Japan will never be the same again

[ensho]

now it is in a metamorphosis state

life is loss and change and now in Japan it is happening at a fast and furious pace.

one report I read this a.m. said a million Japanese have no food or water.

there will be orphans.

I'm hoping nearby countries are already coming to their rescue.

[Bonobo]

1. You're right. March 11 will be remembered forever.

But Japan is performing spectacularly considering the size of this.

I am heart-broken...and proud at the same time.

My heart is filled with love and admiration for these incredible people.

[fittosurvive]

3. I am 100% in agreement.

:thumbsup:

[dipsydoodle]

2. Pretty much like

Hiroshima August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki August 9, 1945

[ensho]

8. those bombs didn't move the whole country's coast 8 ft.

and move the earths axis

[WatsonT]

16. They also killed a lot more people

[KharmaTrain]

4. Give The Japanese People Some Credit...

I'm seeing people who have shown tremendous discipline and endurance in the face of this enormous natural and man-made tragedy. You're not hearing about looting or breakdown in civil order. While this catastrophe continues to play out, the Japanese have had to endure many disasters in their long and proud history. Besides the atomic bombs, Japan in 1945-46 was in far greater state of desolation than they are today...most of Tokyo burnt to the ground and their infrastructure totally destroyed. Seemed they rose to meet that disaster with the "Japanese Miracle" of the 50s through the 80s.

[Bosso 63]

6. I'm not seeing cops or contractors shooting looters.

I guess they have different priorities.

[somone]

11. Thievery and robbery are rare in Japan

[DCBob]

7. Yeah, I agree with that.. The Japanese, and humans in general have an incredible will to regroup...

and rebuild after tragedies.

[somone]

9. They also have another challenge - serious population decline

Fewer babies being born and older people dying at an accelerating rate.
They've had to import 'guest' workers for several years now.

[KharmaTrain]

13. The Sign Of A More Advanced Society...

Most industrialized countries are seeing population in decline but it's greatly eclipsed by the large population rise in the "third world". When Japan was a more agrarian society you needed more hands in the field as well as higher mortality rates. In the past century and in the last 60 years in specific its urbanized similar to what we encountered in the U.S. in the first part of the 20th century and many European nations did the century prior to that. And I don't think its a bad thing...population growth is a major world problem as the more people the more resources are needed. I expect we'll start seeing a decline in China and India in years ahead as the continue to "modernize".

Not to discount the horrors that are ongoing but the Japanese are probably the best prepared for these tragedies. And in certain ways that distorts things. We are able to see pictures that we didn't in the Tsunami that obliterated Indonesia in 2004 or the massive quakes that killed thousands in the Kashmir. The fact they are so technically advanced allows us to see this disaster in our living rooms and computer screens.

Cheers...

[WatsonT]

17. They do have a very high population density

they could stand to have fewer people.

[FSogol]

5. Disagree. Japan has been through worse and will survive this too. n/t

[Codeine]

10. You will be amazed at the Japanese ability to cope with tragedy.

I am full of admiration for the way they are handling this. Living right on a fault line makes one step up and pay extra attention to this sort of thing, and I hope my fellow Californians show half the strength and resiliency of the Japanese when our turn comes.

[LynneSin]

12. They said that after the Hiroshima bombing and you're right - it was never the same

but instead emerged bigger and better than ever.

My heart goes out for Japan and it's folks but I suspect that Japan will emerge bigger and better yet again!

[ensho]

14. earthquake, tsunami, nuke meltdown, volcano eruption

and ongoing global warming

all this happening together on one small country.

I'm not saying they won't survive as a country. but they will never be the same.

all of us will never be the same. New Zealand had earthquake and two big hurricanes, flooding and are not together yet. Haiti is still broken from their earthquake. Australia has had one bad thing after the other. and where was it that a recent earthquake broke part of a glacier into ice cubes.

[Joe the Revelator]

15. I thin you are overreacting.....will they be the same tomorrow?

No.

However in a year or so they will be.

[WatsonT]

18. They get hit with disasters on a regular basis

active fault lines, oceanic storms, wars, etc.

I think they'll be fine in the long run.

[lpbk2713]

19. Is that a quote from August 1945?

Oh ... never mind.

[CreekDog]

20. It seems like the Japanese take care of their people better than we take care of ours

and that's incredibly important right now.

[somone]

21. They also have a very good universal health care system

with very low copays and miminal wait to see a specialist.

[starroute]

22. The earthquake of 1923 killed 140,000 people

It's a major reason why the building codes are so strict now. The photo below is of Yokohama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_Great_Kant%C5%8D_earthquake

The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes. The quake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale. . . .

This earthquake devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region. The power and intensity was astonishing: it managed to move the 93-ton Great Buddha statue at Kamakura which was over 60 km away from the epicenter, sliding it forward almost two feet.

Casualty estimates range from about 100,000 to 142,000 deaths, the latter figure including approximately 40,000 who went missing and were presumed dead. Damages from this natural disaster were the greatest sustained by Prewar Japan. In 1960, the government of Japan declared September 1, the anniversary of the quake, as an annual "Disaster Prevention Day."