are not happy with the way they've been handling the situation so far. Our Prime Minister Kan, went to observe the Fukushima nuclear station about 5 hours before the first explosion. That was obviously a performance to give us the image he's concerned. However, the people in the station were already aware of the dangers of an explosion at the time, were doing what they can to stop it from happening, but they had to stop working for some hours since Kan arrived and they had to take time to explain stuff to him. Even the Korean papers criticized Kan for this, and I totally agree with them. After people started criticizing him for his actions since the station had it's first explosion soon after he left there, Kan didn't even show up on tv for a while and made the Chief Cabinet Secretary make do all the talking. Everyone started wondering what Kan was doing all this time, and most of us assumed he was sleeping. That should make you understand how much we trust him!

Things still seem very much in chaos in the nuclear station, and twice as much radiation was observed in Tokyo yesterday compared to the day before. But basically this is because it rained here yesterday, so all the nuclear particles which were caught up in the clouds came down. In anycase the amount was very very low, and we were told that the rain would not affect our health in any way. But the case was quite different in the Fukushima prefecture where the station is. It seems to have rained there too, and people there were told to stay in their houses to avoid getting wet. They have also found radiated iodine from the tap water there, which seems to have become a bit higher than the past few days, so they're not allowed to drink, bathe in nor touch the water. So I suppose all they can do with it is flush their toilets?

But all is mostly back to normal in Tokyo. The stores finally have their shelves packed with merchandise again. I was able to buy some meat and milk and rice yesterday. And it seems some of the gas stations in Tokyo aren't empty now. Most people are going to work as usual and the trains within Tokyo are all running.

They've rescued an old woman and her 16 year old grandson from the ruins of the tsunami yesterday. They had been captured underneath some wrecked house after being washed away by the tsunami. Maybe there are others who managed to survive the tsunami like this, so rescue teams not only Japanese but from all over the world are still looking for survivors in the northern damaged areas.

Thanks for the updates Pochi!

I am glad that little by little, things are resuming back to normal. Of course, so much work needs to be done though.
I am always annoyed by media heavily covering a story, and then ignoring it because they think that people get tired of it. This usually results in people forgetting about a disaster and aid slowing down. This happened during the tsunami in 2006, Hurricane Katrina, Haiti, and is now happening in Japan (in terms of Western media slowing down coverage anyway). I'm just glad that the government in Japan is more capable of handling it though...I hope international aid will continue to flood in!

I also heard about the 80-yo woman and her grandson being rescued. It was such an inspirational story!

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

Our government right now is run by the Democratic Party (Minshuto) right now, and this is the first time in history that they've ever been in charge of the country. So they lack political skills in almost every way imaginable, and people are not happy with the way they've been handling the situation so far. Our Prime Minister Kan, went to observe the Fukushima nuclear station about 5 hours before the first explosion. That was obviously a performance to give us the image he's concerned. However, the people in the station were already aware of the dangers of an explosion at the time, were doing what they can to stop it from happening, but they had to stop working for some hours since Kan arrived and they had to take time to explain stuff to him. Even the Korean papers criticized Kan for this, and I totally agree with them. After people started criticizing him for his actions since the station had it's first explosion soon after he left there, Kan didn't even show up on tv for a while and made the Chief Cabinet Secretary make do all the talking. Everyone started wondering what Kan was doing all this time, and most of us assumed he was sleeping. That should make you understand how much we trust him!

I had not heard about this before! Talk about bad timing! Maybe he didn't realize he was causing such a disruption to their efforts at the time? (That's interpreting his actions kindly, I know). He wouldn't be the first politician to put his own publicity ahead of the common good, but in this case the consequences were more serious than usual.

It's good to hear that life in Tokyo is getting back to normal (or as close as you can get to it, under the circumstances). And it amazes me how long people—especially elderly people!—can survive under the rubble when something like this happens. I think of all those people still missing loved ones, still hoping...and it breaks my heart.

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They've rescued an old woman and her 16 year old grandson from the ruins of the tsunami yesterday. They had been captured underneath some wrecked house after being washed away by the tsunami. Maybe there are others who managed to survive the tsunami like this, so rescue teams not only Japanese but from all over the world are still looking for survivors in the northern damaged areas.

