Stories about Japanese from April, 2011
Japan: “Nuclear Power Mafia”
An anoymous user published on Nichannel (2ch) some pages from the manga titled Hakuryu Legend – Nuclear Power Mafia [ja] (by Tennoji Dai and Watanabe Michio), whose publication was suspended [en] after the earthquake. The story is about a journalist who conducts an investigation on a power company called Toto...
France, Japan: Debating President Sarkozy's Visit to Japan
When French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Japan on March 31, 2011, less than three weeks after the earthquake and tsunami that caused a nuclear emergency, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is reported to have said: "When it rains, a friend who comes is a true friend". Bloggers ask if Nicolas Sarkozy really came to visit out of friendship alone.
Japan: A Japanese medical aid worker's diary
Anonymous translator ( @anontrans) translated into English some blog entries posted by “a Japanese nurse who was dispatched to Rikuzentakata, Iwate, Japan as a member of one of the first disaster medical assistance teams to be sent from Tokyo just several days after the earthquake and tsunami that struck the...
Fukushima: Public Criticism and a Rising Anger
Open protests against Tepco as operator and the government as monitor had been relatively muted until recently, but this has now changed. For many foreigners however, used to much bigger numbers of demonstrators in their own countries, doubts remain. Why do Japanese people seem so reluctant to criticize the company and industry responsible for this man made disaster and the government which let it all happen?
Japan: “The Fear of Magnitude 0″
In the wake of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake which hit Japan, changing forever the lives of so many people, popular writer Keiya Mizuno decided to use words as a means to react to the event and reflect on the meaning of life. In a post titled The Fear of Magnitude 0 published on his blog, the author highlights the importance of memory and the value of remembering lessons learnt from such tragedies.
Japan: SOS from a city near Fukushima nuclear plant
The mayor of Minami Soma, a small city next to the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, asked for help through a video [en, ja] posted on Youtube. The mayor launched an appeal to the world saying the people are isolated, there is a lack of supplies and the government is...
Japan: Plutonium, Our Reliable Friend
Professor Yuji Ankei posted on Youtube a rare version of the animated video called Mr. Pluto, our reliable friend – Story of plutonium (頼れる仲間プルト君——プルトニウム物語). The video, that was later withdrawn, was made in the 1990s by the Japanese Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation and “tries to convince younger...
Japan: Machine Civilization
Pinktentacle presented [en] the latest coreographed video by World Order, the performance group led by former martial artist Genki Sudo. The video is called Machine Civilization and is a message of hope for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. “The unprecedented disasters unfolding in Japan; earthquakes, tsunami, and nuclear...
Russia: Tatarstan People's Message to Japan
Russian photographer Oleg Klimov re-posts (RUS) a YouTube video (RUS, JPN) by a Tatarstan-based Japanese photographer Sohei Yasui, in which residents of Tatarstan's capital Kazan share their opinions on the situation in Japan and send kind wishes to the Japanese people.
