"There is no food" " the Japanese media is too frightened to tell the truth.”

[dixiegrrrrl]

Snippets from the linked story:

“There’s no food, tell people there is no food,” says a man filching petrol, who declined to be named. “They say on the television that aid is being delivered, that food is coming, but you can see for yourself it is not.

“I thought we were a wealthy country, but now I don’t know what to think,” he adds, explaining that he is surviving on slowly defrosting food from his home freezer. “You must tell people what is happening here because the Japanese media is too frightened to tell the truth.”

".....the empty highways that remain closed to all to but emergency vehicles, yet still connect Tokyo to Ichinomaki in just four-and-a-half hours’ drive and could, surely, be used to carry some emergency food and fuel. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8392549/Japan-crisis-Theres-no-food-tell-people-there-is-no-food.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Can't their and our militaries air drop supplies?

[Liberal_in_LA]

34. yes we could. Don't know why we are not.

[elocs]

71. "We" can't because Japan is a sovereign country and must ask & allow us to do it.

It sounds like they are not even being honest with themselves.

[Myrina]

72. ... because we're too busy bombing the shit out of Libya ...

Move along, nothing to see in Japan ...

[hourglass1]

64. the scale is daunting

food is being distributed as access allows
hundreds of coastline miles with small towns lying in inlets ...
inundated airports being cleared and american military is helping reestablish air traffic control ...
convoys of fuel and food are on the way and air drops will be used where road access is impossible ...
cheers,

[Delphinus]

76. Of that (daunting, that is),

I have no doubt.

[14thColony]

73. Yes, it's technically not very challenging to do

Both the JASDF and the USAF have C-130 medium-lift transport aircraft in the country or region, and they're very good at airdrops of supplies using two different methods, either dropping large pallets of food via large cargo chutes (not preferable) or via UNHCR-desiged individual packaged emergency meals which are literally chucked out of the back of the aircraft over the target area, and they all fall individually (much safer).

Of course the issue is, is there a stock of humanitarian supplies in Japan to drop in? Other issue would be airborne radiation levels and this exposure for the crews.

Apparently the USAF base at Misawa is becoming a pretty active hub for movement of relief supplies into the country.
http://www.misawa.af.mil/news/index.asp

[mimitabby]

2. sure they could, but it hasn't happened yet!

[Mimosa]

42. American military assets are spread out. They're too busy helping Afghans and Libyans!

After the levees failed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many of us New orleanians wondered where was the military? Where was the National Gurd, the Reservists. We soon figured out when the tanks and hummers arrived with lots of 18 to 21 year old inexperienced troops. Remember the ages of the troops riding around with rifles pointed in the general direction of desperate New Orleans? Remember the video footage of General Honore yelling at the raw recruits to 'put down those weapuns! NOW!'

People scavenged deserted stores in order to get canned goods, beers sodas, diapers, undies, towels and OTC medicines.

Charity Hospital doctors had asked some cops to make supply runs to a nearby drugstore.

The USA has been putting troops and equipment into Iraq and Afghanistan. Those are costly 'humanitarian' enterprises. :eyes:

The OP UK Telegraph article is real reporting. It hurts to read it but read it we must. AND HELP THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN, TOO.

[Enthusiast]

69. If Japan only had an oil supply.

This is their downfall.

[Javaman]

75. If they did, we would be occupying it now. nt

[YellowRubberDuckie]

81. There never would have been a war with them if they did.

They asked us for oil prior to WW2, and we turned them down and turned our backs. Hence Pearl Harbor Bombing Raid....

[DainBramaged]

3. How can they let this happen?

:cry:

Aid money is pouring in, why is the Japanese government afraid to help these people, are they afraid of being contaminated?


How fucked up.....



coverage of the quake in Japan tends to show the brighter side of the relief efforts

[MineralMan]

4. So, now the news comes from some guy stealing gasoline?

Really? I have no doubt that there are distribution and other problems in Japan, but how can a responsible journalist build a story based on what some thief says? Did this reporter investigate the actual distribution of food and other necessities? Really?

[GReedDiamond]

12. Lighten up a little...

...the article indicates that the man is trying to salvage gas from wrecked vehicles.

These people are in basic survival mode, and are demonstrating tremendous calm and order in the midst of great human tragedy.

