a letter from Japan

At 2:46 p.m. today, the people of Japan took a moment of silence and prayers for the victims of the earthquake/tsunami. It had been one week exactly. May we all take many moments of silence to send the Japanese people our heartfelt hopes and solidarity, and to mourn their dead and thank and mourn their heroes. It's hard to know the truth between the sensationalist Western media exploitation and hype, and the Japanese media's understatement and caution in its disclosures.

There has been much criticism of the Japanese government in the west, mostly by people from the United States. I find this ironic, given our own government's abysimal record of outright lies to, and manipulation of, the American people. In a crisis of this multi-layered magnitude, a government doesn't have a whole lot of time to give a blow-by-blow televised account of what's happening. This is not a football game or some televised "reality show" event. I'll bet many high level Japanese officials have hardly slept for a week.

Here is a letter that was forwarded by a friend of a friend. It's from a Japanese woman living in Tokyo. Names have been deleted, but her message  seems to embody the heart and spirit of the Japanese people. Since this letter, written early in the crisis, she has send updates, but its message stands.

My dear friends,  

This is the second email for some of you to let you know I'm fine in Tokyo and my family is fine in Fukushima.

Though my hometown is in Fukushima where was damaged by tsunami, my small village is more close to the Japan Sea side. 

I think many of you have seen those terrible photos and videos on TV, web and in newspapers for past two days, and they are all happening in my country.

Tokyo is o.k. now as we are getting normal transportation and lifelines back. Even we can feel aftershocks quite often, it's not so scary as it was yesterday. 

But of course the Pacific Sea side, north east Japan is completely attacked by earth quakes and tsunami, and we're getting more and more tragic news.

I am very, very sad and feeling so sympathetic to those who are suffering, but on the other hand, I feel much better than yesterday as we have worst but real information to have recognition what's happening actually and what we can do from now on.

I do not want you to be emotional or overwhelmed. You can help us with support and encouragement there, where you are. 

I think it's very important for the people who are in safe area or other countries just stay being calm, stable and keep normal life with people around together with love and trust.

Not forgetting we are one and one is for all, it means people who are not directly involved in can give the peacefulness, gentleness, feeling of connection and deep, profound love to those who are in severe situations including the ones are passing away.

I would like to ask all of you to just bring some attention to those people in my country. Just think about their suffering and pray in a moment without becoming too sympathetic or emotional. Just pray for better or the best for them and some situations. This is the most helpful thing for us at this point, and this is the only thing I (we, the people in normal life) can do for others.

And I want you to be with loving people around you, and feel and cuddle love together. That energy will be transferred to others. That feeling of appreciation will be others' feeling, too. 

We don't need to listen to fear messages or no need to be involved in emotional attacks. Just we stay present and pay attention, just be with others in the moment. 

Thank you very much for your reading. I do appreciate your concern and love every moment, as I can feel it that you're with me being present. 

Please take care and have beautiful time in your place each other, with laughter and smile.  

With best wishes and lots of love,

What has happened in Japan in the last several days is horrific and grievous beyond belief. While Japan is reeling from its biggest natural disaster and tragedy since World War Two, we have to consider the manmade contribution to this tragedy of nuclear disaster facing the Japanese people, and all peoples affected by windborne radiation fallout. Last night I watched a long press conference, and the honesty of the engineer who designed the nuclear facilities, and his genuine grief at what has happened, was apparent. So different than here in the U.S. where all is cover-up and we are treated like dumbed-down fattened calves.

While we continue to hold the people of Japan and affected areas (including, perhaps, ours) in our hearts, while we continue to mourn loss of life and loved ones, loss of animals and plants and sea life, in a nation which has been a good friend to the United States, even though our government killed millions of its people; while we find ways to help Japan, while we sorrow with the Japanese people, we also need to educate ourselves to the stark fact that what happened in Japan CAN and likely WILL happen here - and how do we think the US government will treat its own people? Louisiana, Mississippi, and all Gulf of Mexico states and countries should give us a clue; one that affects all life on Earth as we know it. We still are reeling, and mourning those continuing losses.

Japan's technology, highly superior to our own in the U.S. regarding earthquakes, could not contain the force of a 9 point earthquake and tsunami that people had zero time to address. Even the professionalism and dignity shown by Japan's officials cannot help the millions suffering, the many thousands lost.

Please read this article in OpEdNews by Michael Collins, and particularly note the interactive map and graphs further along in the article. Look at your location on this world map. What do you see? These nuclear reactors are ticking time bombs, many on serious fault lines near coastal tsunami areas. To deny that mankind has a part in the potential demise of planet Earth is to either be out of touch with all reality, or unfeeling. The time for pressure on our autocrats, worldwide, is now. We must move toward a nuclear-free world. Just one reactor core has the radiation potentiality of 300 A-bombs. It's time to globally rethink this and even so, our actions in proliferating this poison into our earth, waters, and air, may already be the demise of life on Earth. It is likely already too late. We must do all we can to stop the nuclear madness.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Post-Nuclear-Japan-Pre-Di-by-Michael-Collins-110314-252.html

here's a link to the press conference i watched; probably old news now, since the second explosion happened and core meltdowns are imminent. (long: 1 hr, 38 min.)
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13295291?lang=ja_JP