Archive for March, 2011

U.S. Military Sends Aid to Earthquake Victims

U.S. Military forces in Japan are assisting in the earthquake relief efforts:

President Barack Obama said Saturday that one U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, was already off the coast of Japan, and another was on its way. Washington has also dispatched urban search and rescue teams, according to U.S. Ambassador John Roos.

CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the USS Reagan is serving as a “lily pad” for Japanese helicopters, i.e. a place to land and refuel. Reagan has a supply ship with it, so it will be able to keep refueling Japanese helicopters indefinitely. There are two escort ships with the USS Reagan and four more destroyers on the way to conduct Search and Rescue.

The next big deck ship to arrive will be the Tortuga, probably sometime tomorrow. It has just finished loading heaving lift MH-53 helos in Korea and is en route to Honshu. The Essex, an amphibious ship carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit is in the South China Sea but still a couple days away. It will rendezvous with two other amphibious ships: Harpers Ferry and Germantown.

The Blue Ridge, a command ship loaded with relief supplies, has left Singapore but it will get to Japan after Essex.

This is very different from Haiti where the local government had no resources and was basically helpless until the U.S. military arrived. The Japanese have hundreds of helicopters.

Marines and sailors from the Third Marine Expeditionary Force are part of the group headed for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in mainland Japan, according to a Marine spokesman. The support will include sending “command and control, staff assistance, KC-130J cargo aircraft and CH-46E transport helicopters from Okinawa (Futenma Air Station) to mainland Japan to provide critically needed assistance. Additional aircraft and supplies will continue to be moved in the next several days,” the Marines said in a press release.

The marines and sailors will join the operations of 50,000 Japanese troops that Prime Minister Naoto Kan said have joined rescue and recovery efforts, aided by boats and helicopters.

As we speak, Japanese television is continuing to show live footage of helicopters rescuing people from rooftops in flooded areas. I’m not sure if any of them are American helicopters, but as the article states, the U.S. military has been helping provide fuel for the Japanese helicopters.

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Volunteer/Donate to Help Japanese Earthquake Victims

Some people have e-mailed us and left comments asking for information on how to volunteer or send help to the victims of the massive earthquake that hit Japan on Friday. Right now, anyone who is not a doctor or trained emergency response professional should avoid the effected area, since more people going there will only create logistical problem. Japanese news sources are reporting it may take a week or more for the situation to calm down to the point where regular volunteers will be needed.

In the meantime, residents of Japan can find more volunteer information by checking with volunteer centers in their area. You can find a volunteer center near you by searching Google for the following (in Japanese):

“ボランティアセンター” + (name of your city in Japanese)

People are also strongly encouraged to donate money to relief organizations.

If you live in Japan want to donate money, online donations can be made through Yahoo. Cause-Action.jp also has a big list of charities accepting donations, as well as companies, such as Tsutaya, which are allowing customers to donate their accumulated member points to charity.

Before donating money, please check up on the organization that is soliciting donations. Charity Navigator has a bunch of tips on choosing the right charity, as well as list of recommended credible international charities that are taking donations.

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Massive Earthquake Strikes Japan

Apologies to those who came to this site yesterday looking for news about the biggest earthquake in Japanese history. Unfortunately, I was unable to update this site because I trapped at the Tokyo Disney Resort, spending the night in an evacuation center (shopping mall) with nowhere to go because the trains were stopped.

The photo at the top of this post shows the pavement in front of Maihama station, which was torn up pretty badly from the quake, despite the fact that Tokyo Disney was quite far from the epicenter of quake. I have been to a few areas of Tokyo since, and have yet to see any other visible earthquake damage.

After many hours of riding various forms of mass transit and walking, I am now back to somewhere with internet access. Thanks for all the people who sent e-mails, comments, and instant messages asking if I was dead.

Anyway, here’s some background info on the quake, plus a few scary videos:

A bulldozing tsunami triggered by an 8.9-magnitude earthquake devastated the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, turning cars into driftwood, washing away neighborhoods and leaving this industrialized country bracing for an epic humanitarian disaster.

[...]

This earthquake, the fifth-largest worldwide since 1900 and the strongest ever to strike Japan, will redefine the challenges facing a country already burdened by debt, economic stagnation and depopulation. -Washington Post

The confirmed death toll so far is almost 300, though media reports say it is at least 1,300.

“Unfortunately, we must be prepared for the number to rise greatly,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.

The tremor, with a magnitude of 8.9, was so huge that thousands fled their homes from coastlines around the Pacific Rim, as far away as North and South America, fearful of a tsunami.

Most appeared to have been spared anything more serious than some high waves, unlike Japan’s northeast coastline which was hammered by a 10-meter high tsunami that turned houses and ships into floating debris as it surged into cities and villages, sweeping aside everything in its path. – Reuters

A large Tsunami wipes out part of Miyagi prefecture:

Tall buildings sway but do not break:

Hidden inside the skeletons of high-rise towers, extra steel bracing, giant rubber pads and embedded hydraulic shock absorbers make modern Japanese buildings among the sturdiest in the world during a major earthquake. And all along the Japanese coast, tsunami warning signs, towering seawalls and well-marked escape routes offer some protection from walls of water.

These precautions, along with earthquake and tsunami drills that are routine for every Japanese citizen, show why Japan is the best-prepared country in the world for the twin disasters of earthquake and tsunami — practices that undoubtedly saved lives, though the final death toll is unknown. – New York Times

A Sendai resident films as he and his mother experience the terror of a ultra powerful earthquake:

The antenna at the top of Tokyo Tower reacts to the earthquake:

A medley of earthquake damage video clips from news programs and netizens:

People experiencing after shocks at Tokyo Disney Sea:

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Cat Sleeps Face Down

Meet Abi the Abyssinian cat, a feline resident of Japan who likes to sleep in a very odd manner:

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Anachronisms In Chinese War Movies

ChinaSmack has translated a pretty funny article that points out the use of ridiculously inaccurate weapons and uniforms in some of the popular anti-Japanese war movies that appear so often on Chinese TV:

Domestically produced war films or television series have always been controversial, the reason being that the enemy is always portrayed as having low intelligence, dying immediately upon shot. Whereas our military are all incomparably heroic, almost invincible and ever victorious.

Look at these pictures below, they’ll definitely dumbfound/stun you.

[...]
AK-47! In the 30’s and 40’s did China already have such a divine weapon??!

The Japanese Army [of WW2] equipped with the extremely advanced weapon, the AK! Note the red circle!

View the rest of the silly pictures and translations of Chinese netizens’ comments here.

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

U.S. Apologizes to Japan, Sacks Diplomat Who Made Okinawa Comments

The U.S. government has replaced Kevin Maher, the State Department Japan Desk Head who allegedly made remarks calling Okinawans ““masters of manipulation and extortion” who were “too lazy” to farm fruit:

The U.S. embassy in Tokyo released a statement saying Kevin Maher, former director of the State Department’s Office of Japan Affairs has been replaced by longtime diplomat Rust Deming.

News of Maher’s resignation overshadowed Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell’s two-day visit to Tokyo.

In a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto, Campbell offered yet another apology for Maher’s comments.

“These in no way reflect the attitudes of warmth and gratitude and friendship that the United States has for the people of Okinawa,” he said. “We are deeply apologetic for this controversy.”

In case some were wondering how the story was covered on Japanese TV, here’s a clip from yesterday evening’s NTV “News Every”:

In the report, a voice actor reads Japanese translations of Maher’s most offensive comments, seemingly making an effort to sound as arrogant as possible.

To respond to Maher’s claim that the quotations were not accurate, they interview Tori Miyagi, one of the American University students who was there when Maher made his remarks about Okinawa. Miyagi insists that Maher did say shocking and offensive things about the Japanese people. (According to his Twitter profile, Miyagi identifies himself as Okinawan. )

NTV draws on file footage of Maher’s time as consul general. It includes a gem in which the camera pans from a crowd of anti-base protesters to Maher, who is doing his best to ignore them. Former Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha states that he got the impression that Maher had always ignored the concerns of Okinawans.

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)