Many have lost everything they had, such as my girlfriend's brother-in-law, whose family home and all of their possessions were lost in the tsunami.

To label this victim of the disaster a "thief" shows little comprehension of the article, and no compassion.

[MineralMan]

16. You know, whenever someone tells me to "lighten up,"

I know they have no real argument. I'm more than aware of what is lost. I'm also aware that efforts are underway to relieve the people who are suffering from this disaster. The description of one man in one situation is not evidence that nobody is helping. It is merely a single point of data. My objection is in the magnification of that single data point to draw a conclusion that is not supported by evidence, and without any attempt to find out whether what that individual described is the norm or an isolated case. I'm complaining about very poor journalism.

So, I don't think I'll follow your order to lighten up. I think I'll continue to post as I see fit.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[druidity33]

51. I recall reading on the BBC site...

that Japanese refugees were being given a cup of rice a day. I'll hunt for the link... and i haven't done any other research, but i remember thinking that you can't really live on just rice.

:shrug:

[eShirl]

61. one cup of rice per day...

One of my fellow college freshmen (fall '83) was a refugee who had escaped from forced labor in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. One cup of rice per day is what he said they were fed.

[callous taoboy]

25. + 1

Agreed, Greed!

[Sherman A1]

70. Agreed & Well Said

Which is why this person is on my Ignore list... It's a truly wonderful thing!

[GReedDiamond]

79. Thanks. I briefly used the "ignore" feature...

...one time, but shortly thereafter, stopped using it.

Now I am considering its use, again.

Elevated blood pressure from reading vile comments from certain individuals is not worth it.

[Sherman A1]

80. Take care of yourself, keep your blood pressure lower

Ignore is your friend.....

:hi:

[TheKentuckian]

13. The people are in survival mode. There is no time or ability to make sure BP gets their profits

Or to seek out owners of abandoned vehicles to pay them for their abandoned gallons.

No matter how bad a situation is some folks have to think of capital and commerce first, even when systems are broken.

[uponit7771]

59. AMEN!!!

[Rex]

65. It is all that is really important to them.

Material wealth is all they care about.

[jtuck004]

15. If you would prefer you could listen to the mayor from the Miyagi prefecture crying

on television because there is no food or water in the center full of refugees. There are 250,000 people homeless, who have no way to get food or water, in the 3rd richest economy. And his is not the only story...

Awfully judgemental, in the face of what still has the potential to become this century's worst disaster.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

77. I saw him and the refugees...heartbreaking

[DCKit]

17. At least this one is THERE, on site, in the middle of it all.

Does he also have to be a fully vetted nuclear scientist, or will you just take his word, as someone who needs to eat, to stay alive?

You're a real piece of work MM.

[DeSwiss]

20. So. Let me see if I have this straight.

After in excess of 250+ earthquakes (which continue), a huge tsunami and 6 possible nuclear meltdowns on a small island nation like Japan -- a man who is trying to survive in an area everyone (including the U.S. military) is shunning and running away from and who is trying to get some gas for his car and food for his family, he's now reduced by you to "some guy stealing gas?" And you're questioning the ethics of the reporter who is himself risking contamination???

“I am so ashamed,” says the 43-year-old construction worker after he realises he has been spotted. “But for three days we haven’t had enough food. I have no money because my house was washed away by the tsunami and the cash machine is not working.”

- Damn. Damn. DAMN!

[bvar22]

41. Once again Lowering the Bar for DU.

[dixiegrrrrl]

53. Man, I had not seen those pics. Powerful.

:wow:

[truth2power]

67. I remember seeing these pictures and the comments...

Thank you for saving them and reminding us.

[Wait Wut]

40. That's what came to my mind, as well.

One man does not a country make or something like that.

I don't doubt that there are logistical issues getting aid to some areas, but this gives the impression that nothing at all is getting through. I've seen a lot of news clips showing aid stations, etc. so maybe this guy is stuck in one of those "impossible to reach" areas.

But, yeah. The "journalist" should have done further research into the claims before submitting his "story."

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tkmorris]

49. It seems to me...

That if your "ancient work computer" prevents you from being well informed on the topic at hand that it would be wise to not form decidedly one-sided opinions on that topic, and it would CERTAINLY not be a good idea to post those opinions knowing full well the situational ignorance from which they sprung. You seem to desire civil and reasoned discourse, a desire I share, however acting as you did in your initial post on this thread does not foster such. I propose we start afresh.

[uponit7771]

58. "stealing" during a absolute disaster?!?! LOFL!! Come on dude

[readmoreoften]

60. How can you build it on what some DVD seller who hangs around a military base and speaks English?

That's often the case from AP correspondents. See Prof. Beverly Hawk's academic work on the subject.

[ZombieHorde]

63. To be fair, I think many adults in democratic countries illegally download media, which makes them

thieves. Many DUers admit to stealing media from artists they love. Are all thieves necessarily untrustworthy?

Edit to add: I don't think a story like this should be based off of one person. I just don't think thieves are automatically bad people.

[tpsbmam]

66. Did you read the article? It's more than just one man. Read the story. nt

[polly7]

5. It's very sad.

We're seeing ads up here from together.ca desperately asking for donations, we see them often after natural disasters, but these are practically pleading for people to 'give as much as they can'. The situation must be really desperate. My heart goes out to them, I wish there were more ways to help.

[DainBramaged]

6. And instead of food, they are putting more police on to stop 'looting'

fucking assholes.


Police in the devastated Miyagi region said 250 thefts had been reported in the 10 days since the disaster and around £75,000 worth of goods had been reported stolen. The authorities said they are determined to cut down on the growing number of petty offences and would put an extra 100 officers on patrol.

Reported incidents have included men trying to break into cash machines, siphoning petrol from cars and taking items from damaged stores and homes.

Hironori Kodashima, vice chief of police in the hard hit fishing port of Kamaishi, in Iwate province, said: "We have just begun receiving reports about this and making arrests. But we are concerned about it and want it stopped.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-in/8395153/Japan-earthquake-Looting-reported-by-desperate-survivors.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. They are taking gasoline and food from damaged sources because they have no aid

as the article in my post discusses.

[JVS]

8. "says a man filching petrol" Wait is this the looting phenomenon that isn't supposed to happen?

[GReedDiamond]

10. In the case of this particular man...

...he was trying to salvage some fuel out of cars which were basically destroyed by the quake/tsunami.

That's not what I think of as "looting."

[arthritisR_US]

11. I call that, trying to survive..plain and simple. n/t

[GReedDiamond]

14. Yes, you are correct...

...to quote from the article:

Down in the docks, which were almost obliterated by the tsunami, people could be found climbing through the wreckage, trying pull out usable bicycles and siphoning petrol from cars that had been picked up and dashed against houses and harbour walls.

Emphasis added. That is not "looting."

[Lyric]

18. Kinda like the people of New Orleans were trying to salvage food

from grocery and convenience stores that had been basically destroyed by the hurricane...and were accused of "looting".

Here's the media difference:

1. If a hundred minority people are taking food, and ONE is taking a TV...the media will show the guy taking the TV.
2. If a hundred majority people are taking TVs and ONE is taking food...the media will show the guy taking food.

I'm absolutely positive that the Japanese are not saints. Of course there's been "looting", if we define that as "taking things that would ordinarily be considered luxuries, like electronics." We just don't SEE it, because it's rare and because in Japan, the Japanese race is equivalent to the white race here. Of course, there's an argument to be made that even when electronics are being stolen, it's still about survival...because when there are no supplies, people tend to hoard them and trade them. If I have a TV and my neighbor has fifty boxes of rice, I might be able to trade that TV for some rice. Maybe that's the only way I'm going to get food, or water, or warm clothes, or whatever else it is that my family needs.

That as true during Katrina too, but sadly, people often don't look beneath the surface for a more complex explanation than the obvious one. We don't give people (especially minorities) the benefit of the doubt. We assume the worst about each other. I've said more than once that one of the biggest tragedies of our modern, profit-oriented world is that we never give people the benefit of the doubt anymore. If there's an ugly profit-oriented explanation and a reasonable need-oriented explanation that seem equally likely, we'll assume the ugly one is true every time.

[DCKit]

19. No, no, no. The white folks were liberating food, the black folks were looting.

The M$M made the distinction quite clear.

[JVS]

27. Not liberating, finding.

[Dappleganger]

38. No, I'm quite certain they were risking their very lives to rescue those groceries.

Weren't they given a medal for their heroism as well?