Awww i heard that too, it was so moving! They said, they survived because they were close to the refrigator! Such a great luck in a bad day ne!

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I am always annoyed by media heavily covering a story, and then ignoring it because they think that people get tired of it.

Germany is not like that this time XD
German reporters are very brave now travalling to the Aomori area to make their reports there! They said they had to fly over Fukushima to come there and now drove to the destroyed area between Aomori and Sendai! Thats a good sign to me, cause last week all our german reporters were brought to Osaka
Oh and in this town (i forget the name, it was a long name XD) the reporter said is no radiation in the air!

sapphiresky wrote:

I am always annoyed by media heavily covering a story, and then ignoring it because they think that people get tired of it. This usually results in people forgetting about a disaster and aid slowing down. This happened during the tsunami in 2006, Hurricane Katrina, Haiti, and is now happening in Japan (in terms of Western media slowing down coverage anyway). I'm just glad that the government in Japan is more capable of handling it though...I hope international aid will continue to flood in!

I know what your're talking about and it's the same with the media here. There's this convenience store nearby where they had this donation box for Haiti near the register. It's been there eversince the tsunami happened in Haiti, and I thought it was nice that they still kept the box there so we can donate bits of change whenever we shop. But when I went there after the earthquake, they had pasted a paper above the part where it said 'Help Haiti', and on the paper it was written 'Help the damaged areas of the earthquake'. Of course collecting donations now for our damaged areas is fine. But so now we can forget about Haiti all of a sudden? They could've used a different box, and I bet you they didn't take out the money which was already in the box for Haiti before they changed it to the earthquake donation box!

I guess shops like this are basically keeping donation boxes to make them seem like a nice caring shop. UNICEF Japan announced that they are collecting donations for the earthquake victims, but if there's some money left over, they'll be sending it to other parts of the world in need of the money. There seems to be lots of afguments concerning this announcement of theirs. I personally think it's okay, but there won't be money left over any way I think. And there had been lots of bad rumors about UNICEF Japan over the past few years about how they're using the money we donate, so I think some people are angry not because of what they said, but they think UNICEF Japan will use their donated money for the earthquake victims on some cause which the donaters might not agree to; like sending their money to some communist country ruled by a single dictator...

But I think the media moving on to report other things happening in the world is necessary too. It's okay not to go on reporting our crisis as top news. I know you all care, there must've been huge donations from the people around the world already, so the only thing most of us can do now is to hope the people helping out in the damaged areas are finding new survivors, and pray for the nuclear station incident to end asap.

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I know what your're talking about and it's the same with the media here. There's this convenience store nearby where they had this donation box for Haiti near the register. It's been there eversince the tsunami happened in Haiti, and I thought it was nice that they still kept the box there so we can donate bits of change whenever we shop. But when I went there after the earthquake, they had pasted a paper above the part where it said 'Help Haiti', and on the paper it was written 'Help the damaged areas of the earthquake'. Of course collecting donations now for our damaged areas is fine. But so now we can forget about Haiti all of a sudden? They could've used a different box, and I bet you they didn't take out the money which was already in the box for Haiti before they changed it to the earthquake donation box!

I like that they had still those box there for Haiti, since there is still after one year not everything back to normal! But i understand that its more importent now to help Japan too, since this is just happened!

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And there had been lots of bad rumors about UNICEF Japan over the past few years about how they're using the money we donate, so I think some people are angry not because of what they said, but they think UNICEF Japan will use their donated money for the earthquake victims on some cause which the donaters might not agree to; like sending their money to some communist country ruled by a single dictator...

Thats rumour of german Unicef too unfortunatly

They've been saying on the (local) news for the last couple days that we are experiencing low levels of radiation here on the west coast (US). They say it's hardly anything above regular levels, and it's nothing to worry about. No one is freaking out over it. The map showed that the radiation has even gone farther east over the mountains! It kind of surprises me how they say the radiation in most of Japan isn't that bad either.... But it was strong enough for it to travel all this way... Hm. I really hope the people in Japan aren't being exposed to more than they're letting on - or us over here for that matter.

