The Quake Through Eyes of Slashdot Japan

I suspect most of you are not aware that Slashdot has an editorially independent counterpart in Japan. After the recent Quake and Tsunami, I asked my counterpart over there, Shuji Sado, if he would share with us something from Slashdot.jp. What follows is a collection of translated reader comments from your parallel selves in Japan. I want to wish all the Slashdot JP employees and readers the best of luck. Know that you have friends here. Hit the link below to read what it's like there right now. After the massive earthquake struck Sanriku-Oki on March 11, huge turmoil spread around centering eastern Japan. Right after the earthquake, damaged by the Tsunami hitting the Tohoku coastal area near the epicenter, it was so devastating that the true extent of the damage is yet not assessable (M8.4 earthquake erupted off the Sanriku Coast, Japan in turmoil). Phone calls were hard to reach, and e-mails were delayed, causing safety inquiries of relatives and friends in the area affected by the quake extremely difficult to get through. On the other hand, although Kanto region was struck hard, people are handling the situation calmly. Below are some of the comments sent to Slashdot Japan.

This is a report restricted to Kanto area. I was in the office in the heart of Tokyo, and probably because the building was old, I felt strong swaying horizontally. (It was not a vertical shake. ) It might be a bit misleading to call it “severe” but, I have never experienced being in a building moving sideways in such strong motions, despite that my office was in the lower level. After I evacuated to the park, there came another shake which sent cold shiver down my spine as I heard the surrounding buildings making strange squeaky noises and deforming into parallelogram shape. I went back home on foot. Privately owned stores and those selling non-daily necessities were closed. But fast-food restaurants and convenient stores were opened and seem as usual, except that there were more customers. Just about how crowded it gets during lunch time. We can call it a turmoil with everyone wondering how to get home faced by severe traffic congestion and paralyzed railroad system, but my personal view is that this earthquake is not that devastating, and Kanto area will be back to normal by Monday if there aren't any more earthquakes. To my surprise, everyone around me remained calm, probably being used to having earthquakes.#1916274

This is another report from metropolitan area in Tokyo. My observation and impression of the situation is exactly the same. Once the aftershock subsided, all the urban functions were back on operation except the railroad system, which made me think “Wow, that's just what Japan is about!” There were just few things that were not normal: the room was submerged by busted plumbing and the streets were overcrowded with people. (#1916333)

Right after stricken by the earthquake, infrastructures and transportation facilities stopped operating, and it became the biggest problem even in the non-victimized area. Most of the people working in Tokyo take about 30minutes to hour-and-a-half to commute to their offices from their residences not only in Tokyo but also in Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa using railroad transportation system. Although few of the railway lines got back to operation, many people were left with options to either spend the night in institutions such as schools and concert halls or walk back home which would take several hours.

With determination, I walked back home from Hachioji area to Nerima. On the way, I purchased a recycled bicycle at a bicycle shop. Now at 23:23, I'm home. It took me 5 hours. (#1916403)

Struck by the earthquake around 3pm while I was riding the Yokohama-line. Passengers were guided to walk to the close-by station and it was already 4:00pm. After that, we were left on our own to go wherever. I walked for 5 stations, and it took me 4 hours to get back to the office. (#1916480)

However on the next day of the earthquake disaster, most of the transportation facilities were operating and at present, most of the railway lines are running under special emergency timetable. Now, most attention goes to the power problem and the critical status of the nuclear power plants. By the devastating earthquake, some of the thermal and nuclear power plants in the Kanto and other eastern areas were shut down. The cooling system failed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and despite the attempts to cool down the reactor externally, the situation is yet not contained. Meanwhile (although it is still not at a level of casting imminent hazard upon the residents and the environments of the surrounding area), disperse of the radioactive substances was announced causing anxiety to grow among those mainly in the Kanto area (Fushikusha Diichi Nuclear Power Plant status, CRITICAL). As to the nuclear plant related issues, news papers and TV have provided inaccurate information to stir up confusion, but it was Dr.Hayano, a professor at Tokyo University and a researcher at CERN, whose accurate explanation on the situation provided through Twitter eased the anxiety of many people(@hayano). Shut down of the power plants attributes to the power shortage problem. The attempt to decrease the power consumption by dividing the region of coverage to cut down power alternately, which is called the “planned power outage”, was implemented for the fist time(TEPCO carried out rolling outage). There were confusions as the announcement was delayed to inform which of the region was to go out of power in what time. However, websites such as “”Operation Yashima ” (the power conservation strategy depicted in the popular Japan Anime “Next Generation of Evangelion”) spread out the idea of power conservation and helped to keep the rolling blackout to a minimum. Also, daily commodities and fuel shortage is a problem. Water, bread, and preserved foods were soon gone from the stores, and gasoline and kerosene are also under-supply. Devastating news drove panicked people to buy excessive amount of toilet paper, batteries, and flashlights which became a problem. Slashdot Japan has posted a story Why do people panic buy toilet paper? which received much attention.

On my way back home, I stopped by a drug store to buy daily necessities. But all the toilet paper which is usually stacked under the banner was totally gone. There are some twitters saying that it reminds them of the Showa oil shock, but as I didn't experience that on real time, I have no clue. If anyone knows why there are people who would go out and panic buy, please let me know undercover.

Yesterday 3/15, I was in Hokkaido (island located at the north end of Japan), and just before I was about to fly back to Tokyo, my sister gave me a hasty phone call to bring back diapers for her baby. She told me her baby was wearing her last diaper, and all the diapers were emptied from the shelves of all the retail stores she could go to. Luckily, Hokkaido was not affected by the earthquake, and daily commodities were still on shelves as usual. So I brought her back a huge stack of diapers, two loaves of bread, 4 packs of ramen-noodles, cookies, and batteries. These panics are expected to wane by this weekend. Contrary to these hysterical panics, some raise their voices to say “Especially at a time like this, we should live as we usually do”. Some intellects and celebrities were calling on to “those who were affected only slightly by the disaster” to “go out and continue to consume for the sake of reducing the impact on the economy”. But they were criticized for “lacking in prudence”, drawing much attention (In a crisis like this, is it indiscreet not to practice “self-regulation”?)

Comments

The whole thing

[DFurno2003]

Seems a lot closer to home when you read the words in this context

Re:The whole thing

[Bitcloud21]

I agree. I'm not sure I would stay this calm in a large earthquake. I've never felt an earthquake before, at least not a large enough one to notice. I would hope that I could stay this calm and help the people close to me.

Re:The whole thing

[kylemonger]

I was in Seattle for the Nisqually quake. It's not hard to be calm after a quake, but it is terrifying when it is happening, and that includes the aftershocks.

Re:The whole thing

[Anonymous Coward]

In my experience, the ability to remain calm depends greatly on your experience during the quake. I experienced the 1989 Loma Prieta quake (the one everyone saw on TV.) We were at a restaurant and my dad had just ordered a burger, fries and a chocolate shake. When the quake had ended, he turned to the waitress and quipped, "Better make that a malted." Everyone laughed and it lightened the mood...we all started feeling calm pretty quickly. But that was because no one got hurt and the damage was minimal. My mother's experience was very different. She had a bookshelf fall on her and badly bruised her back. It was nothing compared to some of the injuries people suffered, but it was pretty traumatizing for her.

But it has influenced the way that we reacted to the aftershocks and how we react to the many smaller quakes the area has had since then. My dad and I are always pretty calm about it while my mom freaks out, even when they're barely noticeable.

Re:The whole thing

[TheThiefMaster]

Try reading this then: http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/jun-shiomitsu/japan-quake-as-seen-from-twitter-translated-by-me-so-quality-questionable/10150121176733830

It's incredible.

Re:The whole thing

[Weaselmancer]

Wonderful link - thanks. I'd mod you up instead of commenting if I had points today.

Re:The whole thing

[steveg]

I was in a 7.0 quake in the Imperial Valley in 1979. I didn't find the quake itself all that scary, but the aftershocks were pretty spooky. I don't think I had time to think about it while the main quake was happening, but for the next 24 hours or so the aftershocks would really make me jump.

Re:The whole thing

[crossmr]

What's incredible about a lot of those stories is when you contrast it to disaster in other places in the world, like those in western countries. Police often have to spend a lot of man-hours combating looters, or people push/shove/etc to get somewhere.

Re:The whole thing

[ian_from_brisbane]

No deal. Facebook login required.

Re:The whole thing

[gullevek]

I was on the 7th floor of our office in Higashi Ginza, our building is fairly old and it swayed around like ocean steamer in the worst storm. Although I normally do not get nervous during earthquakes, this one got me. First time I really saw how helpless you are. When things start to fall over, even my heavy Mac Pro fell, there is nothing you can do.

Had quite some hand shaking afterwards, besides the 4h walk home, which on the other hand was some good exercise for me.

The worst thing is the panic buying, I still don't get it, why people buy 4x12 packs of toilet roles. Same with food, especially that most of the food will spoil and as japanese people are, it will get thrown away anyway. I hope they calm down, the people in the north need to food much more than we down here in Tokyo.

Re:The whole thing

[Gentatsu]

Japan Quake as Seen from Twitter (Translated by me so quality questionable)
by Jun Shiomitsu on Sunday, March 13, 2011 at 1:13am

Japanese people have been very open on Twitter about their experiences following the quake. These snippets of what moved them and touched them during these very trying times are heart-warming. I have attempted a rough translation on some of them so that you can have a read.

Please continue to pray for the people in Japan.

I hope these mini-stories will bring strength and encouragement to my friends and family in Japan by letting them know that, not only does the world sympathize with them, it looks up to them in admiration! My thoughts are with you.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious unto you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace." (from the Bible)

Jun Shiomitsu
MBA Student
Judge Business School
University of Cambridge

At Tokyo Disneyland:

Tokyo Disneyland was handing out its shopsâ(TM) food and drinks for free to the stranded people nearby. I saw a bunch of snobby looking highschool girls walking away with large portions of it and initially though âoeWhat the â¦â But I later I found out they were taking them to the families with little children at emergency evacuation areas. Very perceptive of them, and a very kind thing to do indeed.

Message from the UN

Secretary General Ban Ki Moon: âoeJapan is one of (the UNâ(TM)s) most generous and strongest benefactors, coming to the assistance of those in need the world over. In that spirit, the United Nations stands by the people of Japan and we will do anything and everything we can at this very difficult time.â I was moved at his words. What better example that good things happen to those who do good.

At a congested downtown intersection â¦

Cars were moving at the rate of maybe one every green light, but everyone was letting each other go first with a warm look and a smile. At a complicated intersection, the traffic was at a complete standstill for 5 minutes, but I listened for 10 minutes and didnâ(TM)t hear a single beep or honk except for an occasional one thanking someone for giving way. It was a terrifying day, but scenes like this warmed me and made me love my country even more.

During the earthquake

Weâ(TM)ve all been trained to immediately open the doors and establish an escape route when there is an earthquake. In the middle of the quake while the building was shaking crazily and things falling everywhere, a man made his way to the entrance and held it open. Honestly, the chandelier could have crashed down any minute ⦠that was a brave man!

Bus stop mini episode:

It was freezing and bus was taking ages to arrive. âoe@saisoâ left the queue to run to a nearby pharmacy. He bought heating pads and gave one to everyone in the queue!

Thank you Tokyo Disney Sea

My daughter who was staying at DisneySea just made it back home! Many, many thanks to the staff who worked very hard in the cold with ready smiles that made her to feel safe and secure during the entire night. They brought her food, drinks, snacks, heating pads, and anything necessary to ensure she was comfortable and secure throughout her stay. I was touched by the Disney staffâ(TM)s warmth and hospitality. Thank you so much!

Reminded of the goodness of the Japanese people

This earthquake has reminded me of that Japanese goodness that had recently become harder and harder to see. Today I see no crime or looting: I am reminded once again of the good Japanese spirit of helping one another, of propriety, and of gentleness. I had recently begun to regard my modern countrymen as cold people ⦠but this earthquake has revived and given back to all of us the spirit of âoekizunaâ (bond, trust, sharing, the human connection). I am very touched. I am brought to tears.

Card

"but my personal view"

[drinkypoo]

We can call it a turmoil with everyone wondering how to get home faced by severe traffic congestion and paralyzed railroad system, but my personal view is that this earthquake is not that devastating, and Kanto area will be back to normal by Monday if there aren't any more earthquakes.

