Responses

While reading about my classmates’ experiences with the 311 earthquake, two major themes caught my eye: the strong sense of uncertainty created by the media/lack of the media and technology, and the vulnerability of humans against the unpredictable forces of nature. From the native’s perspectives, all was relatively calm during the earthquake, but as soon as communication was cut off, the true panic set in. People seemed to be at a loss, relentlessly worrying about their families, and turning to the television and internet for any bit of information on the quake. In my opinion technology has given people the sense of being close to others even when separated by a physical distance, and once that connection is severed, we cannot help but feel devastated and alone. From the foreigner’s perspective, their time was spent being flooded by many different opinions from friends, family, and the news everywhere they went. The discrepancy caused by conflicting opinions made us truly confused, and the time before traveling to Japan was unsettling to say the least. It’s interesting for me to imagine what life was like before the world became so interconnected through phones and the internet – how would people handle this situation, and how would this situation be perceived by the rest of the world? Would there actually be more order and less panic in a time when people were forced to rely on themselves alone to make sense of situations such as this one?

As for our vulnerability, I feel that the earthquake has really reminded people that although we might feel on top and in control of our lives and even the world around us, we will never be able to prevent such disasters from happening, and people from dying. I don’t believe people should dwell on the idea of death often, but I think this occurrence forced many to reflect on the strong possibility of death and the fragility of the human life, as hard as it may be to imagine.

What really struck me was a comment someone made (I can’t find the blog again for some reason @_@) about how the lives of various Japanese people are essentially being sacrificed in order to provide for the larger city population. The person questioned if the bigger cities really need all this power, and expressed his/her desire for the preservation of farmland rather than the production of more plants. In class we talked about how many people from the areas around the affected power plants are resentful toward Tokyo, and I am very curious as to how these strong feelings will play out in the future. Will Japan make changes in order to ensure that the power plants won’t affect a population like this again, or will they continue to build without any concern for the opinion of the people being put in danger? Will these feelings become strong enough to divide the nation, or cause people to protest against the government’s decisions?

In conclusion I just wanted to say I was touched by people’s willingness to help (both gaizin and natives alike), and amazed by the strength and resilience of the Japanese people in such a difficult time. If this earthquake occurred anywhere else in the world, I doubt we would see the same reaction – if any country can come back strong from such a devastating disaster, it’s Japan.