Japan one year later

By [NR] admin | Published: March 11, 2012

Today is the one year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan.

Check also this update from the Red Cross.

Related posts:

  1. Where to donate for the earthquake and tsunami devastation in Japan
  2. Nikon issues third update after the earthquake in Japan
  3. Second notice from Nikon on the impact of the earthquake in Japan
  4. Nikon’s official statement on the disaster in Japan
  5. One month after the earthquake in Japan
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  • French reader

    It’s been posted here and there, but here’s a link to shots of Japan after the tragedy and now.

    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/03/01/world/asia/JapanBeforeAfter.html?src=tp

    • Thanks to you for sharing that link (I hadn’t seen it yet) and thanks to Admin for helping us keep a clear perspective on the Japan situation. This isn’t a small thing they’re going through; what an incredible disaster.

      I am, however, impressed by their grit and determination in cleaning it all up. The before/after photos are really a spectacular sight.

      • The clean up operation is mind-blowing isn’t it, those before and after pictures are amazing…

      • komalkumar

        +1

    • ArthurH

      Will never forget this horrible tragedy, and at the same time I’m very impressed with the pictures shown in the link above: the willpower of the Japanese to overcome and build for the future.

  • RWJ

    Thanks Admin for posting this, it has been a very difficult year for the people near the Fukushima Power plant. It is important to know they still need our help and they have a long way to go till life comes to some sort of normalcy.

  • fred

    The total cost of Japan’s reconstruction is 1/3 the value of the first criminal bank bailout in the United States.

    • Art

      The bank bailout pales in comparison to how much money was spent afterwards. The banks were just a small part of the bailout anyway.

      We are now five trillion dollars further in debt now than when the current administration took office and they are looking at trying to pass another one and a half trillion stimulus. Sooner or later, it _will_ catch up with all of us no matter who you are or in which country you live.

      • Anonymus Maximus

        That is the Tsunami of money. It is still to come and will not be less destructive.

      • applepie

        Indeed “recovery” spending keeps getting bigger, and is moving into an exponential phase. If I’m earning/saving/buying in Dollars or Euros, or any other paper currency, my buying power is eroding as central banks spend and spend. This is partly why Nikon couldn’t release the D800 at $3k, the why new iPad is up in price.

        In the end, the $250bn figure in the video is meaningless anyway. The actual human cost, natural resources and energy required to save Japan from decline into radioactive hell (if it can be done) cannot be expressed in bank notes.

        The $5tn spent by central banks bailing out financial losers would be better invested in sealing up the worst nuclear accident in history. Tokyo is becoming the new Chernobyl, and the authorities there are keeping it a pretty good secret.

  • I’m looking at some of the *new* photographs in the link, and I think -despite the tragedy-things are looking really nice and modern for the future; the development lands are the awesome foundation for tomorrow.

  • djh65

    Makes me somewhat ashamed for being frustrated my new Nikon did not get released when I wanted it do. Hearts are with the Japanese people as they continue to recover.

    • I would like to think I’ve been fairly reasonable and empathetic about the situation in Japan, despite my depending on Japanese-produced gear for my livelihood. But after your comment, I realize I should be ashamed too. The disaster for the Japanese (Nikon included) is unfathomable, and was even worse for them due to the fact that it didn’t stop there. My children have been praying for the people in Japan ever since the tsunami — every night, every day. A few months back, I thought, “somebody needs to tell them that the tsunami in Japan is history.” I’m glad I kept my mouth shut. Clearly, these people need all the prayers and support they can get, and will for some time.

      Whoever you are, thanks for being really honest with yourself and the rest of us, djh65.

      • David G.

        • David G. —

          Truth be told, I can understand your position. For a number of years in my life I was convinced that religion and God were a sham. I hit rock bottom in my life, and after there was nothing else I finally resorted to prayer — sincerely — for the first time. I know you will find some way to argue it away, or explain it as some psychological response to stress or what have you, but I know that there is nothing in this world that can compare, then or now, to the peace and love I was immediately given as I walked alone and afraid for my life on that summer night. My life has been changed through prayer, both my own prayer and through others’ supplication on my own behalf. I can’t explain it. I can’t prove it. But I know that prayer has power.

          I have felt it personally when I have had others pray for myself and my family. We felt it when my mother was in a coma for 5 weeks, when those from our community that could not be there gathered together to pray for her health and my family’s peace. Those prayers were accompanied by a power, and I cannot deny that this power is real!

          As to your link, I agree that prayer can seem like (and even be) a cheap substitute for action. I appreciate your effort to remind me that praying is not a replacement for doing when we can do anything to help. On the other hand, sincere prayer is a benevolent act, and one which I hope you would offer for me were I in need.

          But I imagine even you would not disagree with this principle of compassion.

          • Well said. I totally agree with your views.

      • Richard

        Ron,

        The impact of the events of last year are likely to persist for a number of years. There has been little, if any, reporting in the mainstream media about the (electric) energy shortage in Japan. As reported by Thom Hogan, Japan has two major electric grids which are incompatible with each other, meaning that power can not be shared between the two, and that there will be a continuing shortage of power until new generation plants can be constructed. In the mean time, there have been efforts to reduce demand by raising thermostats in warm weather, changing business dress standards, scheduling changes and, most probably, outright rationing to provide the needed energy for industrial production.

        It remains to be seen to what extent various Japanese companies move some of their production capacity to other locations so that a single event will not bring the company’s production to a halt. There will be a challenges for a number of years before there is a return to “normalcy”, whatever that may be in the future.

        All things considered, Nikon have done quite well to bring to market the new products we have seen with as little delay as we have experienced. That does not make it any easier on people who, like you, earn their living with these products and were expecting a new product cycle, but it certainly places things in perspective.

        Cheers

        • Well said. Thanks for the info. It’s interesting to think of all the little day-to-day impacts, ie dress code changes. Perspective, indeed.

  • Yusuf

    Ganbatte Japan!

  • jetelinho

    WISH YOU all the best Japan & Japanese … nice country, kind people, liked it over there & wish you ALL THE BEST in your next steps!
    Jet

  • B!

    It’s a shame that if something of such scale would happen in the US, we would have maybe started thinking about securing cleanup permits; MAYBE!

    We’ve passed 10th “anniversary” of 9/11 and not much has been finished there. I’m not being insensitive, just stating facts.

    Japanese people are an amazing crowd, we’ve seen it the days following the disaster and now year later we see it again. KUDOS! I am blown away by how much work they were able to accomplish.

  • japan …oh japan….

  • Jabs

    You do not fully understand the suffering of another fellow human being UNTIL the exact same thing happens to you. (be careful then as to what you wish for)

    Some die while trying to understand why or even because of the very same circumstance – as victims of that disaster.

    Me, I prefer to feel for the victims as to fully understand it, you have to have been a victim and death is the price you often pay for that.

    Since the dead cannot tell us how they felt about the disaster, then I can only learn from what I see as a living person and try my best to offer my condolences to those who are alive concerning those that they lost and their lives now turned upside down.

    Just looking makes me sad and pensive, so I cannot imagine how difficult it has been for those who actually suffered through all these disasters. Stay strong and may God heal your heart and make your condition better, as I do not know what you went through except looking at it in hindsight, as a real disaster of epic proportions showing that you survived what seems deadly just looking at it now.

    Japan took a major hit and nothing will change that, so be strong and patient as survivors!!!

  • Walkthru

    Very sobering indeed….I recently viewed a special which consisted of footage that people had taken on their mobile phones & cameras. We who have never experienced this have no real concept of the horror and devastation that the power of that incoming water had. It came with a force and speed that destroyed lives irrevocably in a matter of moments, and its’ full effects will be there to remind us for a long time to come.

    Let’s keep this thread free of comparisons to other (less natural) disasters as a mark of respect to the nation of Japan and those people that were, and still are, forever affected by this disaster.

    • Jabs

      +1

      Very sobering indeed.

  • doug

    It is taking longer now to reconstruct than the one in 1945

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