Remembering the Quake on its Six-Month Anniversary
The Chinese proverb goes, "禍不單行" (disasters do not come alone). Just as today the world remember the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, some people are also recalling the equally shocking and much more lethal Quake and tsunami in northeastern Japan exactly half a year ago. For the many people like myself who experienced the chaos, the strength, and socio-economic impacts of the Quake firsthand, its immediate aftermath is something that is bound to be never forgotten in our entire lives.
In many ways, many parallels can be drawn between the two events. Both came suddenly to a completely unprepared populace. The Americans believed in their military superiority meant 100% security of the homeland from "foreign attacks." The Japanese thought their decades of experiences in dealing with quakes and their negative effects meant the casualties will be limited. Both "woke up" on the 11th to the emotionally damaging realization of helplessness and vulnerability. Panic ran through society in both circumstances, forcing people to reevaluate their long-held ways of thinking.
In both cases, the government had to renew their strategies against an elusive yet omnipresent "enemy." The success of 9/11 encouraged instigators of potential future attacks. And a massive earthquake made the possibility of more damaging future earthquakes in the same area more likely. Existing state institutions seemed to be ineffective against either. The destructive power of mother nature is unstoppable by conventional military or political means, just like militant fanaticism of a radical ideology recruiting in a global scale.
Yet, even judging by six months after their respective pivotal events, America and Japan went separate ways in their responses. While America used propagandized calls of patriotism to unite a nation behind two "anti-terror" wars, Japan was and still is seemed to be too busy with political squabbles at the highest levels to formulate unified policies to counter the increasing threats of another major natural disaster, rebuilding of the tsunami disaster zones, or the continued worry of the international community with regard to nuclear radiation.
A new prime minister has stepped up to the plate, and the first major news out of the new cabinet was the resignation of economy and trade minister over, ironically, a tasteless joke about nuclear radiation. It seems like, after few months of genuine philosophical thinking regarding the future path of the country after the major disaster, Tokyo is back to the old habit of short-term, short-sighted complaints about political leaders "lacking leadership skills." People seemed to also left behind their post-Quake anxieties and went back to their usual lack of patience with elected leaders.
And six months later, the efficiency of the local level private sector still shines in contrast to the inefficiency at the top of the political hierarchy. The tsunami-affected disaster zone, thousands of times larger than the 9/11 disaster zones, is showing physical results of rapid cleanup and rebuilding than put 9/11 rehabilitation to shame even ten years after. The stoic yet diligent self-organization efforts among the affected locals, even without any credible guidance from Tokyo, again proved the strength of the Japanese national character.
However, the rapid rebuilding in the Japanese tsunami zone still betray a lack of the cautious optimism displayed by a mourning New York ten years later. It is a reflection of the fact that the 9/11 site will be just as great, if not better, decades later, while the Japanese northeast, even rebuilt, is on a sure decline only slightly slowed down by the rebuilding itself. There is no one, not the lackluster government or the hardworking locals, to galvanize concerted effort to make the Japanese northeast greater than her former self pre-disaster.
I suppose, the lesson is that punching a 50-year-old in the stomach is completely different thing from punching a 30-year-old in the same place equally as hard. The 30-year-old may still get angry and hit back to defend himself, but the 50-year-old will probably submit to the demands of the victimizer. Whether Japan has become that 50-year-old in the analogy is something we may find out when the tenth anniversary of the Quake rolls around.
In many ways, many parallels can be drawn between the two events. Both came suddenly to a completely unprepared populace. The Americans believed in their military superiority meant 100% security of the homeland from "foreign attacks." The Japanese thought their decades of experiences in dealing with quakes and their negative effects meant the casualties will be limited. Both "woke up" on the 11th to the emotionally damaging realization of helplessness and vulnerability. Panic ran through society in both circumstances, forcing people to reevaluate their long-held ways of thinking.
In both cases, the government had to renew their strategies against an elusive yet omnipresent "enemy." The success of 9/11 encouraged instigators of potential future attacks. And a massive earthquake made the possibility of more damaging future earthquakes in the same area more likely. Existing state institutions seemed to be ineffective against either. The destructive power of mother nature is unstoppable by conventional military or political means, just like militant fanaticism of a radical ideology recruiting in a global scale.
Yet, even judging by six months after their respective pivotal events, America and Japan went separate ways in their responses. While America used propagandized calls of patriotism to unite a nation behind two "anti-terror" wars, Japan was and still is seemed to be too busy with political squabbles at the highest levels to formulate unified policies to counter the increasing threats of another major natural disaster, rebuilding of the tsunami disaster zones, or the continued worry of the international community with regard to nuclear radiation.
A new prime minister has stepped up to the plate, and the first major news out of the new cabinet was the resignation of economy and trade minister over, ironically, a tasteless joke about nuclear radiation. It seems like, after few months of genuine philosophical thinking regarding the future path of the country after the major disaster, Tokyo is back to the old habit of short-term, short-sighted complaints about political leaders "lacking leadership skills." People seemed to also left behind their post-Quake anxieties and went back to their usual lack of patience with elected leaders.
And six months later, the efficiency of the local level private sector still shines in contrast to the inefficiency at the top of the political hierarchy. The tsunami-affected disaster zone, thousands of times larger than the 9/11 disaster zones, is showing physical results of rapid cleanup and rebuilding than put 9/11 rehabilitation to shame even ten years after. The stoic yet diligent self-organization efforts among the affected locals, even without any credible guidance from Tokyo, again proved the strength of the Japanese national character.
However, the rapid rebuilding in the Japanese tsunami zone still betray a lack of the cautious optimism displayed by a mourning New York ten years later. It is a reflection of the fact that the 9/11 site will be just as great, if not better, decades later, while the Japanese northeast, even rebuilt, is on a sure decline only slightly slowed down by the rebuilding itself. There is no one, not the lackluster government or the hardworking locals, to galvanize concerted effort to make the Japanese northeast greater than her former self pre-disaster.
I suppose, the lesson is that punching a 50-year-old in the stomach is completely different thing from punching a 30-year-old in the same place equally as hard. The 30-year-old may still get angry and hit back to defend himself, but the 50-year-old will probably submit to the demands of the victimizer. Whether Japan has become that 50-year-old in the analogy is something we may find out when the tenth anniversary of the Quake rolls around.
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