The last few weeks have been quite tumultuous in our minds, with recent events in Japan. Obviously, initial concerns were with family and friends (one of whom lives up in Fukushima city). Obviously the general feeling of helplessness pervades our thinking here. I guess my role has been relegated to reviewing the data coming out of Japan putting together a reasoned analysis of the situation with the Fukushima-daiichi nuclear power plant. On the one hand, you have elements of the Western media in full blown panic, with a vanguard of the polar opposite saying there is nothing going on. There’s also an element of distrust with how much information is being disclosed by TEPCO and the Japanese government.
My current view is that I think family are OK, though I have some minor worries over our friend in Fukushima City.
What I find frustrating, and hard to express is my feelings for what’s happening elsewhere in Fukushima both from a purely selfish point of view and view of empathy of the people we met there back in October.
We visited Shirakawa and the surrounding area back in October as part of an ‘early recon’ of the area with our possible move back to Japan. Quite frankly, the people we met there we some of the most friendly and kind Japanese we’ve ever met. All strangers, and we’ve obviously not spoken to any of them since, but our thoughts are with them still at this time.
From the selfish side of things, I do worry about how feasible Fukushima will be as a place that can export food or be as a venue for holidays which would be our plan for moving there. One suspects that the fickle Japanese customer in Tokyo is not going to be wanting to eat Fukushima food even if the government (correctly) states that the food is safe. How viable is a livelihood there now?
Channel 4 coverage
Once again, Channel 4 news coverage has been my preferred coverage of the situation there, because they seem less sensationalist even compared to the BBC. I get the feeling that the BBC is being pressured by Sky to be more sensationalist.
Also, there’s been some pretty good additional programming on Channel 4, and this week they have dedicated their short 4Thought segments to Japan. Got that kind of BBC Radio 4 Thought of the Day thing going with it.
Some, I fundamentally disagreed with (primarily the Christian ones), others were more thought provoking.
British firefighter, sent to help in Search and Rescue – Christian – Nope, couldn’t agree with him on this one. What kind of cruel sadistic omnipotent being would do a thing like this. ‘Plan’ my arse!
Practicing Japanese Buddhist – If I was to become more religious then I’m probably more inclined to go along with Buddhism (or Shintoism). Not convinced by the forms of Buddhism that do all the chanting, I think I’m more inclined to go with the other forms. However, at least we don’t have some single being deciding for a laugh to have a big earthquake and tsunami as part of a ‘plan’.
Another Christian point of view – Nope, still not getting it! First the guy says “Don’t believe God caused it”, but then goes on to say “God is in control”. WTF. Make up your mind.
Japanese lady with Buddhist background – Fate. Hmmm, not sure of this one. I like to think that some things are under our control, whereas some other things aren’t. But are we just deluding ourselves. And then, is ‘lack of control’ because of Fate (everything is predetermined) or because we can’t possibly control things because nature is too chaotic. Hmm, a thought provoking video.
Shinto – Don’t know why, but felt moved by this video clip. I guess whether you assign a spiritual aspect to nature, or whether you regard nature from a purely scientific point of view… it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, nature must be respected.
Slowly, slowly, gently gently seeping into Mainstream media
Can ‘peak oil’ help slow climate change? – The annoying thing is, this kind of discussion was going on 5 to 7 years ago over at Powerswitch.