That was pretty close to my response from my armchair before we got news of the extent of the nuclear plant failures. I felt pretty low about it at the time, and although I came to terms with it and got to just feeling dumb already this made me feel even better. Hope springs eternal, I guess. Once again, the Japanese impress the rest of us with their patience.

Re:"but my personal view"

[decora]

that was also my personal view, before i saw the video of pool of garbage, on fire, devouring the countryside, wiping away houses like they were toys.

Re:"but my personal view"

[_Sprocket_]

That was pretty close to my response from my armchair before we got news of the extent of the nuclear plant failures. I felt pretty low about it at the time, and although I came to terms with it and got to just feeling dumb already this made me feel even better.

I think it comes down to any situation being relative. In another life, world events were of direct personal importance because I tended to be moved around according to geopolitical hot spots. Now they are of a more abstract importance as my life is no longer so closely connected to world events. During that time, the Gulf War continued to be of importance for years after mainstream USA seemed to consider it history. Along those lines, I've been in natural disasters and seen life shift gears under power outages and fuel shortages where a several hour road trip would land me in "life as normal." When things affect you directly, you have a very different perspective and a large enough event affects people in very different ways. Compassion compels us to feel for those people who are worse affected than we are even if those feelings are somewhat abstracted by the impact, or lack thereof, of those events on our own lives.

This also has me pondering on the impact of live news on our perception of events. The drive to produce news leads to inaccuracies as reporters are expected to provide information as fast as possible, often before facts can be checked or the situation is made clear. But that drive also puts reporters and international eyes in the epicenter of events. When one has only that view, it is easy to assume that this view is widespread. To those in the epicenter of events, the fact that things are different elsewhere are academic. But for those of us looking in, a more complete understanding requires a wider view. But we rarely get that view as there are not often reporters canvassing an area reporting non-events.

Re:"but my personal view"

[interkin3tic]

My japanese geography is mostly wikipedia, but I think the Kanto region wasn't hit too badly. The Fukushima region where the damaged plants are is to the north. Sendai is north of that (it's at least not in the Kanto region from my reading of those maps).

It seems like as far as the earthquake goes, the Kanto region was just fine. The nuclear plant is the concern in the kanto region now and neither you nor the japanese slashdotter could have forseen that.

So... I guess you're both justified?

Re:"but my personal view"

[DerekLyons]

We can call it a turmoil with everyone wondering how to get home faced by severe traffic congestion and paralyzed railroad system, but my personal view is that this earthquake is not that devastating, and Kanto area will be back to normal by Monday if there aren't any more earthquakes.

That was pretty close to my response from my armchair before we got news of the extent of the nuclear plant failures. I felt pretty low about it at the time, and although I came to terms with it and got to just feeling dumb already this made me feel even better.

Well, you may feel eager to feel better from hearing 'good' news - but really, you're just fooling yourself. The OP may 'feel' the earthquake was not devastating and he may 'think' the Kanto area will be back to normal, but his views are from a worms eye point of view outside of the area where the quake hit. The relatives of the thousands of dead and the tens of thousands without homes or jobs would probably disagree with his estimation that the quake was 'not devastating'. The Kanto area may be back to normal by Monday, but the Kanto area wasn't hit by the full force of quake - the Tohoku area was. *They* aren't going to be back to normal by Monday. They aren't going to be back to normal next year.
 
This whole report is infuriatingly meaningless. It's like hearing from residents of St. Louis a week after Katrina - "yeah, we got a couple of inches of rain, but we're cool now". It's insulting as hell to the dead and the homeless and those whose livelihoods were destroyed.

Re:"but my personal view"

[teslafreak]

Several of those posts specificed that they spoke for their area only. You're only offended because you want to be.

Re:"but my personal view"

[Demolition]

I was feeling optimistic, as well... until I learned that my uncle is missing. He lives (lived?) in Sendai.

As one might expect, my point of view changed drastically when things became personal.

Re:"but my personal view"

[Anonymous Coward]

The japaneese character will keep impressing us. I agree with you in that Tohoku will have a bad rap for a long time, but if youve ever met a japaneese family from the inside, you know these guys will be organizing brigades to go clean up, help people and try and recuperate as soon as possible. Its just the way they are. They have a fetish about disaster and about extreme situations where this part of their character shines.

Its just what the japaneese do: get up from big fucking blows. I, for one, have all my faith in that aspect of their culture.

Re:"but my personal view"

[Anonymous Coward]

Look, in some ways I completely agree with you. The still cushy situation in Tokyo is not, strictly speaking, deserving of any coverage when there is untold human misery up north. Nonetheless, I doubt slashdot.jp knows any more about life up there than the conventional media. However, its community does know about life in Tokyo. This was a major event for Tokyo too - the biggest earthquake that Tokyoites have ever felt - and it has had an effect on daily life here. To compare inconvenience with the horrors in Miyagi-ken and Fukushima would be obscene, but I don't think anyone is trying to do that.

Tokyo is the engine of Japan. It needs to continue functioning smoothly to keep Japan on its feet in this crisis. Hence, I think there is a genuine reason to focus a little attention on life here because if things do start going south here, Japan will be in a different world of trouble on top of the humanitarian crisis in the north.

Re:"but my personal view"

[jrumney]

As far as the quakes go, the worst shaking was in Chiba, in the Kanto region, where a gas storage facility caught fire immediately after the quake. In the press conference when the quake was upgraded to 9.0 by Japanese seismologists, they explained there were two secondary epicentres to the south of the main one, with the southernmost one closer to the mainland just off northern Chiba. Most of the destruction further north has been caused by the tsunami rather than the earthquake directly.

Re:"but my personal view"

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, you may feel eager to feel better from hearing 'good' news - but really, you're just fooling yourself

You may feel like you understood my post, but really, you have poor reading comprehension.

I said that I felt better about my initial reaction, which was one of hope even though it was stupid, because people actually in Japan were capable of feeling the same emotions.

I see I have you on my foes list, so I suspect I've seen the same idiot bullshit from you before. Why not just fuck off and leave me alone instead of following me around to obtusely fail to comprehend a simple comment that everyone but you seems to have understood?

Re:"but my personal view"

[drinkypoo]

Crap, I hit the "post anonymously" checkbox accidentally. The above post is mine. I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to hide. I think my posting history speaks for itself; I will speak up.

Re:"but my personal view"

[chunkyasparagus]

As far as the quakes go, the worst shaking was in Chiba, in the Kanto region, where a gas storage facility caught fire immediately after the quake..

??? What are you basing this on? The strongest shaking, as measured by the Japanese Meteorological Agency's "Shindo" scale, was in Miyagi prefecture (Shindo 7) whereas in Chiba it was Shindo 5+. Fool.

Re:"but my personal view"

[jrumney]

I'm basing this on the Instrumental Intensity and Peak Ground Acceleration maps published by USGS, which show areas in Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Fukushima and Miyagi that would rate a 7 on the Shindo scale, and areas in all of the above prefectures that would rate a 5.

Re:"but my personal view"

[chunkyasparagus]

Better write in to the JMA then and tell them they were wrong with their measurements and subsequent announcements which were available on their website, and broadcast on all Japanese TV stations then. Oh, and update that wikipedia article too, as it must be wrong.

Re:"but my personal view"

[chunkyasparagus]

Oh, sorry, after looking at this, I think you may just be mixing up the USGS Instrumental Intensity scale with Shindo? http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/global/shake/c0001xgp/ Even so, it's clear from this that the worst shaking wasn't in Chiba.

Re:"but my personal view"

[jrumney]

See the details from station IBR013 near the Ibaraki Chiba border. In earlier versions of this map, there was a red dot around here, with areas further North only making it to Orange. As the data has been reviewed later, the map has changed, but there is still a local peak in intensity around here if you compare the neighbouring stations data with those further out. And the Shido scale (basically peak ground acceleration) has a strong correlation with Instrumental Intensity (which factors in other instrumental readings - but the main reason I chose that is that the map shows color coded intensities, not just triangles of where the stations are).

We appreciate your support!

[Heian-794]

Hey, some of us live in Japan and are members of both Slashdots! (I admit, though, that I post on this one far more often than the Japanese one, which I mostly just read.)

Everyone here in Japan appreciates the outpouring of support that we're getting from the world.

If you can spare some money, donate it to the newly-homeless residents of Miyagi and Iwate. And if you're planning a visit to Japan in a year or so, when things have settled down, visit the afflicted areas and help them get back on their feet.

I myself was in Tokyo, far from the epicenter, and even all the way out here buildings shook, books tumbled from shelves, and appliances flew around the room. Still assessing the damage. The trains stopped and lots of people were stuck spending the night in their offices, or walking huge distances back home.

Right now it's best to leave assistance work to the professionals, but in a month or so I plan to go up north to help out, even if it's just assisting oldsters with putting the shelves back up and carrying things.

To everyone who's thinking of us out here, thank you again!

Re:We appreciate your support!

[georgesdev]

why do you get all excited?
it's not Heian-794's fault if he was in Tokyo and did not get killed.
He can and does feel close to the people affected. Please respect that!

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Locke2005]

We're not hearing from those most affected because they, uh, don't have power and internet connections right now! So at best we can communicate with those not directly affected. Yes, for the majority of residents of Japan the Earthquake was just an inconvenience. Those are not the people we are expressing sympathy for.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Heian-794]

You know what, DNS-and-BIND, I retract my recommendation to come over and help people in your case. Your attitude isn't needed here and wouldn't be appreciated by anyone.

We will continue to help each other through the situation, whether it's the minor annoyance of not having enough food in Tokyo thanks to panic buyers, not being able to get to work because trains aren't running, not having power, or the serious crisis of not having a home to go back to up in Miyagi and Iwate. Or even the annoyance of dealing with idiots who falsely accuse us of carnig more about Tokyo than the countryside. We will get through our problems, large and small. Keep calm and carry on!

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's disgusting. The news is all over the death toll and the damage done to the towns and cities in Northeastern Japan. I recommend you stop being so racist and help people less fortunate than you, who still have an internet connection to make inflammatory statements on. Even Emperor Akihito said that this is a time to pull together, not become divisive.

  I donated money and I have all the hope in the world it goes to people whose homes and businesses were destroyed; I even asked my National Guard unit if they needed volunteers for the relief effort but the answer was "No". Skin color and nationality don't even enter into the equation, just whoever needs the help.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[bluefoxlucid]

I want to move to Japan, so I am planning a trip in a year or so; but I intend to spend $1000 on the flight and $2000-$3000 USD on hotels, food, etc. Busy city center Tokyo is not my style, I am more of a soft country setting type; I meditate a lot and enjoy playing Go and studying Aikido, have considered Judo.

Tourism is a contribution, isn't it? Money inflow into the economy. I have time, but not money to give to charity... but if I'm spending time there, I wouldn't mind helping locals out that need some labor help, or just want to play Go with someone to pass the time; it'll give me time to learn more about the culture and improve my command of the language anyway, even helping someone get their garage back in order, which is of course much more valuable than the labor put into it.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[bluefoxlucid]

He's probably American. British people are rough and rude, Americans are generally just assholes. I want to move away from here.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[HuntingHades]

Are there organizations taking donations specifically for those now homeless residents that are known to be legit? The main organizations that get advertised for donations here in the US are the Red Cross and Save the Children, but I don't know where their particular efforts are focused.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Reapman]

Thank you for your comment, I'm glad to see a posting like this on Slashdot - I find this more informative then a lot of the news coming from the big media. I have only been to Japan a few times but I was very impressed with the people there and it's quite heart wrenching seeing all of you go through this.

I have done what little I can from here, but you brought up a good point about helping with the areas once everything calms down. I know your just one of many millions of people over there but if you so happen to hear of a way us foreigners may be able to help in a more direct way by helping with rebuilding or whatnot - I would very much like to hear of it (my email address is my slashdot username at that gmail place). I would have no problem flying down if I knew I was actually helping and not just getting in the way.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's how I see it. If I make my commute, I get paid. If I don't make my commute, I don't get paid. Then it's hard to think of it as unpaid time.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Anonymous Coward]

Please pass to all our brothers and sisters on Japan that we will be with them until they are again sheltered and in a state of some form of normalcy. I sold my pride and joy Harley last weekend and the money is on it's way to help put roofs and food back into some of their lives. I wish I could do so much more, but forced medical retirement limits me to finacial aid or I would be there in a heart beat with my brother-in-law and sister (ALS/FEMA Paramedics from PAC Northwest) to physically help as well...God Speed!!!!

Re:We appreciate your support!

[DrXtreme]

Please pass to all our brothers and sisters on Japan that we will be with them until they are again sheltered and in a state of some form of normalcy. I sold my pride and joy Harley last weekend and the money is on it's way to help put roofs and food back into some of their lives. I wish I could do so much more, but forced medical retirement limits me to finacial aid or I would be there in a heart beat with my brother-in-law and sister (ALS/FEMA Paramedics from PAC Northwest) to physically help as well...God Speed!!!!

Sheesh what a dope - Forgot to login before posting...-10 karma for being sloppy...sorry guys...

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Anonymous Coward]

DNS-and-BIND, your lack of social skills is exceeded only by your douche-baggery.

Fortunately, this skill set is in great demand: Have you ever considered work as a Wikipedia editor?

Email us- You'd fit right in

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Anonymous Coward]

Are there any charities specifically supporting the workers at the Fukuskima Daiichi and Daini reactor complexes? They're been alternatively shaken, flooded and blown up, have to dodge radiation dosages while still trying to monitor several reactors and storage pools, and almost certainly haven;t had the chance to check on the safety of their families.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry but I feel its the people who generalise countries like this who are assholes.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[amRadioHed]

It's a lot of time but if they are using public transit, as people in sensible countries tend to do, then it is not necessarily wasted time.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[HaZardman27]

Perhaps your elitist attitude is what causes those around you to act like assholes.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[PhilHibbs]

I heard on the news yesterday that the Japanese government were specifically not asking for humanitarian aid at this stage, just for search & rescue and other logistical expertise.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Un pobre guey]

I'm an American and happy to be one, but bluefoxlucid has a point. Travel around in other countries and that, unfortunately, is the most common sentiment. For whatever reasons, justified or not, we are viewed as an asshole nation. I personally do my best to not embody the stereotype, but it's there.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Asic Eng]

If you can spare some money, donate it to the newly-homeless residents of Miyagi and Iwate.

I would like to - could you provide a donation link?

Re:We appreciate your support!

[tomhudson]

We're not thinking of "you", Tokyo foreigner. We're thinking of Japanese people. You know, the ones who were actually affected? The one type of news story we've had an abundance of, repeated above, is "well, good news, Tokyo where all the foreigners and other important people live is safe. Some towns called with rustic hick names got washed away and thousands killed but it wasn't us so no big loss...OMG a nuke plant might blow up and threaten Tokyo! Attention journalists, run away!"

You're being a jerk. Why not do the math. This was a disaster that makes 9/11 look relatively insignificant,in scope, in lives lost, and in economic terms.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Half-pint HAL]

... but who am I to judge.

No idea -- you posted anonymously.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Half-pint HAL]

Hopefully TEPCO's insurers will cover their needs. If not, TEPCO are going to get torn apart by the Japanese people who already see these guys as national heros if the news we're getting over here is accurate...

Re:We appreciate your support!

[tommut]

Very appreciate of your desire to help your fellow man. Though, maybe you don't want to call them "oldsters" as you're helping them. :)

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Kyusaku Natsume]

Tomorrow I should be arriving at Narita Airport, but, with the scaremongering from mexican TV media, that I now hate even more than I thought previously possible, I canceled my trip. The worry of my family was simply unbearable, despite the fact that many of them live in one of the worst hit areas by the mexican drug war, while we had planed to stay in Kyoto, where everything is normal and safe. I canceled my bookings, but left them the money so they cab have some liquidity for the time being. My wife and I will be making donations to Save The Children and Japan Red Cross, but we will go forward with our travel plans next august.

I'm sad because two of my japanese teachers were in Iwate prefecture and we still don't have any news. The wife of my just married teacher is from Sendai, and she doesn't had news from her family neither. The school suspended the Setsubun Festival planed for last Saturday. This is very sad, but after seeing Kyoto Fire department in action and the equipment of Tokyo firefighters, and the standard equipment that smaller cities have, I'm sure that Japan will overcome this difficulties soon.

Good luck everyone!

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/j/anzen/jishin_message.html

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Heian-794]

AC, I'm trying to start one right now as those workers are literally giving their lives to keep the rest of us safe. US and Canadian news outlets, who carried some good stories about the "Fukushima 50" and their brave efforts, are geared toward publicizing existing charities and not toward starting up new ones; they weren't much help when I called. I'm going to call Okuma City Hall and Fukushima Prefectural Hall and see if they can get something going. If that happens, I'll pass on the info so that donations can get directly to the plant workers. Remember those firemen who came down with all kinds of health problems after goinginto the World Trade Center in 2001? These plant workers will have it even worse. The least we could do for them is to help make their remaining years easier.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Heian-794]

I'm American, for the record, and *this* American is trying to be as compassionate as he can.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Mana Mana]

> If you can spare some money, donate it to the newly-homeless
> residents of Miyagi and Iwate

As an American I've been advising my friends not to donate funds to Japan relief. Why would you need monetary aid in a macro scale, seriously?

Japan is as rich as the USA, has vastly greater savings, astronomical foreign trade surpluses, etc. I'm saying this not to castigate but to support my argument.

What you need, what Japan needs is food aid, rescue aid, salvage aid, _frank_ nuclear advise aid, _immediate_ potable water aid. IOW, the life or death shit that any nation might have less than infinite numbers.

Respectfully, what your country needs most aid in is a collective smack-in-the-head to your leadership system, that which you call a government. Habitual ritual apologies on behalf of melting nuclear reactors (and spewing radiation to the four winds and most of East Asia as well as South East Asia, not to mention Russia, and but fuck you P.M. Kan the USA, man you have some balls, Japan) is wilful blindness to facts.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[lennier1]

There's a link to the Japanese embassy further up.
In most countries the national Red Cross/Crescent organisations have already set up systems to forward donations.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[wondafucka]

Hey, some of us live in Japan and are members of both Slashdots! (I admit, though, that I post on this one far more often than the Japanese one, which I mostly just read.)

So, is the Japanese Slashdot filled with as many arrogant pendants, or have they developed civilized discourse over there?

Re:We appreciate your support!

[alexborges]

I have all the faith in people like you. Not everyone knows the japaneese enough to understand that, like you, so many will go and help the worst-hit at the first oporunity.

I know that there is no other culture in the world that can actually recover from something so horrible as fast as you guys certaintly will. To quote a classic: I bow in signal of respect.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[alexborges]

Oh man... do you ring a bell with me here.... Im a mexican blessed to have known a japaneese family for a long time. This happened and I emailed them and thankfully most of them live in mexico so they are ok, but some relatives in Japan are still lost. I have the most faith in japaneese culture, i know them, i know they will rise up to this challenge. But death is death and that is one huge ass tsunami. I was so impressed that one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded actually didnt damage much, but the sea.... man, thats huge. Best of luck to you and your acquaintances.

BTW: Your signature is canonical truth.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[alexborges]

Yes and no. I agree, but not with all you are saying. Sure, their leadership system is odd enough to not even call it a democracy, but its part of their culture and so is discipline and a strong sense of mutual help. You'll see japaneese people working for free to clean up all the rubble, well coordinated with their government. Something that we so seldom see in the american continent or even all of occident. Theyll rise up from this one. Its horrible, but they've risen up from much worse.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Anonymous Coward]

> BTW: Your signature is canonical truth.
I don't understand the sig, but I'm interested in what it means. Can you explain it?

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Kyusaku Natsume]

Well, that's good news among this bad times. But really, at my company - CFE by the way - we were talking about the challenges that represent to build something tsunami proof, and simply, against a wall of water moving at 500 kmh 7.6m high like the one that struck Fukushima 1 they in the end couldn't have done almost nothing. You could have built a dam like wall in the perimeter, but you will still need big holes in that wall to let sea water go in and out for the cooling systems. The big trouble that faces Japan now is because they don't have a country wide electric grid. In moments like this I admire even more General Lázaro Cárdenas, his vision when he created CFE has spared us mexicans many times from problems like this in disaster zones. Now, if the last 4 governments didn't mismanaged the company, you can bet that CFE's moto, "a world class company" it would be true.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[tnk1]

I don't know what you mean. I see people in their cars getting plenty of work done on their phones while they are driving... slowly... in the fast lane.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Johann Lau]

"Sure, their leadership system is odd enough to not even call it a democracy, but its part of their culture"

Well as a German, it's now part of my culture to highly detest this I guess... well, now I at least know why, funny how that works ^^ But no, other virtues don't make up for something specific that was criticized. Unless you can show that it's impossible to criticize your leadership or, *GASP*, strive for democracy while retaining "discipline and a strong sense of mutual help". Still kinda waiting for that...

Re:We appreciate your support!

[IdolizingStewie]

As an American I've been advising my friends not to donate funds to Japan relief. Why would you need monetary aid in a macro scale, seriously?
...
What you need, what Japan needs is food aid, rescue aid, salvage aid, _frank_ nuclear advise aid, _immediate_ potable water aid. IOW, the life or death shit that any nation might have less than infinite numbers.

The nifty thing about money is that it's a lot more portable than food or water. If I in the US donate water, it has to be shipped halfway around the world. If I donate money, it appears instantaneously in the account of a charity who can then use said money to buy water in an unaffected part of Japan or a nearby country and ship it only a few hundred miles. More precisely, most large charities are using up their supply of emergency cash, so donating is really preparing for the next major tragedy.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[jrumney]

I don't know how anyone could be expected to use their time usefully riding the train at rush hour in Tokyo.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[bigt_littleodd]

Great post, and all of Japan is constantly in our thoughts and hearts. May good luck come your way very soon!

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Heian-794]

Japan is as rich as the USA, has vastly greater savings, astronomical foreign trade surpluses, etc. I'm saying this not to castigate but to support my argument.

<p>I recognize the fact that Japan is one of the rich nations of the world. But using "greater savings" as support from your argument doesn't make sense to me. Japanese people are somehow less deserving of aid because they diligently save money? If they were irresponsible spendthrifts who emptied their bank accounts as soon as the money came in every month, and buried themselves in debt, they'd be somehow more deserving of help?

<p>Yes, the leadership is imperfect. But the people shouldn't be denied assistance because they were competent at managing their lives before the disaster.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[alexborges]

You make an excellent point. I stand corrected.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[Johann Lau]

oh no, you don't! (stand corrected I mean) :P

I actually thought about this recently.. and maybe being collective-minded has upsides as well as downsides? sure, they could put some pressure on the gov or at least the company who operated that plant, etc... get angry for a change... but maybe that's just how my "western" mind sees it, maybe it's not that simple. Ideally, we'd all be both, one huge family and critical individuals, sure... but I wouldn't be surprised if turns out to be easier for disciplined people to become critical individuals, than for selfish people to become disciplined. ^^

And it was kinda silly actually to compare that with Germany, I think... because even under the Nazis Germany was not a hive. It was a bunch of egostical go-alongs drunk on fear and power... okay, now I'm generalizing again (it's hard not to, when talking about "the Japanese", or "the West" etc.), but you get the idea, I think my first response was a bit knee-jerk.

Still, that was my first impression: "let's HOPE their gov does the right thing, because otherwise they don't seem like they would do anything about it". But maybe that says less about the Japanese than about my prejudices and media impressions.

Re:We appreciate your support!

[sznupi]

Viewed (justified or not?) as selfish, "we're the best and the good ones" rhetoric (that's why such things are also good, bad people deserve it) with sometimes very little in support of it... but rhetoric which typically requires constant reassurances to oneself, belittling disagreeing voices, wanting everyone to want... what you want.

But the most tragic thing - self-marvel after "winning" (a lot of that could be almost by accident... heck, can you assure me that the US would mostly peacefully dissolve itself, would recognize its bankrupt, like the evil Soviet Union did?) the Cold War, not noticing how the rhetoric from that era loses its power. At the turn of millennium basically everybody still loved you, as far as I can tell. Turns out one can blow it in few short years / we know what happened afterwards.

Thoughts are with you

[Dan Dankleton]

I don't think there's a lot which can be meaningfully said, but my thoughts are with any /.ers who are affected by this.

Panic

[Aquaseafoam]

The only ones who seem to be panicking are western media. I saw a comment from a Japanese man accusing BBC News of attempting to incite a panic.

Re:Panic

[Opportunist]

And rightfully so. Here in Europe, people are buying masks and iodine pills. I don't know much about geography or wind currents, but no matter where I look there is a) half a planet between us and the plants that cooked off and b) at the very least either the Himalaya or two oceans and some land in between us and the disaster, no matter what direction the death cloud could take, it simply cannot reach us.

Do you think people would go so apeshit about something that happened half a world away if it wasn't for the panic hype of the media?

Re:Panic

[xMrFishx]

I think this comic just about covers it: http://satwcomic.com/don-t-panic

Re:Panic

[MrQuacker]

The only thing they have to compare it to is Chernobyl, and that was a big deal for Europe. Also, "You're all gonna die!?" drives more traffic than "S'all good, Japs got it taken care of."

Re:Panic

[Jeff DeMaagd]

There isn't much point to buying masks and iodine pills if you're not in Japan or known to be immediately downwind, and taking iodine doses without qualified medical advice to do so is a very bad idea, the news reports I saw said as much.

The radiation will be spread so thinly that there won't be any health effects in Europe.

Re:Panic

[slim]

I work for a multinational company. On our internal system, someone in Bangalore broadcast the news about the Japanese earthquake soon after it happened. The first response? An American saying "We're hearing about it on the news. I sure hope you're OK in India."

Maps are useful.

Re:Panic

[slim]

Sure, the 10,000 (projected) dead; the orphaned kids; the entire towns swept away. "Thank you for your concern but it's OK"...

Tsk.

To be fair to the comic, I guess it was published before the full details were known. You don't have that excuse.

Re:Panic

[outsider007]

10,000 dead?! Are you counting people who might die in 20 years of cancer?

Re:Panic

[timeOday]

NBC Nightly News has run a segment with their chief medical correspondent two nights in a row telling concerned people on the west coast of the US to NOT bother buying iodine pills because there is no risk to them, and the pills do more harm than good unless you really need to take them.

Re:Panic

[Aquaseafoam]

They're already, I believe at over 5,000 confirmed dead, with many more still considered missing. Certainly, it's horrible, but imagine if this had occurred off the coast of a third world country. On the subject of radiation, doesn't Japan (at least, certain sections of it.) already have a heightened occurrence of caner due to the Nuclear bombing during WWII? I doubt the minute amounts of radiation that have currently been observed will have any noticeable effect, especially with how quickly they evacuated the area.

Re:Panic

[bluefoxlucid]

Yes of course, these people might reach 60 or 70 and get cancer and die, instead of reaching 62 or 72 and dying a natural death a few years later..

Re:Panic

[tlhIngan]

Hell, an interesting thing I've not heard covered was about the criminal element. If the same thing happened in North America, besides widespread panic we'd have tons of looting and rioting and everything basically run amok.

Yet in Japan it seems everyone is still calm, peaceful and there's still an orderly society, as if nothing really happened.

And I'm guessing it appears stores are still open to pick up necessities - here the shelves would be cleared of everything within the hour as everyone starts hoarding.

Is it really that orderly over there?

Re:Panic

[TheSeventh]

I heard a report on the news about the differences between Japanese and American news reporting. It went something like this:

In America, the news likes to broadcast the worst possible outcomes, the worst-cast scenarios, and then be grateful when it doesn't happen.

In Japan, the news broadcasts what is actually happening, without any predictions or sensationalizing.

Re:Panic

[poity]

I have a feeling that was said out of courtesy rather than ignorance.

Re:Panic

[slim]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/17/japan-nuclear-crisis-tsunami-aftermath#block-28 - "The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is expected to exceed 10,000"

Indeed, 220,000 died in Haiti -- smaller quake, less developed country. Things are still desperate over there, so after donating to Japan, maybe spare a little for Haiti.

Re:Panic

[tixxit]

Well, perhaps the news could then do a real comparison and focus on why this isn't like Chernobyl. The Christian Science Monitor has a more reasoned article: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0317/Fear-of-Japan-s-nuclear-crisis-far-exceeds-actual-risks-say-scientists

Re:Panic

[Anubis IV]

To be fair, the earthquake was REALLY big. ;)

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

I did send a message like that... But to someone I know who lives in an oceanfront house on the east side of Yoron Island . Turns out they had less Tsunami than hit the west coast of Vancouver Island (Canada).

Re:Panic

[WhiplashII]

I don't know if it has changed in the few decades since I lived there, but back in the day the police just took care of the minor crimes - organized crime eliminated the perpetrators of the big stuff, like murder or looting. Bad for business!

Re:Panic

[slim]

10,000 dead?! Are you counting people who might die in 20 years of cancer?

No, 10,000 killed on the day of the tsunami. Have they neglected to mention this on the news wherever you live?

OK, they've not done a full and accurate count yet, and many people are unaccounted for. But the death toll is expected to exceed 10,000. It's devastating.

Re:Panic

[Wiarumas]

It is a bit of a stretch, but I bet they thought that waves would also hit India much like they hit Hawaii and California.

Re:Panic

[moonbender]

Oh please. Maybe it's different where you live, but nobody around here -- Germany -- is "going apeshit" and there is zero panic. Unless you consider turning away from nuclear energy as a panicky reaction, but that's not what you were talking about. Maybe some people are buying masks and iodine pills, but I haven't heard any reports about that being a wide-scale phenomenon, and besides, having those around might not be the worst idea in the world if you're living in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant.

I think everybody knows that Europe will not be directly affected by the nuclear accident in Japan, despite its massive scale. (The indirect effects, mostly economical, are something else entirely.) And of course, the whole thing, the devastation after the earthquake/tsunami as well as Fukushima, is a huge, huge story in the media -- and it damn well should be.

Re:Panic

[moonbender]

The only thing they have to compare it to is Chernobyl, and that was a big deal for Europe. Also, "You're all gonna die!?" drives more traffic than "S'all good, Japs got it taken care of."

Except they don't.

Re:Panic

[slim]

It is a bit of a stretch, but I bet they thought that waves would also hit India much like they hit Hawaii and California.

By washing over the whole of Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar? Or by picking its way through the Indonesian sea? Or perhaps by doing a u-turn around Australia?

Re:Panic

[Skidborg]

And when they are doing better than the Mainstream media, well...

Re:Panic

[ArundelCastle]

My brother is there in Tokyo with his Japanese wife, and true to our British heritage has a very "keep calm and carry on" mentality, bordering on an ostrich impression. He and our mum actually got into a shouting phone call. She is watching the devastation and death toll rise, photos of bare grocery store shelves. And he absolutely refuses to accept any attempts at us helping. They are fine, power is on, food is in the freezer, work continues, pets are edible in a pinch but plenty of salad to fatten them up with (his usual joke). When you live somewhere that has weathered multiple disasters (and I'm including bombings in that assessment), the emotion is different. You want things to continue as normal, and sometimes that means keeping calm and carrying on. 90 million people can't drive over to Sendai and start rebuilding houses, but they can go out shopping and reduce their energy consumption until the disaster relief experts have the worst under control.

It is a horrendous disaster, and the nuclear / fuel depot issues are a real danger. It is nothing short of incredible that the worst damage was in, by Japan's standards, a low population area. Had the epicenter been a mere 200km farther south, Tokyo and the larger cities probably would have been far worse off, and had it been southeast then Narita (int'l airport) and the surrounding Chiba area would have definitely been hit by tsunami, which is the main cause of the high death count compared to only quake damage. Japan knows how to deal with quakes, but nothing can stop the ocean.

Related:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0314/Japan-earthquake-How-Tokyo-got-an-80-second-head-start

Re:Panic

[Heian-794]

tlhIngan, in central Tokyo (for what that's worth), everything is still open, but hoarding is getting ridiculous and essentials are becoming harder to find. Milk, rice, bread products of all kinds, and noodle products of all kinds are scarce. Unhealthy cup ramen, a staple "emergency" food, is completely unobtainable. Fresh fruit and vegetables are more easily obtained than dried noodles!

Nerves are fraying more at the train stations, where lines to get on are stretching out the station and down the block. Some places are getting one train every half hour where they normally have a train coming every 2-3 minutes. There were stories on the news of knife fights as people tried to cut in line at gas stations.

I'm very thankful that Japan isn't as automobile-centric as the US is. Four of the five supermarkets withint walking distance of me have no parking, so we're all on an even footing when it comes to carrying our goods out of the store. In a car-oriented society (and rural Japan is one, somewhat), people would be loading up their monster SUVs with many times their own weight in food, and there would be nothing left for anyone who's limited to a few dozen pounds of goods.

Living through this situation makes me fully understand that visual impairment -- enough to prevent you from driving, anyway -- is, in the US, a handicap just as debilitating as more-recognized ones. If any of you readers work at your town or city halls, make "getting food and transportation available to people without cars" a main pillar of your disaster plan. It's not these people's fault that American society was built around something they have no access to.

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

The only thing they have to compare it to is Chernobyl, and that was a big deal for Europe. Also, "You're all gonna die!?" drives more traffic than "S'all good, Japs got it taken care of."

Chernobyl is still a big deal. Here in Sweden it still costs us a couple of million dollars a year. Reindeer keepers have to feed their animals bought fodder instead of letting them grace for about a month before slaughter (to keep downthe radiation levels in the meat), there are random areas in Sweden where you can't grow some vegetables (because their radioactivity would exceed safety levels), where you can't eat the local fish, game, mushrooms, berries and wild herbs (this is a big deal to a Swede, the "allemansrätt" give us free access to wild berries, mushrooms and herbs, most areas have lot of free fishing waters and hunting is the most popular pastime in Sweden, after mushroom picking and TV). There are other spots in random parts of Europe that got radioactive rain, but Europe got luck this time, it didn't fall any radioactive rain on any parts of Europe with a dense human population. Think what would have happened if e.g. Warsaw, London or Paris would have been made inhospitable for a generation. It was pure luck that the rain fell where it fell and that most of it didn't even fall on land, but over sea (the Baltic Sea is the most radioactive sea in the world, but that has nothing to do with Chernobyl, that is radioactivity that have its origin in accidents in British nuclear plants and then drifted to the Baltic Sea, where it accumulate (the Mediterranean have similar problems with accumulated pollution from the British Island and America, sea pollution drifts away from the original pollution site to places where there are no currents to take it away)).

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

having those around might not be the worst idea in the world if you're living in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant.

This.

I don't claim to know why people outside Japan would buy iodine pills right now, but I'd certainly want to keep a small supply of them in my emergency supplies if I lived near a nuclear reactor. 99.9999% chance they'd just get thrown away, but if the shit hits the fan I want my shit-resistant umbrella.

It could be that people are realizing how close their nearest nuclear plant is, seeing an example of an absolute worst-case scenario, and spending a few bucks on preparations just in case it happens in their back yard.

Re:Panic

[Quince alPillan]

Hell, the Illinois Department of Public Health department issued a warning not to take Potassium Iodide because idiots were taking them out of fear.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-dont-take-potassium-iodide-state-advises-20110317,0,2270076.story

Re:Panic

[kimvette]

Even if you do live in such a place, if you eat any amount of seaweed, iodized salt, deep sea fish, or meat regularly you have enough iodine to protect your thyroid. Heck, if you have any sort of well-balanced diet and eat whole foods instead of just doritos, twinkies, and Mt Dew, you'd have nothing to worry about.

http://www.weightlossforall.com/foods-rich-iodine.htm
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=69
http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/45140.aspx

Besides, the amount of iodine you would need even if the worst case were to occur is minisule and easily absorbed through a balanced diet. Check out the radiation emergency section of the following article:

http://www.drugs.com/mtm/potassium-iodide.html

Why not spend the trivial amount for potassium iodide? Because unless you really, really need to take it (because you were within range of a criticality event, are working in a damaged reactor, are within fallout from a severe Chernobyle-scale accident which cannot happen with these Japanese reactors, etc) the risk to your liver is much higher than the risk of incidental radiation. Besides, you get exposed to more radiation from the TSA's crappy full body scanners than you would from the fallout from the reactors.

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/isj/news/118092749.html
http://www.9news.com/news/article/187711/188/Radiation-fears-Who-needs-nuke-pills-and-who-doesnt-

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

How much can one panic about an invisible threat and massive disaster? But western Media is a joke, they cannot even be sued for straight out lying because, "it's presented as entertainment" and not "news" even though that's what it says on the 'label' .

I think though that people are allowed some concern and trepidation over 400,000+ homeless hungry freezing people and, ...constant re-assurance by Japanese government that nukes at three different locations are 'under control' but every day things get worse and now they are resorting to AIRLIFTING WATER TO COOL NUCLEAR WASTE RODS AND REACTORS.
Now understandably if you panic the zombies get will you but I think an important question that is not being answered is; What is happening to all this 'coolant' seawater? Where is it going after 700 tons of it have been have been made radioactive? and what is it carrying with it after an uncontrolled exposure to 'spent' fuels rods?

When in danger or in doubt run in circles scream and shout, no?

Re:Panic

[timeOday]

The Christian Science Monitor *is* mainstream media, and it also is a very reputable news source, and has been since its inception about 100 years ago.

Re:Panic

[Ogive17]

Is it possible he didn't hear "Japan" and thought the report was about India? If you hear the news from someone in India, your first instinct is that is where it happened.

And keep in mind it was after midnight in the US (east coast) when it happened. TV programming is very limited at that time unless you happen to be on one of the 24hr news stations.

Re:Panic

[DrgnDancer]

In Europe? I know people in California (who are idiots) are buying up Potassium-iodine pills, but at least they have some sort of vaguely reasonable fears. The trade winds out of Japan do more or less blow to California. It would take more nuclear material than is in any ten power plants have to create a radiation threat thousands of miles away, but at least they mostly have the wind patterns right. How could there possibly be a threat in Europe?

Re:Panic

[DrgnDancer]

I'll be charitable and assume he was worried about Tsunamis? I mean, it'd be night impossible for an Earthquake in Japan to generate a Tsunami capable of getting to India (becasue of land masses in the way, not distance), but if you weren't really thinking you might just think about the 2005 Tsunami and get worried.

Re:Panic

[_Sprocket_]

And I'm guessing it appears stores are still open to pick up necessities - here the shelves would be cleared of everything within the hour as everyone starts hoarding.

I guess you missed the part in TFA that mentioned hording in some areas.

I was in Houston, TX when it got hit by Ike. The majority of the city was without power for at least a week (in some cases at least two). That affected a lot of the normal sundries of life in the area. It was very surreal driving down the highway and seeing huge lines at gas stations. My cynical side expected chaos. But life went on rather smoothly, all things considered. My impression was finding the nearby Wal-Mart having power and providing a charging station for people's cell phones and giving away bannanas (while throwing out massive amounts of perishables) and doing their best to stock shelves. I would expect there is at least some hording involved there, but then at the same time, when your entire meat and produce section is bare there's little surprise that your canned goods are going to sell out. We had BBQ every night. Our neighborhood ended up having a nightly block party where a community grill was fired up. Things did not go all Road Warrior over night. That's not to say there wasn't crime; I think the statistic was somewhere around 100 cases of looting in Houston. Nearby Galveston had it worse in almost every way from damage to crime.

Now - that experience pales in comparison to what has to be going on in some parts of Japan. But I think there's been trials-by-fire in various parts of the US that demonstrate that everything does not "run amok"; at least, not in every region.

Re:Panic

[IICV]

I have (distant) relatives in Japan. My mother, who is pretty much insane, CC'd me on an e-mail she sent to them saying "Come visit the United States to escape the radiation!".

This is despite the fact that my Japanese relatives live in southern Japan, and are far enough away from the reactors for it to not be a problem.

I don't know if I should blame my crazy mother or our crazy media more, honestly.

Re:Panic

[LWATCDR]

That is because of your terrible education system.
Actually I have heard people in the US say that they would be doing the same thing. It is really bad that people are just reacting with mind-numbing fear. I had a friend of mine say that this is why she will always be anti nuclear power than accused me of being heartless. The thing is that the reports are that a worker got a 10 rad dose. Not good because it is twice what you should get in a year. Thing is that a 10 rad does means that your chance of health issues like cancer increase by under 1%.
She had all the workers having terminal cancer in ten years.
I really hope they get the reactors back under control but I swear that the our news services have become the a theater of terror.
 

Re:Panic

[shutdown -p now]

The radiation will be spread so thinly that there won't be any health effects in Europe.

Does that still hold true if those spent fuel rods blow up? As I understand, this would release highly radioactive dust into atmosphere, much like Chernobyl did (though on a smaller scale), and not just radioactive gases with short lifetime which they're venting now.

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe the looters stayed in town (to loot) when most other people evacuated, and wound up getting washed out to sea?

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

Gawd, I wish we had their news broadcasts. To a significant degree, the US's crappy political system is a result of our alarmist news media.

Re:Panic

[marcosdumay]

"Does that still hold true if those spent fuel rods blow up?"

Yep. Europoe is quite far from Japan. If the spent fuel burns up, Tokio may (or may not) have problems.

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

There were stories on the news of knife fights as people tried to cut in line at gas stations.

I see what you did there.

(sorry, couldn't resist)

Re:Panic

[Hazel Bergeron]

May I take a year of your life?

Re:Panic

[ErikZ]

Ask her how she's been dealing with the banana radiation problem:

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/16/going-bananas-over-radiation/

Re:Panic

[lennier1]

One of the first things I've noticed is how a lot of people are making use of the Red Cross' offer to forward donations to their sister agency in Japan. That's not too bad of a reaction.

Re:Panic

[Heian-794]

Oh, I completely missed that, AC! You're a sharp one!

Re:Panic

[gangien]

is what you say really true though? i'm american and i'm quite aware of the stereotypes, but, I suspect it has a lot more to do with the areas hit. I remember a certain area of texas got hit pretty hard from a hurricane, but there was very little looting going on. I can't recall if there was looting after 9/11.

Re:Panic

[alexborges]

Its true, but we also should note that their TV is that much more boring as well and hugely underfunded.

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you have it half right.

In America, the news likes to broadcast the worst possible outcomes, the worst-cast scenarios, and then be grateful when it doesn't happen.

Correct.

In Japan, the news broadcasts what is actually happening, without any predictions or sensationalizing.

Incorrect. Better stated as:

In Japan, the news broadcasts what should happening, without any self-criticism or desire to dig and get the real story.

Re:Panic

[Rakshasa Taisab]

After dozens of phone calls from mom I have to say I'm pretty damn fed up by her attempts at pressuring me to leave. There's no ostrich impression going on here, we're quite perfectly capable of assessing the situation and come to the right conclusions on evacuation plans.

Hell, I grew up in the Nordic countries during the time the radiation from Chernobyl was blowing around so why should brief periods of 10x background radiation levels worry me?

And speaking of epicenters... What really _does_ worry me is the Tokai fault line, the one that is predicted overdue to cause the great Tokyo earthquake and is now under even more stress.

Re:Panic

[JanneM]

Nah, it's taking the scenic route. It's booked shipment across the pacific, is crossing the Panama canal and headed for Rotterdam harbour. There it'll get off, hitch-hike to Amsterdam where it'll hook up for three weeks with a post-functionalist performance artist from Berlin named Hilda. Once they're out of booze and drugs they'll take the train southeast, get beat up by Italian police when they try to consummate their love at midnight in Fontana de Trevi, then sneak aboard a bulk freighter headed across the Suez.

It'll get to India; it's just taking a a bit of time.

Re:Panic

[JanneM]

Even in the very worst case, Tokyo is not going to have a problem. All effects will be local, within a few kilometers of the site - bad, of course, but with a fairly limited range. There's just no comparison to the devastation from the earthquake.

What saddens me most is that foreign media focuses on the nuclear reactor while downplaying the earthquake and tsunami.

Re:Panic

[Opportunist]

I don't really trust the credibility of a news source with an oxymoron in its name.

Re:Panic

[Opportunist]

Well, DUH! Don't tell me, tell the panicky sheeple.

Even our politicians now went ahead and told everyone that it's probably NOT a good idea to swallow iodine pills because of the associated health risk. The net result was an increase in pill purchases.

Tells you something about how trustworthy we consider our politicians, on top of how gullible the whole flock is...

Re:Panic

[Opportunist]

Actually, it was Merkel who deemed it necessary to personally inform the German population that it's not a good idea to down iodine pills.

You know how nuclear plants are a big political topic in Germany (as in the rest of Europe, though I don't know what the French plan to do, considering that about 80% of their power is nuclear), and yes, Germans are one of those that went and bought iodine pills. It's not an "open" panic. More one of those controlled, civilized ones that we love so much. Like avian flu and all that. Oh, I don't panic. Look at me, I'm calm. What? Oh, sure I got that avian flu shot. Just to be safe, ya know... Same with those pills. I'm not really convinced too many are stupid enough to actually swallow them already, but it seems to be our nature that we want to be prepared, even for things you can't really prepare for.

But, dear neighbor, you're not alone. Last time I had to go to the pharmacy, I could witness how those I-pills were sold just as much a hint south of your beautiful country. You're not alone in your concealed, civilized panic.

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

(...)Unless you consider turning away from nuclear energy as a panicky reaction(...)

Funny you should say that, because the first thing I thought when I read that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel suddenly decided shutdown 7 power plants http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-germany-nuclear-merkel-idUSTRE72D51520110315 after the incidents in Japan was "wtf!?".

I could only come up with 3 scenarios:
1) she did know that the power plants had urgent issues, but delayed any action until now
2) she didn't know of any urgent issues, and just found out
3) she knows that there are no issues, but the Green's votes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_party are just too appetizing.

This is "going apeshit" by any fair and reasonable measure, and this reaction seems to be is both unwarranted and unhelpful to Japan and any country where nuclear power is the sustainable solution.
Also, the general behaviour of the media hasn't been something to call home about, sensationalistic, biased, and altogether agenda-driven (which seems to be a common-place nowadays.)

Re:Panic

[DerekLyons]

My impression was finding the nearby Wal-Mart having power and providing a charging station for people's cell phones and giving away bannanas (while throwing out massive amounts of perishables) and doing their best to stock shelves.

A few years back my local Safeway was out of power for a day and they were tossing out the meat. I asked the butcher why I couldn't have any for free (since they were tossing it out) and he told me that once it's gotten warmer than a certain temperature health regulations forbade them providing it for human consumption.
 

Now - that experience pales in comparison to what has to be going on in some parts of Japan. But I think there's been trials-by-fire in various parts of the US that demonstrate that everything does not "run amok"; at least, not in every region.

Same here. The posters claiming that it does happen are mostly just exaggerating because they don't know any better. They love to blame the media, but really they just do it themselves.

Re:Panic

[wrook]

For what it's worth, out here in the inaka (Japanese for "boonies") shelves are all stocked up as normal. My friend from the nearest large city was amazed to see all the toilet paper on the shelves. Why there is a difference, I can't fathom.

But the thing is, *everyone* no matter where they live should have an emergency food store. I call mine the "pantry". Actually, it *is* the pantry. It's got noodles and flour and dried seaweed and canned beans and ... well lots of stuff. And I use it every day, but at any one time I've got enough food in there to last at least a week if not more. I also have enough water stored for at least 3 or 4 days. No matter where you live you should have this. Then when there is a disaster and the shelves are empty it's no big deal.

Re:Panic

[Johann Lau]

"It was pure luck" --- Yeah.. or just think if the reactor would have been built and the operators would have operated it according to accepted safety standards! Oh wait... then *nothing* would have happened at all. Hmmm. Funny thing those hypothetical mind experiments. And no, according to how big a deal it WAS, what you describe is not "still a big deal", maybe it is to you. A couple of millions a year means a like a few cents per Swede, right? TV costs you way more than that. It also kills more people. In short: nahhhh...

Re:Panic

[timeOday]

In this case that is an unwarranted prejudice.

Re:Panic

[3.14159265]

(...)Unless you consider turning away from nuclear energy as a panicky reaction(...)

(reposting because I'm an idiot and wasn't logged-in)
Funny you should say that, because the first thing I thought when I read that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel suddenly decided to shutdown 7 power plants http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-germany-nuclear-merkel-idUSTRE72D51520110315 after the incidents in Japan was "wtf!?".

I could only come up with 3 scenarios:
1) she did know that the power plants had urgent issues, but delayed any action until now
2) she didn't know of any urgent issues, and just found out
3) she knows that there are no issues, but the Green's votes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_party are just too appetizing.

This is "going apeshit" by any fair and reasonable measure, and this reaction seems to be is both unwarranted and unhelpful to Japan and any country where nuclear power is the sustainable solution.
Also, the general behaviour of the media hasn't been something to call home about, sensationalistic, biased, and altogether agenda-driven (which seems to be a common-place nowadays.)
---- Gravity sucks

Re:Panic

[toQDuj]

IAEA, and kyodo are useful in that sense.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/japan_nuclear_crisis/
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html

Re:Panic

[_Sprocket_]

My impression was finding the nearby Wal-Mart having power and providing a charging station for people's cell phones and giving away bannanas (while throwing out massive amounts of perishables) and doing their best to stock shelves.

A few years back my local Safeway was out of power for a day and they were tossing out the meat. I asked the butcher why I couldn't have any for free (since they were tossing it out) and he told me that once it's gotten warmer than a certain temperature health regulations forbade them providing it for human consumption.

Yeah - I had no interest in the food they were throwing out. The store had been sitting there without power for a couple days before they started ramping things up and cleaning it out. I happened to take a back route in to the store parking lot and saw them dumping boxes of hotdogs in to one of two construction site style dumpsters they had brought in. I mention all this just because it made an impression.

The banana thing was curious. When I drove by to see if they had opened yet, some guy had a pickup truck parked out front and was loading up banana boxes. I thought maybe they had gotten boxes for some unknown use (self moving tip - hit up wal-mart during stocking times and most stores will let you carry out as many boxes as you want). Then I noticed a lot on box still had bananas in it. Then I realized most people walking out of the store had bananas. And I was really wondering what was so special about bananas at a time like this. Then I found out that they had this big produce bin full of bananas (and they were hauling out additional boxes) with a sign reading "free". No idea why - my guess is that they knew they couldn't sell their stock in time so they decided to simply give it away (which isn't what I'd expect).

Re:Panic

[moonbender]

Well, you're basically redefining what the word panic means to suit your argument. But whatever you want to call it, it's still in no way comparable to the reaction to the avian flu epidemic -- which I would hesitate to call a panic, too. But at least that was a major news item, not just that it's spreading elsewhere but how people are trying to protect themselves from the flu; there was public discussion on the readiness and availability of vaccination, governments stockpiling TamiFlu, etc.

None of that is happening in this case. The government reaction and the public discussion is not about the effect of the Japanese accident but about our own (and our neigbours) use of the technology.

Re:Panic

[moonbender]

Well, like I said in the bit you chose not to quote, that's not what the grandparent was talking about, he was talking about the public reaction.

But anyway -- Merkel's and the governments reaction is quite clearly a reaction to a German populace which was always deeply wary of nuclear technology, apparently more so some of our neighbours and to a far larger percentage than just the 10+% voters of the Green party. Having displayed a pro-nuclear stance in the current term and having just postponed the (widely supported) nuclear phase-out by a more than a decade, the government clearly felt they had to appear active in some way. So yes, I'd say it's a panicky move by the government, although it's not a panicky reaction to the Japanese accident, but rather to the newly-increased widespread debate on the viability of the technology: the government is frantically trying to re-align its position with public opinion, which it can't afford to ignore at the moment (but maybe in three months). Not that debate wasn't widespread before, there were public protests with tens of thousands of participants last year, as well as large, very widely reported legislative and legal battles.

That said I don't doubt that beyond the political strategy, the accident in Japan also caused some government officials to re-evaluate their faith in the security measures taken so far. So it's really a combination of all three reasons you came up with.

Re:Panic

[Anonymous Coward]

The most annoying problem for many of us living in Japan is TV,
which is almost the only source of the real-time information.
Most companies have replaced their ads on TV with the following ones made by ACJ.
ACJ stands for Advertising Council Japan, which serves politically correct and boring ads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_Council_Japan
Imagine how you feel if you watch them hundreds times a day:

http://www.ad-c.or.jp/campaign/self_area/03/en.html
http://www.ad-c.or.jp/campaign/self_all/01/en.html

Re:Panic

[thegarbz]

Oh please. Maybe it's different where you live, but nobody around here -- Germany -- is "going apeshit" and there is zero panic.

Careful when using absolutes. I was in Austria 3 days ago and watching the German news on several channels and their interviews with the general public indicated not only an alarming ignorance of the populace but also that some people were genuinely worried that they may have a direct effect on their health. My favourite quote was "ja stralungen erkennen keine stadtliche grenzen." (National borders don't impact radiation exposure, loosely translated and excuse my horrible German spelling).

While in general a lot of people have enough sense to see that they won't be affected there is still an incredible amount of stupid people in the world, and Germany is no exception here.

Re:Panic

[bluefoxlucid]

Yes, but only off the end.

10,000 dead from acute radiation exposure is 10,000 people who are dead.

30,000 with a 1 year shortened lifespan is 30,000 people that are a little annoyed, then largely don't care, until they eventually die, but they only had a dozen or so months to live anyway so it's not that important at that point. There's much less left to fulfill.

Re:Panic

[Mindcontrolled]

Nice to see that Watts is taking his personal war on science to the next level. From blabbering about the global warming conspiracy without having any clue about climatology he now moved to an area where his cluelessness is even greater. Perhaps he'll manage to make so big an arse out of himself that last fool finally recognizes that he is a shill and a moron.

Re:Panic

[siglercm]

Nice to see that Watts is taking his personal war on science to the next level.

How is that citation in any way a "war on science?" (Basic conclusion of the blog post to which the parent referred: "radiation is everywhere.") Please, no "ad hominem" attacks, not even on "Watts Up With That?", not even if you are a fervent believer in anthropic global warming. I myself found the little article in question interesting, in no way scare-mongering, and 100% factually and scientifically based. (FYI, M.S. in physics here.)

Now, if you think that this article represents a "war on science," I cannot fathom what you refer to as "science." This would tend to lead me to question any positions you hold which are based on what you consider to be "science." IMHO, of course.

Re:Panic

[Mindcontrolled]

Been strong worded there, i give you that. However, he is comparing - pardon the pun - apples with bananas. Especially when he is comparing K to I incorporation. The bioaccumulation of both compounds is SO much different, it is not even funny. Biochemist here, btw ;) Radiological damage is not only the physics of it. Anyway - of course radiation is everywhere, but Watts is running the same strategy here like he is on the issue of global warming - all harmless, all full of fluffy bunnies - heck bananas, that's the measure for radiation now. Of course he is NOT scaremongering - brushing everything aside as harmless is the core of his strategy.

And the first thing I see..

[Anonymous Coward]

Angry Birds story?

Fail.

The irony!

[DWMorse]

Top of Slashdot.org : Japan Earthquake Story
Top of Slashdot.jp : iPhone Angry Birds discussion.

I just found it amusing. =)

Re:The irony!

[Anonymous Coward]

Top of Slashdot.org : Japan Earthquake Story

Top of Slashdot.jp : iPhone Angry Birds discussion.

I just found it amusing. =)

maybe .jp have ether thing to worry about than updating the site. I dunno. Dead bodies, nuclear fallout, volcanoes erupting? But at least you're amused.... idiot.

I found it funny too, don't be a dick.

Re:The irony!

[Anonymous Coward]

maybe .jp have ether thing to worry about than updating the site.

It was posted today at 7 PM Japan time. So you can't say they're not updating the site.

Re:The irony!

[Magada]

Maybe it's because the truth of the actual situation is not conducive to a good night's sleep if you actually live in Japan.

Today, at approximately 10am, we observed 400mSv/h at the inland side of the Unit 3 reactor building and 100mSv/h at the inland side of the Unit 4 reactor building.

In addition, there are tens of thousands reported missing, tens or hundreds of thousands of refugees in temporary shelter and the weather is cooling rapidly and bringing a chance of snow. Did I mention rolling blackouts, blocked roads and ongoing earthquakes?

Re:The irony!

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare he! Nobody on the planet should be amused until the crisis is over. Please suspend all amusing activity until further notice!

Re:The irony!

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

Because life goes on?

Updates to this really critical situation happen, but so do other things.

Hopefully, some people are taking comfort in handheld gaming when they're in situations they can do very little else too.

Re:The irony!

[Anonymous Coward]

Go look. Even if you can't speak the language, you can figure out the dates on the articles.

"hylom 20110317 1900 "

Oh, look, it was posted today...as was the article on Stallman saying cellular phones were the devil, an article on the effects of radiation on the human body, a link to a site by the education ministry showing radiation levels throughout the country, two conventions (anime and bsd) canceled due to earthquake...

Especially in a disaster, people need a laugh once in a while.

Re:The irony!

[RealGrouchy]

They already reported the earthquake; for it to still be at the top would require it to be posted multiple times.

Maybe the Japanese /. editors have developed successful anti-duping technology.

- RG>

Talk about "shock & awe"...

[taiwanjohn]

The magnitude of this thing defies description. A lot of us in the outside world look on with with admiration as the Japanese people pull together and "work the problem" in their particular way.

My Japanese is near non-existent, so apologies if this is out of place, but...

Ganbatte kudasai!

Re:Talk about "shock & awe"...

[Anonymous Coward]

My mother was a Saint! Get out!

I support you Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

All I can do to help is make donations to charitable relief organizations, but I will continue doing so!

And like you, I don't understand why frightened people have to buy toilet paper. One roll should be enough to clean up their mess. ;-)

Donations - does Japan need the money?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know this is a cold question to ask, but I keep thinking that this is Japan, not Haiti, which is still working to put itself back together a year after its earthquake (for example: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/650833.html )

If donations are needed, I'll gladly chip in. I just hate the idea of making "feel-good" donations when there are equally pressing issues around the globe that may be in greater need of support.

Re:Donations - does Japan need the money?

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting point, also I imagine the donations to places like Haiti will have dropped off now this is heavily in the media.. Can anyone answer this?

Re:Donations - does Japan need the money?

[WhiplashII]

While Japan presumably does not need money, they do need help. For example, they need experienced teams of rescue workers scouring the countryside finding still-living victims. They need food, water, and supplies delivered to areas suddenly unreachable through normal means. They need crews to rip apart buildings to rescue those trapped inside.

Those teams are predominately run by volunteer organizations such as the Red Cross, LDS Church, etc. Japan will not pay those organizations for the help they receive - just as no one else has to pay. So those organizations will need additional funds to cover operations in Japan.

So in answer to your question, "does Japan need the money?"

Japan, no. Red Cross, yes.

Re:Donations - does Japan need the money?

[slim]

Don't beat yourself up about it. Japan needs the money. Haiti needs the money. Thousands of other causes need the money. Whoever you give to -- be it money or time -- it won't be wasted.

If you're worried about Japan ending up with more than they need (!) then donate to a general purpose aid organisation (I like Oxfam, but then I'm British) and let them spend it the way they see fit.

Toilet paper supply fears

[bugs2squash]

Pity this news is posted online and not in a print newspaper. The solution would be at hand.

Shuji Sado

[Lije Baley]

CmdrTako?

Re:Shuji Sado

[Anonymous Coward]

Wouldn't that be Takosu Shirei?

Engrish

[spudnic]

Man. There English sucks.

Re:Engrish

[Tigger's Pet]

I know you were trying to be humorous with the title, but did you actually mean to say "Their English sucks" - coz your's does too.

Re:Engrish

[yurtinus]

Oh man... I need some mod points :P

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

So does yours.

Re:Engrish

[tibit]

"yours", not "your's" -- tsk, tsk; and "actually" is redundant ;)

Re:Engrish

[Tigger's Pet]

I was trying to be flippant, but never mind.

Re:Engrish

[dannycim]

*yours. Glass houses and such.

Re:Engrish

[spudnic]

As was I. ;)

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

He was kidding, retadr.

Re:Engrish

[oldmac31310]

No! what he meant to say was they're English sucks. Jeez. Some people.

Re:Engrish

[Skidborg]

Slashdot is like Youtube: No matter how intentionally dumb you make a comment, there will always be people dumb enough to believe that you are no smarter than they are.

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

Its alot better then you're Japanese... :-)

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

You think that's bad? You should see my Japanese writing.

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

So does yours, unless you mean by 'There' that "..In Japan.." English sucks.

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

Man. There English sucks.

It's called Jenglish, I've read a lot of manuals in that language. It's as easy to understand as the Inglish from India and a lot easier to understand than the Frenglish they speak in France.

Re:Engrish

[digitalhermit]

I know you were trying to be humorous with the title, but did you actually mean to say "Their English sucks" - coz your's does too.

heh.. Love the OP...

On the face of it, it could be the *incorrect* "Their English sucks."

But it could also be, " [Over] there, English sucks."

I can hardly contain my amusement at this clever entendre.

But which one did the OP intend?

Re:Engrish

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Man. There English sucks.

Sosumi!

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

It ain't that bad...

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

That would of course be, "their."

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you mean, deer English sucks.

Re:Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

English is thEIR second language. What's your excuse?

Recursion alert!

[srussia]

Let's hope slashdot.jp doesn't post a story on slashdot.org coverage. This could result in the dreaded mutual slashdotting. Worse than crossing the streams, worse the LHC blackhole, and yes, worse than the divide-by-zero error!

Re:Recursion alert!

[Anonymous Coward]

Worse than crossing the streams, worse the LHC blackhole, and yes, worse than the divide-by-zero error!

Aren't those three the same thing?

Re:Recursion alert!

[indeterminator]

Technically, division by zero could be either 0, 1, or infinity, depending on how you approach the situation.

The other two, however, are just plain bad.

Re:Recursion alert!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just wondering, but...

Could Slashdot.jp slashdot Slashdot?

Re:Recursion alert!

[Anonymous Coward]

Mutually Assured Destruction?

Thats' nuked my karma - assuming I had any.

Re:Recursion alert!

[Divide By Zero]

Dammit, I hate getting blamed for everything. NaN's, black holes, and now this. Where does it end?

Re:Recursion alert!

[Divide By Zero]

Reminds me of something.

If it hapened in the US it would be complete chaos

[tomt127]

Hang in there Japan. Show the world the way people are supposed to deal with a crisis.

Re:Animals knew it was coming

[Locke2005]

Wait... Glen Beck posts on slashdot now?!?

A different experience..

[molo]

The comment from slashdot.jp are fairly positive, but reports from family there are not as rosy. Last night (US time) we talked to my wife's aunt who lives in Saitama, just north of Tokyo proper. They have electricity but no tap water. She has to walk to a local distribution site and carry water home. She reports that the grocery stores are empty and the stores are not getting the supplies they would normally get. This includes staples like rice, milk, and yes, toilet paper. They are unable to buy gasoline. Her daughter is bicycling 45 minutes each way to work when she would normally drive.

We also have family in Koriyama, just 60km west of the nuclear plant. They want to leave but are unable to get gasoline.

-molo

Re:A different experience..

[bluefoxlucid]

This is not so bad, although there is a need for food. Water distribution is paramount and apparently there is enough clean, safe water, just not easy distribution, yes? Somebody definitely needs to air lift in some rice; it has enough energy density to keep you alive through this, and can be a primary staple mixed with some easily acquired Nori and dried fish... not great, but not bad. Those other things would come scarce, but eh, a little goes a long way and you will be thankful for the bits of flavor and color and the nutrients supplied by this.

In the US, our emergency services would likely collapse. We'd call in the Red Cross, who would constantly complain about shortages, but never figure out how to organize a system on the spot to effectively handle the crisis even with the shortages. They'd say, "Well we can not effectively help anyone!" or "We can only effectively help 60% of the population!" People would not bicycle; they would look for a ride to hitch with. Many would die, wondering why nobody came to rescue them, when they could survive with some measure of hard work on hand-outs from those generous enough to help in what little way they can.

Japan are a strong people. These things are an inconvenience, but they will pull through. It's in their nature.

Re:A different experience..

[joh]

Japan are a strong people. These things are an inconvenience, but they will pull through. It's in their nature.

It's not "nature". It's culture. Which is quite the opposite.

Re:A different experience..

[molo]

As for water supply, how much water do you think a 70 year old woman can carry? Not very much.

Yes, it is not terrible, but it is not very good. She at least says it is better than during/after WWII, that this doesn't even compare.

-molo

Re:A different experience..

[bluefoxlucid]

Then someone should help her carry the water. She doesn't live on an island in a little box 30 miles away from anyone; she has neighbors, they can pool resources.

Also, I have pitched a 70 year old Japanese woman over face first against her own twisted arm. Don't think that because they're that old they're not in better shape than you; she rolled out of it easy, easier than I can and that was a pretty fucking aggressive attack. She also corrected my throwing technique; apparently I had left myself a little vulnerable at one point and could have had my arm locked awkwardly mid-throw...

Re:A different experience..

[treeves]

It's an idiom. Saying something is "in someone's nature", that "nature" does not mean the same thing as the "nature" in "nature vs. nurture".

Re:A different experience..

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure you can get gasoline. Ever heard of a siphon? Only use it on the destroyed vehicles though. Surely there's tens of thousands of gallons just sitting there. A motorcycle, a 6-gal can, and a hose (and maybe a hammer to pry fuel doors) is all you need to be able to get out.

Re:A different experience..

[Anonymous Coward]

I noticed the same discrepancy. The picture seems overly positive and biased from those in Tokyo. My gf is from Miyagi prefecture - her parents survived and were able to make contact yesterday, but her aunt was killed by the tsunami. Talking to people there she hears about people(mostly older or very young) dying in shelters the past few days because they can't get supplies. Also she says there is much frustration with the slow government response which is reminiscent of disasters such as the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 where the japanese government caused more deaths by refusing american help and delaying the rescue.

Re:A different experience..

[Shinobi]

A 70 year old woman can carry quite a lot. Old people are tougher than you think.

At age 85, my grandfather on my mothers side still did 40 pushups and 40 situps every day. He became senile 1½ year ago, at age 89, with frontal lobe complications(Meaning he became very aggressive), and became a threat to my grandmother. I actually had trouble holding him back.

My grandmother will be 90 this year. We have constant troubles with her, she's dragging furniture around, climbing around to wash windows, change window drapes, she goes shopping in the middle of winter in a northern town here in Sweden, alone, without telling anyone.... And she has heart problems, requiring strong meds!

So, a woman of 70, unless she's in exceptionally bad health? She can carry quite a bit of water, and might even be insulted if you become pushy about carrying it for her :p

Re:A different experience..

[Anonymous Coward]

No-one cares about your martial arts stories, buddy.

Re:A different experience..

[quacking duck]

The younger generation can be lazy wusses, physically. I include middle-age to retirement-age people in this. I can't believe the number of people who use the handicap button to open doors, who are perfectly fit, and aren't carrying any bags or babies. The *only* time I use those myself is if I'm carrying something unwieldy, like a mattress or a TV.

When so many people consider themselves handicapped or disabled, it's no wonder they think their elderly predecessors are even more helpless.

Re:A different experience..

[Anonymous Coward]

In the US, just look at FEMA and response to Katrina. People were trapped in a breaking up stadium for days, with little and no help. Even some police were part of looting and murder (some are in jail now). And that was a hurricane, something that you had DAYS to prepare for and knew it was coming, where it was coming and when it was coming.

Re:A different experience..

[soramimicake]

The translation above came from slashdot.jp comments posted right after the quake, before people realized the extent of the problem of the nuclear reactors, so people outside of the area hit directly were fairly positive that life would be back to normal soon.

The real picture only started to come out these few days, you can't blame the editors.

Re:Animals knew it was coming

[Jorl17]

Please, leave these idiotic beliefs out of this. Believe in it yourself, but don't use it as an excuse for something scientifically proven.

Re:Animals knew it was coming

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

I really believe we need to start looking closer into the connection of the slaughter of these beautiful intelligent animals and the disaster that struck Japan.

I'll give you credit, it was a fun read!

Saik no negai - Best wishes

[Anonymous Coward]

Ganbatte, Nihonjin.

Do your best (good luck), people of Japan.

(Why is Japanese text not allowed?)

Meanwhile, in the english-speaking world...

[snarfies]

The blog Colony Drop has been compiling quotes on the quake through the eyes of fans of Japan (and, more specificly, their cartoons), at their new website "Shit Otaku Say," which is recommended reading.

Whether you interpret what you read there as sad or funny is up to you.

the 'quakes' as 'seen' from outside of us

[Anonymous Coward]

looks like everything, & everyone is 'shaking'. that's what appears to be happening. it also appears we are inseparable.

Re:Animals knew it was coming

[bluefoxlucid]

Giant flashing sign at the bottom of the screen: "This is what PETAtologists actually believe"

Kanto

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a report restricted to Kanto area

All I need to know: were any Pokemon there injured?

Re:Animals knew it was coming

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah. They're trying to nuke the whales right now for that.

About 4 hours before the quake, I woke up because there was a bird singing very loudly on my balcony. In the middle of the winter, in the middle of night (Finland tz). The bird was so loud I couldn't sleep so I got up and went to have a look. It was surely the biggest little bird I've ever seen. And it's singing was so loud! I tried waving a flashlight at it, but it wouldn't leave, so eventually I had to open the balcony door to get it to leave. I'm guessing the bird might have gotten a bit angry for my interruption.

I'm not kidding!

Re:If it hapened in the US it would be complete ch

[bigredradio]

Here Here. (Sorry no mod points)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:If it hapened in the US it would be complete ch

[Wiarumas]

Seriously. Washington DC gets 8 inches of snow and people panic like its the apocalypse.

NYDaily News headline: "Panic!"

[opencity]

Which seemed more like a suggestion. Having been in touch with relatives in Chiba and following Japanese news online, the Japanese aren't panicking. US media would rather we didn't think about [domestic political rant redacted out of deference to the seriousness of the thread]

A question to the Japanese

[jez9999]

Can anyone over there in Japan give me a better picture about the likelihood of TEPCO and the Japanese government having their feet held to the fire over this nuclear power plant's still being in operation?

The hysterical Western media aside, this is an extremely bad situation for a nuclear power plant to even be able to get to in this day and age. By my limited understanding, the reason it's still in operation is basically because the Japanese government have let TEPCO get away with safety coverups and shortcuts on a regular basis, despite the IAEA warning them about this plant being dangerous. I support nuclear power, but these old plants really need to be replaced by modern, safe ones, and it looks like Japan is in desperate need of an attitude change towards its nuclear safety policy.

Is such a change likely to happen now? Are those responsable for the lack of nuclear safety (yes, I call running a 50 year old nuclear plant near-enough to Tokyo that isn't designed for an extraordinarily large earthquakes/tsunamis in a region renowned for moderate ones, unsafe) likely to be brought to justice? Or is the culture between the Japanese government/TEPCO similar to that between the US government and ExxonMobil?

Re:A question to the Japanese

[Heian-794]

Jez, this plant was in fact nearing the end of its life, and had been designed to withstand a quake almost as big as this one. Its retirement, and the introduction of a newer and safer plant, was already on the schedule when the quake came.

TEPCO has told many lies to the public over the years, but the long-term planning of nuclear power and even this plant in particular isn't something that can be faulted. It's not even that close to Tokyo, despite the "Tokyo Electric Power" name -- roughly the same distance separates Fukushima and Tokyo as does Three Mile Island and New York (260 km / 160 mi).

I do want to see heads roll over this, though. They lied during the Tokaimura incident a decade ago and have been obfuscating things all through this incident.

Re:A question to the Japanese

[savanik]

The hysterical Western media aside, this is an extremely bad situation for a nuclear power plant to even be able to get to in this day and age. By my limited understanding, the reason it's still in operation is basically because the Japanese government have let TEPCO get away with safety coverups and shortcuts on a regular basis, despite the IAEA warning them about this plant being dangerous. I support nuclear power, but these old plants really need to be replaced by modern, safe ones, and it looks like Japan is in desperate need of an attitude change towards its nuclear safety policy.

I agree, regular safety inspections of nuclear plants is a vital safety precaution, and falsifying reports or falsifying repair orders is cause for serious investigation. However, I saw a quote last night that basically brought it home for me: "We have a 43 year old nuclear power plant that got hit by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake, a 10 meter high wall of water, explosions from hydrogen leaks and fires, and the reactor vessels are still contained? And you still think that nuclear power isn't safe?"

Re:Sadly,

[strikeleader]

I wonder if Slashdot JP is plagued by dumb asses like this?

In your part of Europe?: not seen that in UK

[fantomas]

"Here in Europe, people are buying masks and iodine pills."
Not sure what part of Europe you are posting from, but here in the UK I've not seen anybody buying masks or iodine pills. Conversation with friends and work mates is about how terrible a disaster has happened, there is no fear that we might be affected.

Not even our most poor quality media are suggesting that people should be taking precautions.The media coverage is mostly about the terrible situation Japanese folk find themselves in. A very small part of the coverage asks whether our nuclear power plants have up-to-date safety features and politicians are discussing whether this needs to be examined.

Factual news releases from IndustrialInfo

[dj245]

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Update
Released March 17, 2011 | TOKYO, JAPAN


Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On Thursday, March 17, at 9:30 a.m. JST, firefighting trucks were dispatched to Tokyo Electric Power Company Incorporated's (TYO:9501) (TEPCO) (Tokyo) Fukushima Daiichi units 3 and 4 to replenish water in the spent fuel pool. Because Unit 3 has not reached a stable temperature, the spent fuel rods continue to produce heat. Water must be kept flowing through the spent fuel pool to keep the system cool, or the high temperatures of the spent fuel rods will cause the water to boil off. If the spent fuel rods are exposed, they will begin to melt and emit radiation.

At 9:48 a.m. JST, helicopters began releasing seawater over Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station units 3 and 4 in an attempt to cool the units. TEPCO is also discussing the option of releasing boric acid over Unit 4. Boric acid has a high boiling point of 300 degrees Celsius. When water, which has a boiling point of 100 degrees Celsius, is mixed with boric acid, its boiling point rises. The current temperature of Unit 4 is approximately 180 degrees Celsius. Between helicopter-delivered water and possible boric acid treatment, Unit 4 could reach stable temperatures.

On the previous day, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that the water in the spent fuel pool of Unit 4 had completely boiled off, prompting the United States Embassy in Tokyo to urge American citizens to evacuate the area beyond an 80-kilometer (50-mile) radius. TEPCO has refuted the announcement, stating that the water is low, but not completely boiled off.

Units 4, 5, and 6 were all inactive at the time of Friday's earthquake due to scheduled maintenance. Unit 4 has been down since November 30, 2010, and Unit 6 has been inactive since August 14, 2010, while Unit 5 has been offline since January 3 of this year.




Radiation Levels at Fukushima Daiichi Fall; Radiation and Sieverts Explained
Released March 17, 2011 | TOKYO, JAPAN


Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has reported that radiation levels have fallen steadily over the past 12 hours at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. As of Wednesday, March 16, at 5:00 p.m. JST, equipment at the main plant gate of Fukushima Daiichi detected radiation levels of 752 microSieverts per hour. This is equivalent to 0.000752 Sieverts or 0.752 miliSieverts. A Sievert is the International System of Units derivation of dose equivalent, which is the measure of effects of ionizing radiation on tissue.

1 Sievert (Sv) = 1,000 milliSieverts (mSv) = 1,000,000 microSieverts (Sv)

MicroSieverts are the current unit of measure used to describe radiation levels emitted from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

Single-dose examples include the following:
One banana: 0.0001 milliSieverts
Mammogram: 5 milliSieverts
Chest CT Scan: 6 to 18 milliSieverts
Hourly dose examples include the following:
Highest radiation recorded at Unit 2 of Fukushima Daiichi: 8 milliSieverts per hour
Highest radiation recorded at Fukushima Daiichi main plant gate: 11 millilSieverts per hour
Standard dose in relation to Chernobyl Unit 4 and its fragments after explosion: 10 to 300 Sieverts per hour
Yearly dose examples include the following:
Residing in close proximity to a nuclear power station: 0.0001 to 0.01 milliSieverts per year
Residing in close proximity to a coal-fired power station: 0.0003 milliSieverts per year
Smoking 1.5 packs of cigarettes per day: 13 milliSieverts per year
Lowest clearly carcinogenic level: 100 milliSieverts per year
An information breakdown similar to this one was broadcast to the Japanese public via television shortly following the first mention of any trouble at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.




Moth

Re:Factual news releases from IndustrialInfo

[Catbeller]

Could you please give the link for this info? Thanks!

Re:Factual news releases from IndustrialInfo

[dj245]

It comes from Industrial Info Resources. Registration seems to be required. Most of the articles on the Japanese earthquake and its repercussions so far have been free but my company has a subscription to the nonfree articles.

Japan needs helicopters & equipment

[nido]

... They need food, water, and supplies delivered to areas suddenly unreachable through normal means. They need crews to rip apart buildings to rescue those trapped inside.

What rescuers really need are tools, like helicopters, ships to launch them from, water purification equipment, etc.

... Right now, helicopters are needed most. With roads, airports, and ports washed away or clogged with debris, the only way to reach many of the affected areas is by helicopter. Yet Japan now has barely 100 military helicopters engaged in relief efforts. The United States should start sending all of its heavy-lift helicopters in Japan and South Korea to northern Japan. Similarly, the Air Force should dramatically ramp up the number of C-17s bringing in supplies to Misawa Air Base, so that supplies are on the ground when transportation to affected areas can be undertaken. ...

-Japan Needs Its Own Berlin Airlift (March 15th, emphasis added)

The U.S. Navy has sent the USS Ronald Reagan and other "helicopter capable" ships. But the Ronald Reagan only has a couple small helicopters... Amphibious assault ships are designed for helicopters & V-22 Ospreys.. And the Tortuga can service two helicopters itself:

... The USS Tortuga embarked landing craft units and departed Sasebo Friday evening, he added. The ship is headed toward Pohang, South Korea, where it will pick up MH-53 heavy lift helicopters.

âoeWe have directed most helicopter capable ships to be ready to sail within 24 hours,â Davis said. ...

-U.S. military directing assets toward Japan relief efforts

The USS Tortuga was in Japan, but had to go to South Korea to pick up a pair of helicopters first. Like all the other relief efforts in recent memory, this one is being thrown together too.

If the re-purposed USS Enterprise had been in Hawaii (pre-loaded with disaster supplies and heavy-lift helicopters), it could have arrived by ... yesterday, probably.

When I was still formulating my proposal, Win Wenger suggested that there should actually be three disaster-response ships: one in Hawaii, one in Australian, and one in the Atlantic somewhere. How far is the boat ride from Australia to Japan? At least two responders from the last time I posted this suggested retired amphibious assault ships might be more appropriate than the Enterprise (due to the expense?). We can use those too.

When Disaster Strikes, Send The Enterprise. It's a good idea, and everyone knows it. :)

Current panic == last year's AH1N1 scare

[Kyusaku Natsume]

This remembers me the last year's AH1N1 scare. People scared around the world and here in Guadalajara, México, people enjoying the unexpected holidays going to restaurants and doing shopping. The ones that were worst affected were desperate mothers that had to deal with the children out of school.

Much support while I wear my...

[yoshi_mon]

I want to say to everyone in Japan that I support you and wish you all the best.

That being said, tinfoil hat time!

If this type of thing were happening here I have no doubt in my mind that our government would lie it's ass off. They would downplay every facet of the details in order not to panic the rest of the people. In fact it has become something of a joke given that we have seen governments do it over and over again as we watch from the outside. Iraqi War Minster anyone?

As such Japan is between a rock and a hard place. They have this huge situation where many people could very well die/eventually die but to say so would create a panic. So if they tell everyone the honest truth they fear that a panic would take place and chaos would break out which would lead to them not being able to fix the thing that might actually kill everyone.

So instead they lie and say it's fine, stay in your homes, wear a mask! We all here in Japan love to wear masks! Wear one today! And the hope is that with the lie they can keep people calm and fix everything.

Problem is that the dynamic of human communication has shifted such that you can't just lie to people like that anymore and it stays local. We have this whole world wide web thing going on, some people call it teh internet, and communication is at an all time high in the world.

I will hope that one day we can all take the honest truth and deal with it. I know that we are really young as far as a civ goes and that Japan might have to take one for the team here, but dammit I still think that honesty is best when looking at the forest.

Safe trip...

[MaWeiTao]

It's interesting how many people choose to walk or cycle home so far. But then, there's an important reason why it's feasible in Japan, and many Asian nations, and not in the United States. You don't have to worry about walking through bad neighborhoods; it's a safe trip all the way home. Yet another of the many frustrating things with this country.

Re:Animals knew it was coming

[shutdown -p now]

Setting the madness of the idea itself aside for a moment...

You know, if I were a pissed-off dolphin who wanted to avenge my dead brethren, one thing I would pay a lot of attention to is making it so that it is clearly retribution, and not just some random natural disaster. Otherwise how do those being punished know what they need to stop doing to avoid further punishment?

Probably not.

[Estanislao Mart�nez]

GiveWell is the strictest website I've found about analyzing charities for cost-effectiveness. I'm not vouching for their accuracy, but go have a look around their website—they try to be pretty open about how they judge things.

I bring that up as background to this: GiveWell is recommending that people do not donate money specifically for Japan disaster relief, for reasons they explain in that link. Their recommendation is that if you want to donate to a disaster relief charity at this time, you just make a general donation to Doctors Without Borders.

I should stress: click on that second link and at least skim through it.

What is generating this?

[Haffner]

New slashdot: You may also like to read, Book Reviews: Godel, Escher, Bach -- 20th Anniversary Edition 123 comments Painfully pretentious guff by Sinner (3398) Hardware: Linux Support for Riva TNT2 110 comments I have to agree with Crow by Anonymous Coward Linux: ZD on Red Hat 37 comments No good deed goes unpunished. by toriver (11308) Linux: RedHat 6.0 is Out 237 comments upgrade path by MikeTurk (18201)

UTF-8

[Anonymous Coward]

Cool, Slashcode DOES support UTF-8 after all.

Panic Buying

[blair1q]

Grocery stores are stocked daily, and may only have 1 or 2 days' stock of staple items on hand. People shop for things like toilet paper and diapers far less often than that. Weekly, biweekly, perhaps monthly or longer. So on any given day, about 1 in 15 people are shopping for that item. But if there is an event that threatens to disrupt supply, people who are within a few days of needing to buy that item will buy it sooner if it is available. But all it takes to clean out a store is slightly more than 1 or 2 days' worth of demand to walk in the door.

It's hardly panic. I doubt a large number of people are hoarding. We've just developed an economy that delivers goods to retail outlets in as close to a just-in-time system as possible, because that is how such logistical systems are most efficient in the steady state. But those systems have very little tolerance for upsetting events, and when the executives in charge of the designers of the logisitical system are focussed on meeting quarterly profit margins, not on planning for rare occurrences, the planning for rare occurrences becomes unwanted as a matter of corporate strategy.

And then, not to put too fine a point on it, but, really, when thousands of people are dying and thousands more will die, is it too hard to wipe your ass with a page from the bible?

Oh, the horror!

[PPH]

Somewhere, there's a CowboyNealo.

"Stories"

[Slutticus]

It's amazing how much you can cram into a Twitter post with Japanese (or any Kanji-based language for that matter...)

Get well

[Anonymous Coward]

Hayaku yoku natte kudasai!

Disagree

[Anonymous Coward]

I was living in L.A. during the '94 earthquake, close to the epicenter.

-No looting.
-No panic shopping. (I was a grocery store clerk at the time... I know!)

We did just fine.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Consume

[Anonymous Coward]

"go out and continue to consume for the sake" OK. Bottoms up!

It's like a Parallel Universe

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if the Japanese version of me has the same affinity for hot Japanese women.

Operation Yashima

[TheModelEskimo]

However, websites such as “”Operation Yashima ” (the power conservation strategy depicted in the popular Japan Anime “Next Generation of Evangelion”) spread out the idea of power conservation and helped to keep the rolling blackout to a minimum.

Well, if that isn't the coolest thing I've read all day.

Re:Sadly,

[alexborges]

cat $GP | sed -r 's/Japanese/American/g' > slashdot.jp.comment

Nothing as universal as small penis panic and its psychic projections thereof..

no +5 Funny comments?

[Punto]

this is inspirational and all, if they're really our parallel selves, where are the +5 Funny comments? (I'm also curious about the trolls, but that's just me)

Re:If it hapened in the US it would be complete ch

[keith_nt4]

It was rumored San Francisco *MIGHT* get a *LITTLE* snow and people took the week off. You'd think what with giant earth quakes of their own SF folks would be able to deal a little more effectively.

REQUEST

[eyenot]

Let's have this a regular column, bi-weekly or weekly until Japan is effectively back on their square.

Re:If it hapened in the US it would be complete ch

[s1a2n3c4e]

Japan doesn't like being anthropomorphized.

Re:Sadly,

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if Slashdot JP is plagued by dumb asses like this?

After taking a quick jaunt through your posting history, I'd be reluctant to disparage others, were I you.