Star85 wrote:

They've been saying on the (local) news for the last couple days that we are experiencing low levels of radiation here on the west coast (US). They say it's hardly anything above regular levels, and it's nothing to worry about. No one is freaking out over it. The map showed that the radiation has even gone farther east over the mountains! It kind of surprises me how they say the radiation in most of Japan isn't that bad either.... But it was strong enough for it to travel all this way... Hm. I really hope the people in Japan aren't being exposed to more than they're letting on - or us over here for that matter.

Maybe it has to do with the direction the wind has been blowing? Also (if the news is accurate) we're talking really low levels here, so even if Tokyo (for example) has more than the US west coast, that can still be a very low amount.

illani wrote:

Star85 wrote:

They've been saying on the (local) news for the last couple days that we are experiencing low levels of radiation here on the west coast (US). They say it's hardly anything above regular levels, and it's nothing to worry about. No one is freaking out over it. The map showed that the radiation has even gone farther east over the mountains! It kind of surprises me how they say the radiation in most of Japan isn't that bad either.... But it was strong enough for it to travel all this way... Hm. I really hope the people in Japan aren't being exposed to more than they're letting on - or us over here for that matter.

Maybe it has to do with the direction the wind has been blowing? Also (if the news is accurate) we're talking really low levels here, so even if Tokyo (for example) has more than the US west coast, that can still be a very low amount.

It sure is a low amount here in Tokyo, and the wind's been blowing our way for quite some time recently. The ward called Adachi where I live, has the Ward Office observing the amount of radiation in the ward everyday, and uploads the numbers on their homepage. It's supposed to be something like 0.00something noramally, but after the nuclear station started having problems it's sometimes 0.something lately. Esp when it rains. Still, these are not enough amounts of radiation to harm someone's health at all. But the longer you stay outside, the amount of radiation you're body is exposed to gets higher, so just because it's 0.21~0.57msv today, that's only per hour. If the amount should go higher people who spend time outside alot might be exposed to a slightly dangerous amount by the end of the year. That's why I hope so much that they can cool the reactors down so they won't explode, then pour concrete on them and bury it underground asap. I guess even if they succeed in doing that, the reactors will still go on emitting radiation to some amount, but not as much as now.

3 of water purification plants in Tokyo was reported to have amounts of radiated iodine in their waters which is thought to be high enough to harm babies (they say adults will be okay). So we have been warned not to let babies drink water in Tokyo. Today I went to 2 superstores, and naturally all the mineral water was sold out. Even orange juice, tea, sodas of any kinds as well not to mention milk. We don't have children in the house so at least I don't have to worry much about this, plus it seems the amount of radiated iodine in the waters are decreasing already today. But I've ordered some water for dogs and cats (not mineral water), just in case for my cats and dog. I have no choice but to give them mineral water right now, which I had bought before all this happened. But mineral water isn't good for dogs nor cats, since they can't digest the minerals properly like us, so they will remain in their bodies like small bits of rocks causing pain and illness if they go on drinking it for a long time. Anyway, I hope people without small kids and babies will keep from buying up all the water, juice and milk. I don't mind if they're sold out as long as they're being sold to the families who really need them.

Since Tokyo is like this, I suppose things must be pretty worse near the Fukushima station. Everyone living close by within 20km have evacuated, and those living within 30km are being told to stay in the house. I think maybe the people who lived within 20km will never be able to return to their homes. I hope they let them take their pets with them when they evacuated...but I doubt they did.

I'm never gonna leave my house ever if they don't allow me to take my cats and dog. I hope the radiation doesn't get worse in Tokyo, and I assume it won't, at least not as much as to harm our health immediately. Even if I get sick in the future because I was exposed to radiation, or drank some radiation poisoned water, I'll probabaly live for quite sometime like some survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And I'll definitely get to live until Mao hopefully wins gold in Sochi! I'm getting a bit scared than before, but I'm still leading life as usual and keeping calm, like everyone else here. I've at least became able to understand that our government can never lie to us about the amount or radiation in Tokyo or anywhere else except near the Fukushima station. This is because anybody can buy a giger counter or any other machine which can calculate the amount of radiation in the air, and some who had it already have been reporting the amounts everyday in their HPs, and it seems to match the numbers given by the media more or less. So, at least that's a big relief.

