March 28, 2011

A Late Entry

I'm sorry for my silence on the blogging front. The truth is, it's been two and a half weeks since the earthquake(/tsunami/ongoing nuclear disaster) and I haven't had a single damn idea what to write about it.

I'm pretty sure that everyone who reads this has already gotten some kind of contact from me, but just in case, to start: I'm totally, 100%, completely fine. Oita is one of the safest places in Japan when it comes to both quakes and tsunami -- we barely get the former, and we're shielded by Shikoku and Beppu Bay from the latter. We got some waves, but the highest was, I believe, about a meter. The only other thing we felt was the fear and exhaustion that, for several days, we shared with the entire country.

I really don't know what else to say about it. It's a terrible thing that happened in my adopted country. The bodies are still being found, the nuclear plants are still in crisis mode, and it's going to be a very long time before things in Tohoku are anywhere near normal again.

But, weirdly, things down here are pretty much as always. I had to cancel something I was really looking forward to, and I lost a lot of money in the process, but... seriously, if that's the worst problem I got from this whole thing, how freaking lucky am I?

Both the best and the worst thing has been, in some ways, the reaction from abroad. On the one hand, I've been seeing a lot of exploitation and fearmongering from the international and especially American news (again, Americans: I'm fine, and so are you). On the other hand, even all the way down here, I've received such an outpouring of emotional support from all over the world, including some very sweet and genuine things from people I barely--or in some cases, don't--even know.

So, to those of you who have wished me well: thank you.

To those of you who are taking advantage of things here to gain publicity or interest: screw you.

To those who are still struggling: 頑張ってください!

And to the Future JET I started writing for in the first place: Don't let this stop you from coming here. This country is still an amazing place, full of amazing people. It would be a shame for you to miss it.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

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