;)

[seabeyond]

36. someone stole 500k out of the bank, too.... when they loot, they loot BIG. nt

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[flamingdem]

22. NOTE: This is a new administration in Japan, this is politics also

and the new administration just won recently. They asked for help from the previous administration and got little. Thus, they are overwhelmed and the old administration is surely making political capital from this for the next elections rather than helping.

I'm will try to get some links. This is based on what I'm reading in the Japanese press.

[DeSwiss]

23. I'm afraid this is only the beginning.

If we don't stop what we're doing and soon, it will be just another illustration of what is to come. For all of us.

It is GREED and ACQUIESCENCE TO THE GREEDY that is at the center of all this.


- That is what we must acknowledge first before it can be stopped......

K&R

[flamingdem]

26. Wait until India and Iran have nuclear disasters and they lack equipment

and experience to deal with it... will the USA provide the necessary suicide squads?

[DeSwiss]

29. At the rate we're going.....

...I think that we'll be too busy dealing with our own disasters.



Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Who's next?

[flamingdem]

32. gak. Looks like measles! nt

[sad sally]

54. Think of how much could be done if our Leader wasn't consumed

with lauching a new war, continuing two needless ones, making sure rich folks and corporations pay no or little taxes, bailing out banks...think what a different place not just America but the world could be.

[Atypical Liberal]

24. This is why people need to be prepared.

I'm not as prepared as I would like. Events like this make me consider spending some of our limited disposable income on emergency preparedness.

I think everyone ought to be able to have enough emergency supplies on hand to be able to keep themselves and their families going for at least 3 months. I intend to start saving gallon milk jugs (with two kids we go through them like crazy) and build up a water reserve. I also want to get a hundred-pounds of dried rice and beans put away. I already own firearms, but I think everyone ought to own at least a BB rifle so as to be able to at least pick off sparrows or other small game for protein.

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. Your plan sounds good, as long as.....

The place we have our stored food is not demolished by floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or fire.
Or bombs.
Or radiation.

For most of us in USA, we think of disasters as something which will force us to remain in our homes without power, and/or water, but rarely think of disasters as something which will force us to evacuate our source of food and water.
This includes my thinking too, for the most part. x(

[Atypical Liberal]

33. That is right.

I am pretty much banking on being able to stay where I am during a crisis. You are right that in any kind of disaster that completely wipes out my home, I'm screwed. I'd like to be able to have some sort of shelter, but I don't. So, we'll have to make due with the assumption that our home will stay basically intact, or at least that the food supplies will be somewhat recoverable.

I live in Huntsville, Alabama. Our biggest natural threats are tornadoes. If a tornado hits our home, everything in it will potentially be lost. Fortunately, however, tornadoes tend to cause very localized damage. They are unlikely to precipitate any kind of societal breakdown.

I know there are people who tend to think about "bugging out" when "the shit hits the fan". That is, they envision running away from civilization to go live in the mountains or something. I don't think this is wise. First of all, you could be caught up in a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of other people. Gasoline will almost instantly be gone, and traffic jams are highly likely. Unless you are willing to go "cross country", and have a vehicle that can do it, and you assume you will have no compunction about driving across other people's property, smashing through/over fences and the like, I don't think you will find yourself able to "bug out" very effectively. Additionally, you will be limited as to how many supplies you can take with you. Remember, a good supply of emergency food and water will amount to a few hundred pounds and considerable space. Additionally, you will find yourself possibly stuck in traffic or otherwise surrounded by a mob of people who may very well force you from your vehicle and now you have lost everything. I've often heard of people having a "bug out bag", which I think is even more ridiculous. Even if you are in good enough shape to don a 100-pound backpack and travel any distance with it, you are now severely limited in what you are able to carry to survive with.

In such a scenario I feel people will be much better off staying in their homes, working with their immediate communities to safegaurd each other, and thus being able to avail oneself to the hundreds of pounds of food and water they have stored for such an emergency.

I am anticipating a disaster where my home is pretty much still intact, but the usual services of society fail, such as food and gasoline deliveries, and electricity, and police. The most realistic scenario I can think of is some sort of massive natural disaster, like an earthquake, or some sort of terror attack such as a biological or nuclear weapon activated in a major city that then causes people to flee urban areas everywhere.

If we ever actually have to leave our home, we have a 20-year-old RV that we bought a year ago for camping. I hope that it would survive and that we could live in it.

