Posted on 03/16/2011 10:34:17 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
“Gaman-subeki.”
Translated from the Japanese, the words mean “we must endure.”
It’s these words the Japanese are using to describe the way they are dealing with the nightmare engulfing their country, according to an edited report by Winnetka native Dan Simon, 30, who has lived in Tokyo for the past three years.
“The Japanese people have responded to the situation with resilience and determination,” said Simon, a journalist who is now working for a public relations company. “They are hanging tough and proud of the way they have responded to the crisis. This is the Japanese way: continue on, do not give up and help each other.
“I live in Tokyo in the middle of the city and I think it’s important to note if this had happened in Chicago or in New York, I think we would have seen rioting and looting.
“But the Japanese people have a different way of doing things, and even though there is panic, they go about their lives in an orderly and polite way. There’s no overturned cars or riot police. It’s something that the Japanese people are very proud of. They’re saying they are very proud to be Japanese right now.”
Simon, a graduate of New Trier High School, has no plans to leave.
“In spite of several moments of panic, and the ever-present desire to flee overseas, I will follow the example of the Japanese and stay put.”
Although Tokyo has been relatively safe, hours after Simon dispatched his message to Sneed, the city was hit by three more aftershocks at 8:30 a.m. Chicago time Tuesday.
“One was a 6.0 on the Richter scale,” said Simon, who’d recently been on his home computer “watching a streaming Internet video of someone with a Geiger counter in nearby Chiba. But I’m not worried about radiation at all. From the information I’ve been receiving, it’s not something to really worry about in Tokyo. There is some panic with people buying food and water — but people are still delivering pizza.
“It has been four days since the giant earthquake. When the quake struck, I was in my office on the top floor of a seven-story building. At first, it felt like the dozens of minor earthquakes I have experienced since moving here.
“I quickly realized, as did my co-workers, that it was no minor thing. I braced myself in a nearby door jam while the rest of my colleagues ducked under their desks. Our building swayed, heavy metal bookshelves and cabinets were knocked over and the walls cracked. We feared it was the “big one” that has been predicted to hit Tokyo for decades.
“On Sunday, I started carrying my passport and cash around with me. As the new week began, many foreigners fled the city. A vegetable vendor near my office said, “Food supplies are still strong from the southern and western parts of Japan. But in the northern areas, things are very difficult. But Tokyo is OK.”
Then he added: “But it does seem surreal, as if the real danger is looming just out of sight.”
I’ll take the USA, with all its faults, over Japan any day.
I think anybody reading the article gets the general idea, even if you don’t.
“This is the Japanese way: continue on, do not give up and help each other.”
Unlike, say, the U.S., with our mass suicides and crawling under beds for whole years after disasters.
I get the idea - this guy Simon is like the hippies years ago trying to get back at their daddies talking up the Japanese while taking a swipe at the USA.
As others have said, there was none of that in New York after 9/11. I was there and it was surreal how little crime occurred in the weeks after.
I see where you are coming from.
I believe there was some looting in NY (2003) when the east coast had the blackout, but you are right, nothing like that happened on 9/11 or even when a hurricane hit Long Island in 1985.
I don’t know Chicago that well, so I’ll take your word on how they might react. I do wonder if this happened in LA, what we might see. I honestly think the shock of what happened might keep such looting to a minimum.
Sounds pretty on the mark to me.
This isn’t your father’s America.
“What’s not true about the statement ‘if this had happened in Chicago or in New York, I think we would have seen rioting and looting.’”
Firstly, they don’t need much excuse. A couple of degree above average summer will do, or a random cop looking at someone crosseyed.
Since they are reported to be delivering pizza in Tokyo (squid and corn toppings included), the chump-in-chief probably thinks things are more or less back to normal.
Speaking of mass suicides, how many of the Japanese government and business owners will commit hari-kari in the wake of this mess??
TRUE
And 'because it was in RED America' it was totally ignored by our Chump-in-chief. someone from FEMA went there ONE day - and that was an end to it. Nada, nothing.
The worst flooding in it's history. But "RED" Americans picked themselves up, dug in, helped one another and rebuilt...without one thin dime from the gov't.
In the long run, they were better off for it. Look at N.O. and Haiti - STILL.
Puts a whole new twist to Reagan's warning about : "We're from the government and we're here to help." (There was a lot of 'looting' in both N.O. and Haiti that people won't look at - there's no evidence for all those billions of dollars poured into those places. They went into pockets...of mostly politicians, I would guess.)
You’re confusing the politics with the human response to disaster which is why no one cites rioting or looting after 9/11 or after last month’s big snow in Chicago.
This is MUCH bigger than 9/11 or your freakin snowstorms.
New York, Chicago and every other large American city would freak out if a natural disaster cut off all food, water and shelter.
It was not an anti-American statement as much as it was an anti-urban American city-dweller statement.
The author is correct. Are you saying you don’t think there would be riots and looting if there were a similar situation in any major city in the USA?
No that’s speculation - note that this did NOT occur right in Tokyo where this clown Simon is, but hundreds of miles away.
Or a losing sports team. Or a winning sports team. Just the same.
He’s on his way to Rio for another vacation with his posse.
Historically, we haven’t seen it in New York and Chicago where this Simpleton Simon says there would be problems.
Oh, with all that shaking and breaking glass in store windows, and you’re thinking all that good loot just sitting there for the taking wouldn’t have been a major temptation in the ghettos of New York and Chicago?
9/11 was a whole different ballgame than an earthquake which is an equal opportunity disaster as far as location of impact. The average New Yorker did good in 9/11.
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