I try to think more about Worlds in April or May. I'm still so excited that we'll be able to see it soon. I'm not sure if any of our skaters can win, but it doesn't really matter to me that much anymore. As long as they can perform their best without being influenced by all the depressing stuff that's been going on here, that'll be enough for me this season. Our country will be proud of them even if they don't win, and even if they make mistakes, as long as they try their best till the very end, that'll be very encouraging.

ETA:Btw, it seems France is thinking of offering Japan to hold Worlds 2012, although they are supposed to have it. I'm touched by their Fed's sympathy towards us, I'm very grateful...but I think they should have it as planned. We still don't know what kind of state Tokyo will be in next season, and the fans in France will be disappointed. Besides...I like the rinkside all in blue!

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Since Tokyo is like this, I suppose things must be pretty worse near the Fukushima station. Everyone living close by within 20km have evacuated, and those living within 30km are being told to stay in the house. I think maybe the people who lived within 20km will never be able to return to their homes. I hope they let them take their pets with them when they evacuated...but I doubt they did.

Pochi-chan i think they did! I saw many vids here where they showed the ppl in the gyms or whereever they have been rescured to being with dogs and cats and one i saw even had a bird with them!

But now they keep talking about the 3rd reactor seems badly demaged! And also that they had to put the level to 6 from 7! Is that true?
Germany is causing panic again!
And on the net i heard that Tokyo will have a big earthquake too again!

Haidogirl wrote:

Pochi-chan i think they did! I saw many vids here where they showed the ppl in the gyms or whereever they have been rescured to being with dogs and cats and one i saw even had a bird with them!

But now they keep talking about the 3rd reactor seems badly demaged! And also that they had to put the level to 6 from 7! Is that true?
Germany is causing panic again!
And on the net i heard that Tokyo will have a big earthquake too again!

What? A big earthquake in Japan, again???
I've never read any article or seen any news saying anything like that!
I'm sure it's just a rumor started by some unthoughtful person, don't worry.

And I thought they highered the level of the Fukushima disaster from 4 to 5. 4 was the highest we've ever had, so that makes it the worst nuclear accident in our country, anyway. Wait a sec...nope you're half right. It seems to have been highered to 6 from 5! But I don't know if there's been any official announcements made yet. I thought some French organization decides the levels? I found one article which says that Fukushima station has possibly reached a level 6 compared to other accdidents, and it's becoming far worse than Three Mile. But well, the special rescue operation team (probabably the best guys to rely on in these cases in our country) have been risking their lives trying as much as they can there, so I'm just going to have to
stay calm and believe in them. You do that too for me Haidogirl, and stop worrying too much, okay?

There does seem to be some sort of damage in the 3rd reactor which probabaly can't be fixed. They haven't figured what kind of state the damage is in yet, cause I guess the radiation's too high to get close to. Some original workers of the station who are still helping out seems to have gotten highly radiated fluids on their feet, and were burned seriously. But they're in hospital now, so let's hope it doesn't affect any other parts of their bodies.

There are days when I get real worried about Tokyo, but then there are days which I can feel positive that everything will be okay here in the end. Today is one of them. At this point, some people who live in closer prefectures to Fukushima are starting to evacuate to relative's homes in Tokyo. So we can't abandon Tokyo yet anyway. I assume that the first sign of politicians escaping Tokyo would be the real time to start getting worried. I'm sure they have access to the most recent info, and most of them don't give a shit about anyone except themselves. I really hate the MINSHUTO party which is running our country now. But the Chief Cabinet Secretary person named Edano is working hard and trying his best I think. He hadn't slept for over 100 hours since the earthquake, but kept on appearing on tv to inform us what's going on, and alert us of any dangers...while our Prime Minister was...what was he doing???

