FIFA Photo

It was indeed a Cinderella story for the Japanese women’s soccer team to win the 2011 FIFA World Cup over the US on Sunday. But behind every team there is a story, and these facts may upset you.

After reading a number of articles and blogs, I collected these 4 shocking things that you probably didn’t know about the women in Nadeshiko — the Japanese team selected to enter this year’s FIFA World Cup:

1. They are not professional
In comparison with the US Women’s Soccer Team, Nadeshiko is non-professional. None of these women play “professionally” but instead they are a soccer club that was selected among many to go to Frankfurt to represent Japan. In short, Japan doesn’t have an official national women’s soccer team that is fully sponsored.


2. They are mostly poor
While most of the women in the US Women’s Soccer Team may have come from middle class or upper middle class backgrounds, players in Nadeshiko come from working families. In fact, at least two players worked for TEPCO in Fukushima (where the nuclear plant is), and one works at a grocery store. These players work during the day and practice playing soccer at night.


3. They get paid bread crumbs
Professional male Japanese soccer players are known for making lots of money, buying expensive cars, and having their own cooking chef go with them whenever they play. The women players, however, were flown back to Japan from Frankfurt after winning, get this: on economy class. And, most outrageously, the Japanese Football Association will pay each Japanese woman in the team the equivalent of $13,900 for winning the World Cup. The Japanese men’s national soccer team, would get the equivalent of $442,000 per player if they were to win the World Cup.


4. The captain’s mother

Homare Sawa

What do you think?
The way women in soccer are treated in Japan is really a reflection of how women are viewed in Japanese society in general. Would the Japanese Football Association (JFA) elevate women who play this sport after the victory in Germany? Many Japanese people I’ve asked here in Tokyo don’t think so. But, maybe together we can make a difference, you can write a letter to the President of JFA, Mr. Junji Ogura — the address is in Japan, but it takes less than $1 in postage to mail a letter from the US. Here it is:

JFA House
ATTE: Junji OGURA
3-10-15 Hongo,Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo 113-0033
JAPAN

The JFA has an English website that doesn’t provide much contact information for sending emails, but here is a link: http://www.jfa.or.jp/eng/general_info/index.html

For further reading

Nadeshiko Japan obviously doesn’t do it for the money (The Japan Times)

Women’s soccer a “beautiful flower” for post-disaster Japan (CNN International)

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TOKYO — Japanese soccer fans woke up at 3:30 in the morning to watch the final game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. For the hard working people of Japan, the game aired on the morning of a national holiday: Marine Day. Those who made the sacrifice to wake up early to cheer for their team will have a chance to sleep in and celebrate later.

The Japanese women’s team victory over the US should be seen as a win-win for women in Asia, but also in the West. This win may have positive effects on how women’s soccer is received in Japan — a country struggling with gender-equality issues. Lifting the status of women around the world benefits us all, specially younger generations of girls who can be empowered by such role models.

Following the US women’s victories during the FIFA World Cup in 1991 and 1999, women’s soccer gained popularity across the board. This was good for the sport and fans, but it was an important step for the fight for gender-equality in the US.

In Japan, today’s victory may raise society’s awareness of how capable women can be not only in sports, but in all facets of Japanese society.

Already morning show hosts in Japan are replaying the highlights of the Japanese women’s victory over a foe they had never beaten before. The Japanese team had been unable to overcome the US, but today’s win marks a different chapter for a high-spirited team that kept it together and persisted until the end.

In this time of recovery, after a tsunami, an earthquake, and a nuclear disaster, Japan deserves some good news.

Omedeto Japan! Congratulations! May this win help improve the status of women everywhere.

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Across the board, how women’s soccer is received by the mainstream is a good thermometer to measure how the struggle for gender equality is doing. In the US, for example, women’s soccer continues to gain greater acceptance from both men and women. The sport is becoming more popular among girls and now they too can dream of one day playing soccer professionally. This break in to a predominantly man’s sport is parallel to the gains women in US society have made in general.

But back in Japan, a country that for the past 50 years has slowly but surely emulated the West in so many ways, the status of women in society continues to lag behind. Here, men believe that the place of women is at home, and for those who go to work, the glass ceiling is higher than the in the US.

According to the UN’s Gender Empowerment Measure, which measures inequalities across the world, in 2009, the country that offered the most equality to women was Sweden (#1), while Norway was #2, Finland was #3, and the US ranked #18. Japan, the 3rd economic power in the world, ranked #57, just slightly ahead of under developed countries like the Philippines, #60.

Gender inequality at the workplace in Japan was so bad that in 1999 the government had to intervene and pass the “Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society.” The law’s principles called on respect for women’s rights, inclusion of women in decision-making, and the sharing of home responsibilities. But women organizations in Japan have criticized how little the law has done to improve the problem and its lack of enforcement and follow up.

According to a 2001 government survey, women earned only 66.9% of what was paid to men. Lack of childcare has also made it difficult for women who want to work, to go to work. The tiny number of women in managerial positions and of women serving in parliament continues to raise red flags. And the list goes on.

Visitors to Japan could easily be fooled by the elegance of Japanese women’s fashion and the attention they get on advertisements and in the entertainment industry (including manga and anime), but the reality is quite hidden. Japanese women at the office have been accustomed to settle as secretaries and to serve as support to their male counterparts.

A win tonight or this afternoon, depending where you’re watching the game (it’s airing in Japan at 3:00 a.m.) could be the break Japanese women have been waiting for. Worldwide recognition of their efforts in the beloved sport of soccer could empower a younger generation and have a deep impact. For the first time in history, Japan would win a FIFA World Cup, and it would do so thanks to girl-power — a power that could be used to reverse Japan’s lagging economy, weak government, and depressed spirits.

Ganbate Japan! Let’s win for your mothers, your daughters, and your sisters.

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No one can really say if we are living in a time of more news stories about natural disasters or if indeed, we’re having more of them. The last decade was marked with hurricanes like Katrina and Rita; this decade started with major earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, New Zealand and Japan. In the US, tornado season started early this year, and with quite a fury. What’s going on?

Global Warming?

In Japan, scientists see the culprit as global warming. At the earthquake memorial museum in Kobe where a major earthquake leveled the city in 1995, an exhibit plays a loop of video news footage of disasters that have struck different areas of the world since the 1980s. Hurricane Andrew is prominent and so are those California wildfires, volcano eruptions in places like the Philippines, etc. But most interestingly is a graph next to the huge plasma screen showing how the number of disasters has spiked since temperatures began to rise. The museum is funded by the Japanese government and no special interest is behind the claim that weather is playing a role in all this.

Japan is well aware of its unfortunate geological position in the globe – sitting right where four major tectonic plates meet and making it the most earthquake–prone country in the world. This is why the government has spent a lot of money in educational programs to make its people aware of their place in the world. The government also continues to learn from past (and current) lessons and is working on improving emergency response time and investing more in preparedness. They foresee more destruction coming in the future and they do something about it.

The coast line along Tohoku that was hit by the March 11 tsunami following the 8.9 earthquake, was not completely unprotected. In the past these same coasts had been hit by major tsunamis and the government took measures to protect its people from future tidal waves. People were asked to build their homes on higher ground and tall concrete walls were built along the shores to stop high waves from hitting the area, particularly in Iwate.

A destroyed tsunami wall in Iwate Prefecture after the March 11, 2011 earthquake in Tohoku.

Still, no one had predicted a tsunami like the one on March 11 – a monster tsunami that toppled concrete walls with waves as tall as 133 feet high. The end result was over 15,000 people dead, and 7,300 missing. But, the death toll would had been higher if the tsunami alert system had not worked as it did, helping to save thousands who moved to higher ground in a matter of minutes after the quake hit.

In America

Not all of the US has areas where natural disasters are likely to strike, but many cities and towns are vulnerable – rivers have flooded thousands of acres this year along the Mississippi, the Missouri River, and in North Dakota. Tornadoes have claimed over 500 lives and not in the traditional areas where they hit, like Kansas, but in unlikely places like Alabama. Fires are burning in the southwest in Arizona and New Mexico, right now threatening Los Alamos National Laboratory. Mother Nature has no boundaries.

FEMA has been quite busy this year in providing assistance to survivors and businesses, but the time to take preparedness seriously is here. We can no longer be passive on how we see the weather or ignore the tectonic plates and faults that run beneath where we stand and where our homes are built. Our American cities, like New Orleans, have experienced the challenges that come when we expect the government to act quickly. As citizens, we must be proactive and not see storing water or food for emergencies as silly, but as important as picking up your kids from school.

The Cuts

Americans must also look at what cuts your local and federal governments are proposing. Cuts to emergency preparedness programs are not talked about as much, but they do happen. Preparedness and emergency response is not viewed or understood the way it should be by politicians. According to an article in the magazine Emergency Management, 33 cities did not receive funding for their emergency preparedness programs in 2011. Here is a portion of that article:

…although the regions may not feel the cuts immediately, the long-term impacts could be great. The UASI program — which began in 2003 with $100 million to strengthen regional preparedness in seven large metropolitan areas — was appropriated $662 million for fiscal ’11 to distribute among the designated 64 urban areas. The funding is about $170 million less than was available for fiscal year 2010, and has many UASI city representatives wondering how they will sustain their programs and capabilities long term.