[Dappleganger]

39. It's all good until your house and car get washed away.

That kind of fucks the best-laid plans all up.

[Atypical Liberal]

47. See post #33. n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

28. This is outrageous. It's been weeks.

Why aren't they dropping food to those poor people? :cry:

[hedgehog]

30. 400,000 people lost their homes, their jobs, their towns without warning in a matter of minutes.

Is it possible for any government to be prepared for such an event?

Even if the people involved had prepared an emergency pack, there was no time to go back and retrieve it ahead of the tsunami. (How many died trying to salvage just one or two items ahead of the wave?)

As we speak, FEMA is staging supplies in anticipation of flooding in the Mississippi watershed this Spring. I n order to get the supplies to where they are needed, FEMA will have to identify a safe haven, count and identify the people there and determine what is needed. I suspect the only way to do that properly is to have people on payroll full time who do nothing but drill to handle refugees; sort of a Coast Guard for disasters.

[seabeyond]

37. absolutely. nt

[Catherina]

35. This is intolerable. Rec'd with anger and sadness. So what's the plan here? n/t

[Octafish]

46. Seems to be: Abandon those in The Zone.

It's been 11 days. WTF?

They're not even evacuating pregnant women and children. Even bigger WTF?

[Catherina]

50. I'm shocked. I'm not quite sure why knowing how governments view expandable labor

but I'm shocked and pained. That just blanked out my mind from sadness.

[Hannah Bell]

44. Because the other 2/3 of japan has no access to foreign media. Only the Telegraph has the truth.

yes, just bring in relief on the highway! what could be simpler! why has the japanese gov't shut down highways in the disaster area to all but emergency traffic?

http://www.ksee24.com/news/ksee-sunrise/Japan-Quake-Recovery-and-Costal-Highway-Damage-Top-News-Brief-118167359.html

btw, the town in question is iSHInomaki, not iCHInomaki, as the telegraph reports. and the article is from the 19th.

[SoCalDem]

52. The months-long interval after a catastrophe is always chaotic

Especially when infrastructure is destroyed. Add a nuke element to the mix, and it's easy to see why Japan is not inundated with aid assistance & people all over the place trying to help.

Being a wealthy country cannot overcome ALL obstacles, and cannot force people to be radiated as they try to help.

It must be a very frustrating situation to all the helpful people who want to rush to their aid, but who also have their health to think about.

The other thing to think about is this.. Perhaps Japan is wealthy, but the scope of this trifecta-disaster is also daunting.

[hayu_lol]

56. Something you all could do...

is in every community, contact your local HAM radio club...they will have members who can get in touch with Japan directly...if not by voice, then by CW(code). Find the Japanese speakers in your community and get them to the HAMS. There will be many throughout Japan who will respond...they may be doing so at this time.

Airlift could provide basic foods/water by airdrop. Probably have to stage out of Okinawa. Palletized cargo, the food, water, medicines, and the like could be dropped in two ways: straight airdrop with chutes and by C-130s and other rear-ramp aircraft by flying close to the ground and sling-shoting the pallets out for free-fall delivery on collapsible pallets--works for tanks and lighter vehicles. Fuel can be dropped the same way. Emergency materials...stoves and the like to provide hot food also can be kicked out of the aircraft and will land with little or no damage. Target areas would be just about any flat dry area. All it takes is getting foodstocks to the closest available airport to the high-damage area.

In my opinion, better to start this immediately with some supplies while the machine gears up for long-term relief. I remember one particularly nasty US winter where the Air Force used C-119s(flying boxcars)to feed freezing and starving cattle across the northern midwest.

Unfortunately, time is passing, and our officials appear to be concerned with 'politics' instead of people.

[glinda]

55. On Yahoo news page they say the Japanese food is safe! hahahahaha!

[Mojorabbit]

57. At this point it is foraging

and I would be right there with him doing the same thing to help feed and find clothes to keep my loved ones (as well as other community members )warm. It would be the epitome of stupidity to sit there and nearly starve while food goes rotting in and around crushed housing.

[AsahinaKimi]

62. Then there is this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x720342

[intaglio]

68. I was wrong

wanted to say that because I thought someone was overdramatising the situation. I lost the original thread so I'm putting this here for all to see.