I'm glad you told me about people taking their pets along when they evacuated...but have you seen any large dogs? I think they only allowed them to take small pets which can be caged. There was a footage of an abandoned Labrador Retriever in the ruins of the tsunami. He had a collar with a rope cut tied to it, and I think his owners couldn't take him along, so they let him free so he might be able to survive on his own. And there was a photo of a girl in tears who was able to return home and was reunited with her dog (a large one) after 9 days of evacuation because of the tsunami. So I do think most large animals were not allowed to be taken with them. I'm thinking of ordering a cage for my dog...she's not one of those large dogs, but sort of in the middle. And I don't have enough carriers for my cats so I should order those too. But I doubt they'd let me take all our animals, cause we have 9 in total. The cats were all abandoned kittens our friends or my husband found. But they're all big now! Oh well, I just hope there won't be any evacuation orders in Tokyo. I think there won't be any. I think I might have alarmed people because of my past posts, but things are really normal in Tokyo. Please don't worry for Tokyo too much.

Actually German news love screaming "chaos chaos!"....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12852237

Anyone read this?
Two strong earthquakes hit Burma! :s

I feel so sad when I hear so many calamities showered on people!
I hope Japan is safe!

Thanks for all the info, Pochi.

I've been following the news about the situation in Japan all the time but I just never knew what to say.
All the words seem so empty to me now.

I just hope it's not going to get any worse and that Japan recovers soon!

I wish there was something I could do, apart from sending donor SMSs.
Most of my friends in Japan are ok, but just a few days ago I heard from my friends in Tokyo who apparently had to move out and whose relatives in Miyagi have lost their house and everything. At least they were not injured or anything as far as I could understand.
I wish I could help them somehow.

Btw, you live in Adachi, Pochi? That's where I lived during my stay in Japan.
It seems the world is really quite small. I had such a wonderful time there!
It will forever remain a very special place for me.

Take care everybody in Japan, you will overcome this too!

Thanks for your concerns, MaoChan756 and kawaiimao!
But don't worry too much, really. I'm sure you've all got things to worry about in your own country, so do that instead. And I always can't find words to say for people who've experienced the worst either. I guess it's all the same for most people.

Japan will manage somehow. There will be damages remaining for a long time, but I still think we've been through worse concerning the nuclear station incidents; Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even if the radiation gets higher a bit more in Tokyo, I won't burn to death or anything like many people had in those cities. So I think there's nothing to complain about really, however things turn out in Tokyo. Of course things in the northern areas where the tsunami's hit strongly are a totally different matter. Many people lost everything, and I'd be scared to death if that had happened to me. But really, no need to pray or worry or feel sorry for Tokyo, but do that for them please.

Sandra Bullock donated tons of money for them I've read, and I've always liked her as an actress and like her much more now. Some people might criticize it's for publicity, but the money she sent will help the people who need it, so I admire her. Esp when there aren't that many celebrities in Japan who've done the same. A few have, but some of the richest don't seem to care. Actually, there seem to be lot more famous rich people in other countries who've donated alot to the people in the north. In Japan, fairly poor~middle class people are those who donate the most I think. They can only donate small portions, but the number of people who donate are huge.

