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jishin 地震 and jishin 自信 : earthquakes and confidence
14 years ago
As I've said to family and friends on FA and off FA: thank you for your concern in light of what's befallen Japan. My home happens to be in a region far southwest of the places hardest hit, but in this fault-straddling, string of dead and live volcanoes of an island country, anywhere is at risk.
An extra thank you also to those who have written and mentioned donating blood. I'll be doing the same -- heh, I actually went to a drive on Monday the 7th. Turned out one of the needles went in wrong and made withdrawl impossible or unsafe for at least another week. Originally I was going to try again this coming Saturday, but the bruise is already gone and I'll pay a visit this Tuesday instead.
To those who would like to donate but cannot, no snub intended against you whatsoever -- I might be in the same boat. Right now, I just have to pray that my liver is in good enough shape (as of now, unlike last November) so the Japanese Red Cross can use my O+ blood this time. (If it's not, well, I just need to eat more raw veggies and go teetotaling for much longer. Just that by then, it'll be far too late for the current emergency.)
Going back to geography for a moment: Otsu sits next to Japan's largest lake, which is small by US or Russian standards but big enough to make tsunami if the placement were just right. My apartment's up a hill... but hell, I'm more likely to do my shopping close to or along the lakeshore. Always knew the possibility of tsunami off Biwa-ko was there since before I moved out of the deeper mountains, but news of the last few days just brings a reminder of that closer to home.
Adding a bit of recent but actual history to the mix: Otsu is next to the city of Kyoto, which is almost next to the city of Osaka, which is almost next to Kobe. Kobe was the city hit hardest by the Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. Before that time, the fault line it sat by was assumed to be one of the safe ones.
The professor who made my current job possible is a native of Kobe. When the quake hit, he was right there clearing rubble and helping people out, but didn't bother getting in touch with the administration. His colleagues and students were simultaneously relieved and angry to hear from him later, since (in those days with fewer mobile phones) they had assumed him to be lost or dead for days.
In 1995, Japan was still seen as more of a symbol of the future, but was also an object of considerable envy. Some of the press coverage around the world at that time was in pretty bad taste. "Oh, look, they're really just a third world country with a first world veneer." "Remember what we all thought about the future in the 70s? Japan is Brazil all over again!" There was a kernal of truth to that, though: locally, there's a dark little observational joke that right after the Hanshin quake, the only organized help around was Jehovah's Witnesses and the yakuza. (Odd pairing, that, but I guess that's part of the joke.)
Anyway, as long as criticisms against the government are not laid on the people themselves... well, you folks in or from the US probably know what I'm saying here. The press has problems all over the world, and if anything I think that 2000s US media has become more and more like 1880s US or contempory UK, tabloid-driven media. But with this issue at least, I hope there'll be a little more restraint this time than there was with the nasty envy in 1995.
More immediately important, and tied in with the second jishin in this title, I hope the efforts are (and are going to be) a little more smooth this time. The DPJ-led government has been minor-scandal-ridden lately, but I hope it hasn't been caught as flat-footed as the LDP government of the earlier Heisei era. Will have to pay close attention to how the recovery efforts go, since this'll be relevant to everyone who is living in Japan.
On a cultural note, there is rivalry between the Kansai region (the center-west) and people in the more eastern parts of Japan -- I've adopted some of that m'self, with tongue in cheek, and am fond of calling it Kinki Pride. All that silliness aside, a friend of mine, native to a mountain village close-by and himself very much a Kansaijin, sent me a long and unusually sweet chain letter over the phone. It'd take me a while to translate it line-by-line, but the chain was started to be a show of support and encouragement from the people of Kansai to the people of Kanto and Tohoku.
One thing I love about Japanese culture -- though it might be one of those slowly changing things, a subject for a different journal -- is that the line between "earnest" and "corny" is drawn differently and a lot less strictly than it is in the US or UK. Chain letter or no, the sentiment it expressed touched me and mirrored my own feelings toward eastern Japan right now. Folks could mock it from any which angle, but the feeling of ファイト！ (f'aito! fight!) should be taken in its original spirit, I think.
That seems like a good note to end this journal on. Thank you to all those who care, and especially those who are angry at me but still care ^_^;
An extra thank you also to those who have written and mentioned donating blood. I'll be doing the same -- heh, I actually went to a drive on Monday the 7th. Turned out one of the needles went in wrong and made withdrawl impossible or unsafe for at least another week. Originally I was going to try again this coming Saturday, but the bruise is already gone and I'll pay a visit this Tuesday instead.
