That's good to hear... I was worried about Takeuchi as well. ^^;;;

It's very sad... like a tripple wammy, Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear Power Plants... The situation seems dire and it makes me sad because I love Japan...

@Wish- yeh, I tried to find something online about it, but I couldn't. The person who told me is a history geek from my school, but I'm gonna ask him to cite his sources.

I just saw on FB that another reactor just exploded. I'm gonna turn on NHK and see if they are talking about it...

This is starting to creep me out. I hope it doesn't all end like that scene in Kurosawa's Dreams...
YouTube - Mt. Fuji in Red -- Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

@Explodey Not only has there been a second explosion, there's now fears of the third reactor exploding, and a possible meltdown. I really hope it doesn't happen. At least the surrounding area has been evacuated though.

On a more positive note has anyone else seen this blog entry going around tumbr? It's a set of translated tweets about how the disaster has brought people together. It's quite moving. :)

You know, I have to report on a "Current Events" article every once in a while for my History class. So this one from the New York Times caught my eye, and after actually thinking about it, I'm starting to cry for all the people who are under distress from all this. I DO have friends with relatives in Japan. I know people that AREN'T friends, and I'm even concerned for their families.

So please read this article if you can spare some time and want to know some of the people who survived and are losing hope: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/wo...gewanted=print

So a guy I used to be friends with posted this status and it makes me glad I'm not friends with him anymore.

We have plenty that we need to work on, and if the people that lived their didn't just sit on their asses they should resolve the issue easy. The country is tiny. It's not hard to ta...ke a single train to the epicenter of disaster, considering the size of japan

@ QueenPeppermint - I hate when people are ignorant like that. There's this girl who I'm friends with on Facebook who said in English class today: "Who cares about the tsunami? It's just Japanese people. Japan sucks, anyway." I'm debating on whether or not to delete her from my friends list for that...

@Marguerite Blakeney that article was moving - the photographs they have on site are too, there are many on there I hadn't seen before.

@QueenPeppermint There's a few people on my facebook I'm tempted to have a word with if not unfriend, the level of ignorance around is really working me up - especially considering these people can see in their feeds that quite a lot of their friends are currently searching for friends and relatives in Japan.

Talk about some scary ignorance.... I saw this on Unicorn Booty to-day....
Religious Fanatic Girl Praises God For Devastation In Japan | Gay Blog Unicorn Booty: Gay Friendly + Beyond

Eugh I saw her spreading around tumblr earlier. Her entire youtube channel is frightening, I can't honestly work out if she's trolling or if she's genuinely that blinded by fanatical religion.

Edit: A third explosion has been recorded at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12740843

Just so you guys know, the nuclear power plant isn't as big of an issue as people are making it out to be. The media is really hyping it up, but it's not really dangerous outside of the advisory area they've imposed (everyone 30 km away needs to stay indoors). *kind of frustrated with all of the fear-mongering the media has done*

Glad to hear it's not as bad as they're making it out to be.
The media seem to be pushing the coverage of it as much as possible, especially the rolling news channels.

Yeah and unfortunately it's really freaking people out. :( Especially since many news channels say, "The Japanese government can't be trusted. They might be covering things up." Which makes it even harder to know who to trust. Families back home are freaking out and a lot of the foreigners in Sendai are being pressured to evacuate even if they're not in any real danger.

But in reality, the Japanese government been pretty transparent about the threats so far and it's not like they can cover up the radiation levels, which are being monitored by international governments as well. I've received notice by the US embassy that it's not dangerous outside of the 30 km zone and this seems to be agreed upon by various other governments involved as well.

Well I think I might be in the minority. For many people, it's hard to get reliable information and it's really hard to know who to trust since news reports have been give conflicting information. I'm thankful that I have a network of foreigners in Sendai that I can contact and we've been doing our best to help each other out. I have faith in the information I've been given now, but some people are still quite freaked out and are on their way or have already left the country.