[rbixby]

74. I think the sad truth

is that I think that certain parts of Japanese culture favor saving face to telling the truth. I'm sure there are some elements who would rather try to brush these things under the rug than to admit that they were caught with their pants down, totally unprepared for a disaster of this magnitude (when in reality, who could possibly prepare for something like this?).

Maybe I'm wrong, that's just kind of been my take on it. Anyone else want to weigh in on this?

[Prometheus Bound]

82. Here is a 1997 column about the Japanese officials' slow response to disasters and the unexpected.

It's from a local Hong Kong paper - the South China Morning Post. I have no URL.

Misfortunes take toll on officialdom
Japan's inability to cope with the unexpected proves disastrous, writes Tanya
Updated on Jan 12, 1997

EVER since the devastation of Kobe's 1994 earthquake Japan has faced increasing criticism domestically and internationally for its inability to cope efficiently with disaster.

From one calamitous event to another, Japan's decision-makers appear to stumble. The list is long and growing. The earthquake, doomsday cult Aum Shinri Kyo and now the massive oil spill off Japan's coastline.

Smaller disasters like tunnel collapses, mudslides and even heavy snowfalls allow the Japanese to display the same inability to act decisively.

It is not that Japan does not have its share of officious overseers. Every street appears to have its own neighbourhood know-all ensuring correct litter disposal.

And Japanese bureaucrats are famous for lording it over lesser mortals when it comes to policy decisions.

The problem for Japan is that its system is unable to cope with anything outside the norm. Rules and patterns of behaviour are well established for that which is expected.

When the unexpected occurs, all bets are off.

Hand-flapping usefulness may be the best way to describe the attitude that emerges then.

A few years ago, a 10-centimetre layer of snow covered Tokyo. Everything - trains, buses, taxis and offices - ground to a halt.

It took hours, even days for officialdom to dig out snow chains, clear train tracks and find enough ploughs to clear the roads.

It was a February, when snowfall is most expected. But Tokyo rarely sees that much snow - it usually melts quickly and the problem goes away.

Unexpectedly, the snow was heavy and there to stay for a few days at least.

Eventually, the system was galvanised into action. Keys were found to municipal storage sheds containing bus snow chains. One by one, the ploughs were brought into service. The time lost working out how to react was the only real worry.

In Kobe, the time lost reacting to the earthquake and subsequent fires almost certainly led to further loss of life, something the prime minister of the day, Tomiichi Murayama, has admitted.

Subsequently, officialdom across the country has worked to at least give the appearance of action.
At every disaster, the responsible minister is seen donning a work jacket and rushing off to inspect the site and promise immediate action.

The effect is somewhat marred by the television shots of the media mob accompanying the responsible minister as he meaningfully stares at the particular disaster site.

And volunteers across the nation have set up groups to lend a hand, whatever the disaster.

But the question still arises each time: could Japan have acted faster? In the most recent disaster, the huge oil slick endangering wildlife and nuclear power plants on the Japan Sea, the question must now be raised: did Japan react soon and efficiently enough? A Kyodo report says oil booms to prevent the further spread of oil were placed around the boat's leaking tanks one week after the accident.

And authorities only started to make plans for pumping out the remaining oil in the tanker on Friday. The accident occurred on January 2.

The man in charge of the cleanup operation was so exhausted by the overload of responsibility that he fell in front of a train on his way to work on Friday, in what some say may have been a suicide attempt.

Maybe no other country could have dealt with this situation any better. High winds and stormy seas have clearly made the task harder.

But there has been no real change in the Japanese pursuit of consensus or in their lack of a ready response.

[Beacool]

78. This is heartbreaking.

The Japanese government should be asking for help. Everyone assumes they are wealthy enough, but the same was thought of the US when Katrina hit and look how many people went without the very basics. The world would send food if asked.

I work for a Fortune 100 and the company has its own relief fund. The last Friday day of the month is denominated "Dollars for Denim". All domestic employees donate money and in exchange they can wear jeans. The various offices throughout the country take turns choosing a charity. This month the company decided that all money will go to the relief fund they set up for Japan. I'm going to make sure that this Friday I put more than my usual donation amount. No one should go hungry.

:(

[trud]

83. Here's how to help

Peace Winds Japan has ten trucks a day taking food, fuel, and medicine to the area. They are getting through on the roads.

Donations to Peace Winds America go to them and are tax deductible:

http://peacewindsamerica.org/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami/