SofJ Update March

There has been a lot of unusual geothermal activity going on under Mt. Fujii these days, and about a dozen other volcanoes on this island which only indicate the death knells of time ringing. What we have all learned since the Tohoku-Chiho Earthquake is that what took man centuries to build can be destroyed in an instant by mother nature's wrath. I am humbled at how insignificant we are against the powers that lie underneath our feet, and am grateful to be alive.

(“No one will come back here,” he predicts of his old neighborhood, saying he will stay in town but move further inland.") survivor

I'm still here monitoring the events as they unfold day-to-day. I will not abandon Japan because this is a place that I have chosen to commit myself to. I do not run for the hills, but if others wish to then let me encourage them, I can die here in JAPAN IN THEIR STEAD. There will never be another NIPPON, that's how I see it and I will go down with this TITANIC because everything for me is here. There's just something about the people, the landscape, the Jukujo, the temples, the shinto shrines, the cuisines, the largely mono-cultural and linguistic elements that supplant any desire for me to leave. Big deep flutters as the Hinomaru folds and coils from the wind and the sun; images of cherry blossoms collaged in with that majestic aura of Mt. Fuji, Yasukuni, and the Tenno.

Many of the areas that have been devastated by the quake and the tsunami are areas I have written about back in 2008 when I published my first book on hot springs. I am now in the process of reprinting and publishing it again, and I am working until late at night to put everything together in order to recollect areas and places I have been to, areas that have either been destroyed or left half intact.

As clean up efforts are underway, I applaud the many men and women who are working tirelessly to bring healing and comfort to the victims up north. I also want to bring attention to the orderliness of society and communities working together to save energy. No riots, no civic unrest here. Need I say more...?

Ambassador Roos and his people, the Armed Services, are also doing their part by supplying thousands of pounds of food and water, and assisting in the clean up of the Sendai Airport, which have enabled them to fly in more supplies. I am not totally comfortable with this intervention by the U.S., but it is much needed and greatly appreciated by those who need it. Japan is NO Haiti and it does not need a command control center operating here. I hope this charity by the U.S. comes without conditions attached, and when it's time to go back to the bargaining table over bases in Okinawa.

("Good charity is without conditions attached").

I'd like to give a big shout out to Todds Wanderings for organizing this.

This post was dedicated to helping raise money for the survivors of the Japan Tsunami. I want to keep this as simple and light weight as possible. As such the concept is simple, if you have a blog, newspaper, or other way of publishing information and are willing to support the Japanese Survivors I would ask you to reproduce and promote this article: