Saturday, March 26, 2011

I heart Japan


Its been 2 weeks since the earthquake and the resulting tsunamis struck Japan, and its been on the front pages of newspapers ever since.

While there have been equally devastating earthquakes in the past (Haiti, Sichuan), I must admit I have paid much more attention to the situation in Japan, mainly because of my interest in Japanese pop culture, language and of course the music. While most of the news have been focused on the unfolding nuclear disaster in Fukushima, what shook me was watching an online video showing the tsunamis sweeping aside whole residential areas - the extent of the destruction wasn't that apparent to me until that video.

1 thing really struck me during this whole ordeal - the rise of social media (Twitter) as a tool for information dissemination as well as communication where traditional means failed, and the rising power of the Internet over traditional media. While I was safe in Singapore, I could feel the collective spirit of the Japanese people from various first-person recounts, as well as the non-stop twitter feed of the many Japanese celebrities I "follow" on Twitter. One particular tweet that caught my eye was something that went along the lines of "If you need help, please tweet your location with the hashtag #helpme #jishin".

(hashtags enable people to categorically search for tweets. "jishin" is Japanese for earthquake.)
Another thing that really left a deep impression on me was the ability of the Japanese people to cope with the disaster. When most people would have gone into a state of panic or despair, they remained calm and stoic, despite losing homes, family members and much of their livelihood. Elsewhere in less affected parts, most tried to go about their lives as normal even as blackouts brought down the transport system. I was particularly impressed by a report of thousands of workers walking several kilometers home from work on the day of the earthquake (the trains were stopped) with shops and businesses along the way offering their amenities to them. Orderly queuing for limited trains, voluntarily cutting back on electricity use, buying only what is required (although there were cases of panic buying) - to them, its all about helping one another despite inconveniences to one's self. Their collective resilience and endurance in the face of difficulty really deserve a lot of respect from the rest of the world.

And what can we do, as outsiders, other than dig deep into our pockets for donations?

Well for one we'd do well to stop believing all that bullcrap about radiation reaching Singapore. If you've been talking on your handphone for the past 30minutes you've probably received more radiation than any potential dust that floats our way anyway. And if you've panic-bought iodine tablets to swallow in case radiation poisoning, I can safely say that you've wasted your money.

The same applies to Japanese produce - if it gets past our scanners, its probably safe to eat. All that news about tainted vegetables, milk and water only serves to increase unnecessary fear. Read it yes, but for goodness' sake don't overreact and avoid everything Japanese totally. Paranoia doesn't help anything - if the Japanese economy were to recover, we should do our part to help. On that same note, don't stop eating Japanese food, or buying Japanese products. (This should give me a reason to order a couple of SCANDAL DVDs online :p). There's really no reason to give up all that delicious sushi, sashimi, ramen, seafood and Meiji chocolates just because of some exaggerated news reporting.

On the bright side, I stepped into Isetan's basement market in Shaw House this afternoon and saw a healthy crowd inside. I did buy a nice haul of mini taiyaki to munch on the way home from Japanese class. おいしかったです!



And if you have a Japanese friend or relatives and friends in Japan, do give them friendly words of encouragement instead of pestering them to leave the country. Most of the people I know connected to Japan would love to stay there and help out in some way.

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50% of this blog post was concocted on an aging Nokia E63 phone, due to me switching off everything that requires a power socket for Earth Hour.

Did you turn off your lights? Fortunately for us, its a voluntary thing. For the Japanese in the areas affected by rolling blackouts, Earth Hour happens every few hours.

Something to mull about as we grope around in the darkness.