To those who would like to donate but cannot, no snub intended against you whatsoever -- I might be in the same boat. Right now, I just have to pray that my liver is in good enough shape (as of now, unlike last November) so the Japanese Red Cross can use my O+ blood this time. (If it's not, well, I just need to eat more raw veggies and go teetotaling for much longer. Just that by then, it'll be far too late for the current emergency.)
Going back to geography for a moment: Otsu sits next to Japan's largest lake, which is small by US or Russian standards but big enough to make tsunami if the placement were just right. My apartment's up a hill... but hell, I'm more likely to do my shopping close to or along the lakeshore. Always knew the possibility of tsunami off Biwa-ko was there since before I moved out of the deeper mountains, but news of the last few days just brings a reminder of that closer to home.
Adding a bit of recent but actual history to the mix: Otsu is next to the city of Kyoto, which is almost next to the city of Osaka, which is almost next to Kobe. Kobe was the city hit hardest by the Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. Before that time, the fault line it sat by was assumed to be one of the safe ones.
The professor who made my current job possible is a native of Kobe. When the quake hit, he was right there clearing rubble and helping people out, but didn't bother getting in touch with the administration. His colleagues and students were simultaneously relieved and angry to hear from him later, since (in those days with fewer mobile phones) they had assumed him to be lost or dead for days.
In 1995, Japan was still seen as more of a symbol of the future, but was also an object of considerable envy. Some of the press coverage around the world at that time was in pretty bad taste. "Oh, look, they're really just a third world country with a first world veneer." "Remember what we all thought about the future in the 70s? Japan is Brazil all over again!" There was a kernal of truth to that, though: locally, there's a dark little observational joke that right after the Hanshin quake, the only organized help around was Jehovah's Witnesses and the yakuza. (Odd pairing, that, but I guess that's part of the joke.)
Anyway, as long as criticisms against the government are not laid on the people themselves... well, you folks in or from the US probably know what I'm saying here. The press has problems all over the world, and if anything I think that 2000s US media has become more and more like 1880s US or contempory UK, tabloid-driven media. But with this issue at least, I hope there'll be a little more restraint this time than there was with the nasty envy in 1995.
More immediately important, and tied in with the second jishin in this title, I hope the efforts are (and are going to be) a little more smooth this time. The DPJ-led government has been minor-scandal-ridden lately, but I hope it hasn't been caught as flat-footed as the LDP government of the earlier Heisei era. Will have to pay close attention to how the recovery efforts go, since this'll be relevant to everyone who is living in Japan.
On a cultural note, there is rivalry between the Kansai region (the center-west) and people in the more eastern parts of Japan -- I've adopted some of that m'self, with tongue in cheek, and am fond of calling it Kinki Pride. All that silliness aside, a friend of mine, native to a mountain village close-by and himself very much a Kansaijin, sent me a long and unusually sweet chain letter over the phone. It'd take me a while to translate it line-by-line, but the chain was started to be a show of support and encouragement from the people of Kansai to the people of Kanto and Tohoku.
One thing I love about Japanese culture -- though it might be one of those slowly changing things, a subject for a different journal -- is that the line between "earnest" and "corny" is drawn differently and a lot less strictly than it is in the US or UK. Chain letter or no, the sentiment it expressed touched me and mirrored my own feelings toward eastern Japan right now. Folks could mock it from any which angle, but the feeling of ファイト！ (f'aito! fight!) should be taken in its original spirit, I think.
That seems like a good note to end this journal on. Thank you to all those who care, and especially those who are angry at me but still care ^_^;
*hugs tight* Thank gods you're alright, though.
Will you still be coming down to Kansai in the fall? If not, I'll see if I can make a trip up to Kanto next week --:=)
I plan to send what help I can for recovery. It's going to be a long hard road. What a terrible thing to happen. I hope they get the nuclear plants safely cooled and taken care of. The last thing needed now is more disaster from them.
Really, it's all been chance, and I'm more worried for the people further east.
Incidentally, I'm curious how those waiters felt about tipping when they first arrived in the States. It's just not part of the culture at all in Japan, no matter how good the service may be -- and despite the already-high cost of living and all, that lack does feel like a shame at times to me!
All joking aside, though, thank you.
It's sad because I really do enjoy Japanese sake (Nihon-shu 日本酒 in Japanese); but even so, giving up alcohol in general (sake 酒 in Japanese -- different reading, same kanji) is only a minor disappointment. Does put a damper on socializing in some contexts, though.
(And ugh, the news domestically is just getting worse and worse. Makes me think of a panel from a Roz Gibson comic where a doctor cries out "Disaster upon disaster!" The northeast would have been lucky to've been hit only to the same extent Kobe was. It pains me to say a thing like that, with as many Kobe-shimin friends as I have.)