And yes Kawaiimao! I live in Adachi! Wow! It's a nice surprise you lived in the same area before! But...why Adachi? I hate to have to tell you this if you didn't know, but Adachi is thought to be the most unsophisticated and dangerous ward in Tokyo. That's why we were able to afford buying a house here. I live in an area called Kita-Senju in Adachi. I've lived here before I got married and bought a house. This is the longest place I've ever lived in my whole life so far. I never thought it was dangerous here like people say though. I've seen a drunk businessman get into a fight with another once near the station at night, but that's the only crime I've ever witnessed here. Adachi is a large ward in Tokyo, so in some other areas, it seems the crime rates are fairly high, but most of them are committed by poor immigrants. And it's mostly petty thefts and nothing serious. But unfortunately, there have been some murders, and everytime we have one, people say 'Oh, it's Adachi again!' but those who committed the murders are like over 90% people who came to Adachi from some other ward or some other prefecture. The people who've lived since long ago in Adachi are actually quite nice, and usually old folks who couldn't hurt a fly. Oh, but there used to be a building with a yakuza office in it nearby. You know, the Japanese mafia. And sometimes I saw an ambulance in front of it. I think in those cases, some low classed yakuza guy messed up and had to take responsibility by chopping one of his fingers off. They do it themselves, so it's not a crime, and that's why an ambulance was there but no police. It might've been something different but it wasn't just once or twice that I saw an ambulance there, so it had to do something with the yakuza office. I thought at the time that even yakuza people call ambulances, and was surprised about it. I thought they all have some secret doctor they can call on. But if it was finger cutting, it's no crime so there's no problem in calling an ambulance I suppose. I was actually touched that they'd call an ambulance for the guy who messed up, even! Otherwise they must've had a very old office chief who frequently had strokes or something. Yakuza's usually do not harm ordinary folks, so I was never scared of them. But it seems they left that building a few years ago...that felt a bit sad. Yakuzas don't only do bad things. They're like the Italian mafia taking care of the Italian folks living in Manhattan as well. When large new department stores are going to be built somewhere, they'd talk to the owners of the little shops which will definitely lose customers because of it, and 'convince' the department store owners to let the small shops in the areas be given a space to sell their goods inside the new department and stuff. Of course not all yakuza groups are like that, and some do only bad. But the ones which have been around since the Edo period, are usually living in peace with society more or less. Besides, some decades ago a new law was made forbidding yakuza groups to exist, so since then, they've all become 'firms' on the surface! So they do pay taxes like any other company now. Btw, I once told a friend who lives in the uptown areas of Tokyo that I sometimes take my dog for a walk after midnight since it's so hot in the summer, and he said 'But you'll get killed or raped if you walk outside at night in Adachi!'. Typical uptown folk! It is not dangerous at all to walk after dark in my neighborhood! Everybody talks about Adachi in a bad way, it gets on my nerves sometimes. Besides, Kita-Senju's crime rates are very very low, even compared to other wards in Tokyo. A police officer in a Koban who had been replaced from the upper north of Adachi told me his job has become so boring since he came to Kita-Senju because almost nothing ever happens. I think it's really nice here. We have the Arakawa river close to us, so many people including me take our dogs for a walk by the riverside, there are baseball and soccer fields and flower gardens there too.

Sorry for writing so much which has nothing to do with the disasters. I got a bit excited that kawaiimao used to live around. Which part in Adachi did you live in, kawaiimao?

Don't worry, I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys reading this.
It's always interesting to learn something new!

I didn't know that area had such a reputation but I think compared to my home city it must still be super safe.

Here, I wouldn't walk alone after dark. On the rare occasions that I really have to, I always feel very anxious and constantly look around. Sometimes things happen around here...
I never felt this way when I was in Japan. Not that these things couldn't happen there too, but the atmosphere was just so different. I felt really safe there.

I lived in Adachi Odai, right accross the street from the Nippori-Toneri Liner station.
I think wiki even has a picture of the very mansion I lived in:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Sumidagawa_river.JPG

The first one on the right, or a very similar one around that place.

I didn't stay long, just about a month during the time I was taking some Japanese classes there.
But I still consider myself extremely lucky that I was assigned such a wonderful host family in such a wonderful place!

I'm actually planning to return there next year, if everything works out.

If I manage to get there, I'll let you know!

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Sandra Bullock donated tons of money for them I've read, and I've always liked her as an actress and like her much more now. Some people might criticize it's for publicity, but the money she sent will help the people who need it, so I admire her. Esp when there aren't that many celebrities in Japan who've done the same. A few have, but some of the richest don't seem to care. Actually, there seem to be lot more famous rich people in other countries who've donated alot to the people in the north. In Japan, fairly poor~middle class people are those who donate the most I think. They can only donate small portions, but the number of people who donate are huge.

Aww i love Sandra Bullock even more now too! And just a moment ago i read in newspaper that Gwen Stefanie donated 1 million $ too, because she feels so connected to Japan!
And in Germany many celebraties donated too! Like our soccer team for example ~ But i think you are right, the most richest ones never do that!

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Don't worry, I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys reading this.
It's always interesting to learn something new!

Indeed! This was like reading a real good Yakuza story book! *sparkles*