The BBC seem to be taking quite a neutral stance when it comes to their views on the Japanese government, I can't say I've come across comments about the government being untrustworthy. I don't doubt that some newspapers and channels would take the opportunity to be slanderous though.

I think this comment I found on a news site sums the coverage up quite well - "[The writer] can't help feeling that the media is desperate for the entire plant to explode. The fact is, is that the plant is coping as it was designed to in a crisis of this awesome magnitude. The fact that it is still standing while all around other constructions have been destroyed proves this."

I'm mostly looking at BBC and NHK coverage, I've been trying to read lots of first hand accounts though too. Some of the information coming out in the news is, as you said, conflicting. It's good to know that you have a support system going on though, from what I've read on twitter and tumblr this seems to be bringing people closer together if nothing else.

Maybe I'm wrong to say "many" are casting doubt on the Japanese government, but I know I've personally encountered several articles that have mentioned it. Honestly can't remember which ones at this point. :sweat: I've read far too much news recently and I'm sick of it.

I like BBC and I tend to rely on it for my general day-to-day international news. However, I was frustrated that they seemed to focus entirely on Tokyo for a bit after the quake when they suffered comparatively little damage.

It's okay that you don't remember which ones. :)
I tend to stick to the BBC, although I can see what you mean about the initial focus on Tokyo. I know they've got reporters in Minamisoma and other badly affected areas now that they've gained access.

As I said I'm trying to mix my reading the news with first hand accounts to try to get a true picture of what's going on. I often have a hard time swallowing some of the things the news says, most news companies are guilty of over-exaggeration and sensationalization of stories at some point or other.

I can't remember which paper it was - it was more than likely the Daily Mail - that was using words such as "apocalypse" and telling people living in America to lock themselves inside because of the plant explosions . . . :no:

@IkuAki: Really? Wonder what those jokes were...

The people in Sendai really truly have been doing an excellent job in the wake of this disaster. At my work, my coworkers immediately knew what to do to secure things and prepare for refugees. Wandering around town, you can see people helping each other out and any business that opens will quickly have an orderly line of people waiting for service. People may be scared, especially in the beginning, but the atmosphere was very much "we're all in this together". I feel bad I haven't done much to help contribute myself, but I have offered my apartment up as a place to stay for people who need it.

@FuzzyLumpkin: Yeah, that's the kind of "reporting" that really bothers me. That really taps into peoples fears and makes them focused on the disaster, but I've noticed that most people seem to react as "My god, the Japanese people have put ME in danger!" rather than "Those poor people! We need to help them."

It was 50cent. I saw it reported somewhere. One of the tweets was something like "The wave will hit 8am them crazy white boys gonna try to go surfing." I can't remember the other one, something about his "hoes" though. He later posted "Some of my tweets are ignorant I do it for shock value. Hate it or love it. I’m cool either way 50cent.” As for the joke the Alfac man made I'm not even inclined to retype it. I was genuinely disgusted.

There's a small few who see it fit to make jokes about this on Facebook and other places, it's particularly horrible considering quite a large amount of us have friends or relatives living and working in Japan. Don't get me wrong I find it utterly disgusting regardless, but it seems to be particularly ignorant to post such things in amongst statuses about trying to find people.

And yes that kind of reporting is terrible. My grandmother reads the Daily Mail, which is know for taking things out of context. It wouldn't surprise me if after reading the articles she'll start insisting our doors are locked and the windows shut tight. *sigh*

And I wouldn't say that offering your apartment as a place to stay isn't doing much. After reading around twitter I'd say that every little thing that's done to help seems to be greatly appreciated. :)

I just unfriended some kid on FB for cracking rude jokes about Japan.

I can't believe some people can be so callous.

But then, as I said the other day when #PearlHarbor was trending on Twitter, so was #howtopissoffafatperson. As if anyone can choose their body size/type and as if fat people aren't already mocked enough.

If there WAS a God and it made judgement calls I'd think it'd be busy zapping bulliers right and left instead.