Archive for April, 2011

American Military and Japanese SDF at Sendai Airport

Here is a TV report about the joint Japanese-American military effort to repair Sendai Airport and use it as a base for relief supplies. It aired a few days ago on Japan’s FTV network:

• Scenes of Sendai Airport during and immediately after the tsunami are contrasted with its current cleaned-up state.
• Every morning there are meetings between the airport staff, Japanese Self-Defense Forces, and United States military. They work together to plan the day’s work.
• Members of the American military are shown living and sleeping in the terminal building with no electricity or running water. When an aftershock occurs, the reporter is impressed that the Americans do not even flinch.
• They interview one of the airport’s civilian employees, who is working long hours alongside the American and Japanese military forces. His house was near the airport. The man’s wife and disabled daughter temporarily evacuated when the tsunami hit, but they are now back home.
• The report was filmed on the day that the airport’s runways were finally deemed clear and a temporary control tower was put into service. Without the hard work of the SDF and the Americans, the clean-up probably would have taken a lot longer than two weeks.
• As in the case of the previous report, it closes with news anchors Yuko Ando and Taro Kimura praising the help that the Americans have been providing. Kimura says that up until now, many Japanese had wondered about the value of the U.S.-Japan alliance, with some doubting that Americans would even help Japan in a time of need. He thinks that Operation Tomodachi will raise public awareness about the value of a good relationship with America.

Stars and Stripes has a good article up about the lifestyle of the Americans who are deployed at Sendai Airport. Here’s an little excerpt:

Staff Sgt. Alejandro Anglada, 24, of Puerto Rico, said the camp at the airport has fewer amenities than the forward operating base he lived at in Baghdad, Iraq, during a 15-month deployment from 2006 to 2008.

“In Iraq, we had a PX (Post Exchange) and all the amenities,” he said. “Here we just have the tents.”

However there are some similarities, Anglada said.

“I went on a mission yesterday and saw all the debris on the side of the road,” he said. “For an instant, I thought I was back in Baghdad rolling around.”

Whether on the road or at the airport, the troops subsist on Meals, Ready to Eat, supplemented with fresh fruit and vegetables and items from care packages such as chocolate bars, cookies and sodas sent by family members back on Okinawa.

And despite the lack of facilities at the airport, the troops at the airport have one thing they all look forward to.

“Every three days we go to Camp Sendai for a shower,” Clark said.

The soldiers also like visiting Camp Sendai — a clean, modern Japan Self-Defense facility where white-washed barracks stand between tree-lined grassy avenues — because they can shop for items such as underwear, socks, gloves and flashlights at a Japanese store. Or they can dine at a small restaurant.

The Marine Corps has also created a short news video about their work at Sendai Airport:

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Dog Seatbelt

If you have a dog and worry about driving safely with your pet hiding in your car, you might want to get the seatbelt harness that is introduced on this Japanese TV show:

Similar products are being sold on Amazon.co.jp and Amazon.com. The product shown in the video might be produced by a Japanese company, but it looks like companies in other countries have had similar ideas.

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TEPCO_CEO Twitter Account Mocks Tokyo Electric Power Company

If you’re looking for some humorous mockery of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, follow TEPCO_CEO on twitter:

The account appears to be inspired by the BP Global PR, a parody twitter account that appeared in the wake of last year’s gigantic oil spill.

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American Players Flee Country, Abandoning Japanese Pro Baseball Teams

The Nippon Professional Baseball League has placed Brent Leach of the Yokohama Baystars and Brian Bannister of the Yomiuri Giants on its restricted list after both players fled Japan following the March 11th earthquake.

Brent Leach left the country on March 17th, claiming that he was suffering from emotional stress. On the 31st, he contacted his team, telling them that he could not return to Japan due to feelings of insecurity about life in Japan and opposition from his family. According to Nikkan Sports, up until his decision to flee, Leach was earning a little over $2,300 a day.

Brian Bannister left the country on March 15th, claiming that his family was worried about him and he needed to be safe.

Given their geographic distance from actual earthquake damage and timing of their exits, it probably wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that their exodus was prompted by fears about radiation from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The Nippon Professional Baseball League adopted rules for restricted players in 1998, but this is the first ever time that it has actually had to place players on the restricted list. The rule is based on the MLB restricted list rule:

The Restricted list is a compendium of players who are out of organized baseball but are not free agents. A team can request that a player be placed on the restricted list if that player has left the team without a valid reason, or has announced his intention to retire but is still of an age or level of skill that could allow him to return to professional baseball in the future. In effect, the team states that it retains rights to the player if and when he becomes active again. The list is also used to place a player who is unavailable to play for non-baseball reasons, such as personal issues or trouble with the law.

A player on the restricted list cannot be signed by another team unless compensation is paid to the team who placed him on the list. The list is honored throughout organized baseball and in leagues that have working agreements to respect the contracts of organized baseball, such as Nippon Pro Baseball. The list is most often used today when a player retires at a young age without receiving his unconditional release. If he decides to return to playing, he must do so with his last team, unless a trade or other deal can be worked out.

Under Japanese league rules, both players will now only be paid 1/300th of their remaining salaries.

[hat tip to Tokyo Reporter]

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Japanese Restaurants in Hong Kong Going Out of Business Due to Radiation Fears

I wish this were a joke, but it’s seems to be true:

The South China Morning Report said the Yaegiku Japanese Cuisine restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui closed Friday after reporting a 70 per cent drop in business since the earthquake and tsunami triggered the nuclear crisis at Fukushima.

Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, predicted that as many as one-fourth of the city’s 600 Japanese restaurants could be forced out of business.

The industry is pressing Tokyo to help the restaurants by issuing safety certificates to assure customers that food is free of radiation, or by granting loans to help sustain them while they attempt to regain customer confidence.

Hong Kong has been performing radiation scans on food imports from Japan since March 14th, so it is quite absurd for consumers to think that radioactive food is being freely served at restaurants in their city.

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Hong Kong Expedites Work Visas for Foreigners Who Fled Japan

The Wall Street Journal reports that quite a few foreign finance workers have fled their Tokyo offices and are relocating to Hong Kong. The government of Hong Kong is expediting their work visa paperwork, in the hope that it can convince them not to return to Tokyo:

Mr. Chan, who is new to his post, said his department received 270 visa applications between March 17 and March 31, mostly from high-level managers and professionals from multinational companies involved in finance who earned roughly US$150,000 to US$300,000 a year. He said the visas were expedited to woo professionals who may have considered other destinations.

“We hope that they consider long-term settlement in Hong Kong,” said Mr. Chan, adding that the applicants would benefit the Hong Kong economy and meet labor-market demand.

Singapore, another popular destination for professionals fleeing the disaster, hasn’t yet mentioned any special accommodations for visa applications.

Expatriates have been fleeing Japan since the earthquake struck amid continued fears of radiation following leaks and contamination at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power facility. Many foreign companies supported or facilitated their employees in relocating to other cities in Asia or back to their home countries, leading to an exodus of overseas staff, particularly from Tokyo.

Meanwhile, radiation levels in Hong Kong still exceed radiation levels in Tokyo.

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