Today is a day for remembering, “Ano hi”, that day. Along the tsunami-battered northeastern coast, in Tokyo and elsewhere, memorial ceremonies were planned to mark 2:46 pm, the precise moment the magnitude-9.0 earthquake hit on March 11, 2011. One year ago I was in Beijing with the school's MUN team. I was on my way back to my hotel when I got a text from Aya that there had been an earthquake in Japan. I though, so what, Japan is earthquake central. I turned on my tv as soon as I got back and expected to see little if any coverage, but what I saw was a writhing black monster sweeping across Tohuku farmland, picking up houses and cars like they were toys and smashing them to bits and I cried and yelled at the tv before calling Aya and getting on to FB to try and contact friends and family.
Now, one year on, Japan is still recovering. I saw it this past summer when I went back to volunteer and I see it still in the articles and news programs I read and watch. Hundreds of thousands left displaced or homeless, tens of thousands dead or missing. For some people, there will never be closure.
I remember that while I was standing in Narita airport waiting to come back to Shanghai, I read an article in GQ that I will never forget. It told the story of parents of children who had died, one of which was deeply sad. A mother whose child had been found among the debris was trying to clean the black slime of the tsunami from her daughter and licked the sludge from her eyes. Many of the stories I read were equally, deeply, personal.
Despite a triple disaster that would have crippled the determination of other strong nations, Japan marches on. The people move as one. They are selfless and hard working, willing to endure and hoping for the future.
7 comments:
"Despite a triple disaster that would have crippled the determination of other strong nations, Japan marches on. The people move as one. They are selfless and hard working, willing to endure and hoping for the future."
You had me until this part, which sounds like a stereotype to me. Nations don't march and they aren't crippled. Nations aren't people. A bunch of people died in the disaster--they don't march on. If anything, time moves along and people that remain pull the pieces of their shattered lives back together as best they can.
Perhaps you need to familiarize yourself with the meaning of, "nation" again. Nations are large bodies of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own. The key part there being, people with commonality. Nations do act towards common goals and they do suffer because nations are defined by people. To say, the people who died-- they don't march on. That is like saying, some petals have fallen from that flower, therefore it is not in bloom. Yes, some people move backward, some stand still, but as a whole, as a nation, they are moving forward.
There were quite a few stories about the tsunami anniversary on the news and special features on tv this weekend, for which I was very grateful. I was (again) struck by the behavior of the Japanese people - courteous, quiet,even in their mourning. They showed the large rooms filled with photographs recovered from the debris (which you helped with while in japan last summer, Kev). The most poignant for me was the sole surviving teacher of a school in Osaku (sp?) where 70-some students died along with 12 teachers. This teacher was meeting afterward with grieving parents of the deceased children. He bowed his head lower and lower, then crouched and put his head to the ground. The news announcer said the man was "in shame". I think that is an example of what Kevin meant by being a "nation" - there is a sense of community and responsibility toward each other, more than I have ever seen; perhaps this is an "island" phenomena... I certainly did not see it in Shanghai where everyone is out for themselves! I continue to have great admiration for the Japanese people, even down to the nuclear plant workers who were first evacuated by Tepco company, then volunteered when asked by the government to go on a "suicide" mission back into the plant, knowing their (long term) fate.
Thanks for your replies!
Kev, I like your example of the flower. If a flower loses a few petals, it is still a flower. If a person loses a limb, he is still the same person. However, a human being is an actor which can feel and take actions, whereas a limb isn't. Nations are slightly different, because they are composed of units which are actors, but they themselves cannot act.
I don't agree that nations can feel or actively do things. I think it is fine to use nation as a handy grouping of people--many members of the Japanese nation suffered as a result of last year's tsunami, for instance. The phrase "members of the Japanese nation" can be well-defined. It is not clear to me exactly what it means, however, when actions or intentions are assigned to groups of people. Some examples "China is trying to keep its currency from appreciating," or "The United States interest wants to maintain a strong military presence in central Asia".
Mary, I agree with you that Kev probably meant that many Japanese people came to the aid of those affected by the disaster, and that he believes fewer Chinese people, say, would have donated money or time to those affected by a similar disaster within the borders of China.
*The United States wants to maintain a strong military presence in central Asia.
Should have proofread before posting ;)
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201107/japan-tohoku-tsunami-earthquake-disaster?currentPage=8
a heartbreakingly intense read.
OMG, Janine, I have been looking for this story for almost a year. I read this in a GQ in the airport on the way to Japan last year and then couldn't find it again. I think this is the story that stuck with me the most.
"Her hair was black with tar, and the comb didn't work, and I could hardly see the skin on her face. Her ears were dirty, and her eyes. Every time I opened my daughter's eyes, tar came out. I asked her to open her eyes. Tar came out. I couldn't completely clean her up with this much water. So I licked my daughter's eyes with my tongue."
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