HANDS DOWN BEST POST OF THREAD
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.”
And the rest of the world riots over soccer but that’s not the point.
I just kind of assumed that the earthquake and tsunami was all our fault too - Gorebull Warming ...
maine-iac7 wrote.....”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.”
Nothing against red state Tennessee but your assertion that FEMA was only there one day and that the state didn’t get “one thin dime” from the Federal government are totally incorrect. Not only did FEMA stay and conduct disaster assistance operations in 46 counties, they extended their assistance past the date when it was set to expire.
By June 20, 2010, 63,633 people in Tennessee had registered for individual assistance from FEMA and FEMA had approved $141 million in aid to individual households. This does not include the millions of additional dollars in aid given to Tennessee municipalities.
OK we get it: Dude dissed your hood.
HANDS DOWN BEST POST OF THREAD
If the lights go out in Chicago, your city will burn...
He dissed all of our hood like the liberal piece of crap he most like is.
That may just be wishful thinking on your part although Chicago did burn 140 years ago - come to think of it, Japan did about 65 years ago.
It would be the perfect time to loot, empty businesses and no police presence, but it didn’t happen.
The point is well taken, though - there’s not much left that’s worth looting up in northern Japan.
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