Forbidden Donut

Yeah, the whole situation is really pretty devastating (no pun intended). It depresses me even more when I think that the immediate aftermath of the earthquake was such that the world was amazed at how well the strict Japanese building codes prevented mass loss of life, then it seemed like mother nature swept in to crush any optimism we may have had.

Yeah, just heard about the earthquake warning. I pray for everyone there to stay safe and hope that nothing else happens.

Yeah, I was at work while it was happening was pulling up news on my phone some of the shots were just ridiculous watching the water just flowing over the land carrying houses and cars and buses. Just insane.

Can't imagine anything ever happening over here and what it could possibly be like.

@Erling Obviously it was more localized, but the US did lose almost 2000 people and one of its largest and most vibrant cities to natural disaster a few years ago...

I had a thought yesterday that is largely tangential to all of this.

I've seen lots of Godzilla flicks (old ones), and in all of them, Japanese folks are depicted as being *fucking terrible* at dealing with disaster. All the footage of the earthquake is amazingly orderly. People standing in doors filming with their phones going "wow! oh! Holy shit!" and then going outside when it's over and filming some stuff, like police directing traffic in monastic silence through a road that is split completely in twain. No honking, no yelling, no running...

Made me wonder if the stigma they applied to themselves throughout the Godzilla franchise may have struck a chord with the population, or if it was a completely ridiculous prediction of a Japanese reaction to disaster at it's outset.

Sort of like Philly being called the fattest city in the world... for about 2 years. And then dropping to like 10 or whatever.

Completely culturally uninformed post is culturally uninformed.

Anyone see the Emperor's address yet?

@Nunes I understand what you are talking about but I don't think the people making the Godzilla movies thought the Japanese people were terrible at disasters, they have had horrible disasters before. Japanese TV/Movies/Anime is known for being over dramatic and comical, and Godzilla is a good example of this. Watch any modern anime and you will see some crazy reactions.

No I haven't seen the address yet. Link?

@Governor I meant "over here" as in where I live, as in being in that situation myself. Wasn't clear.

@KP Fair point about the dramatic nature of nearly all Japanese media.

A bit late, but the aforementioned address:
http://huff.to/etTOcd