Cuts are unavoidable in times of unbalanced budgets, but there are things that should be off the table, specially if public safety is a priority for politicians and anyone with legislative power. Emergency preparedness and other programs are investments in saving the lives of people in our communities and it’s something we all should be conscious of.

How prepared or unprepared for an emergency is your local government, do you know? And, how prepared are you?

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Japan

UPDATE (3:45pm, Japan local time): Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan has survived a no-confidence vote in parliament. Kan’s televised speech minutes before the scheduled vote may have changed the minds of those who had planned to cast the no-confidence vote.

Our earlier story is below.

TOKYO — Via a televised speech Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan told his constituents on Thursday that he will resign after more work has been done to help the earthquake victims. Looking teary-eyed, Kan once again apologized for mistakes made following the March 11 Tohoku 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami. The natural disasters almost triggered a nuclear catastrophe at the TEPCO Fukushima Daichii Nuclear Plant.

Prime Minister Kan is Japan’s 5th leader since 2006. He took office one year ago. His unpopularity was building even before the earthquake happened. The Japanese have been unhappy with his performance at turning the country’s staggering economy around and lowering rising unemployment, specially among college graduates. Tensions with China have also escalated due to Kan’s government handling of last year’s Senkaku Island incident.

“Almost of my friends and I don’t favor Prime Minister Kan. Nobody wants him to stay in his post,” said Naoko Suzuki, a business woman living in Tokyo. “But unfortunately we don’t have any better candidates for Prime Minister. We are disillusioned. We accept our fate with resignation.”

After the earthquake, the Japanese gave Kan a chance at showing leadership, but were once again disappointed at the government’s response to the nuclear crisis at Fukushima; many felt the government didn’t put enough pressure on TEPCO to provide real data on the size of the damage at the plant.

Politicians in Kan’s party and the opposition will meet in the next few hours to cast a no-confidence vote against Kan. The vote will likely call for a re-election in parliament for someone to replace Kan.

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TOKYO — I am very tired; exhausted, could be a better word. In fact, I don’t think anything can describe the stress that people in Japan have been under since March 11, when the 8.9 earthquake and the tsunamis struck this island. As a foreigner living in Tokyo, my concernes may differ from those of Japanese people, but maybe they don’t.

The Irresponsible Media
I would say that the number one culprit of the stress I and my friends in Japan have suffered has to do with the media coverage of the recent events in Japan. Day in and day out we have been bombarded with rumors, speculation, outright lies, hyperbole, and pessimistic outlooks from “experts” on TV, newspapers, and the Internet about the situation here. It has to stop.

Since the nuclear crisis began, talk about radiation levels, fallout, thyroid cancer, iodine pills, and more has blurred the lines between reality and science-fiction. The news has been plagued by more speculation of what could happen if the reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant exploded, than the facts of what is actually being done to prevent such a disaster. The “apocalyptic,” “end of the world,” predictions from people around the world since the reactors began to fail, has been uncalled for and should be condemned by any decent human being.

As a Westerner, I’m ashamed of the news media our countries are able to generate. I can’t believe that this painful time in Japanese history is being used to increase ratings and to attract people to the TV screens by inciting nothing more than fear.

The Reality In Tokyo
Take a look at the streets of Tokyo, let me tell you what you will see: children going to school, people tending to their gardens, grandma taking a stroll, office workers heading to work and train systems that are improving service by the hour.

Now let me tell you what headlines I see in the news: “Radiation Spread Seen; Frantic Repairs Go On” — “Japan’s nuclear accident evokes Chernobyl memory” — “Japan faces ‘apocalyptic’ disaster as radiation spills from stricken nuclear plant” — “Is Japan Disaster Another Apocalyptic Sign?”

Indeed, the devastation of the tsunamis that struck the Tohoku region was tremendous and deserved every minute of news coverage, but once the reactors began to fail, that’s when journalists went from messengers of facts, to messengers of hyperbole and speculation.

The Effect On Policy Making
What is most alarming is that in fact, our world leaders do read the news and somewhat rely on professional journalists to help them make informed decisions. If the news are exaggerated, you see government taking exaggerated measures. Take for example that now some European governments are halting or reviewing their own nuclear plants, or that people in California are desperate to take iodine pills because the radiation plume has been projected to reach the West Coast. Obama has to go on TV to ease fears of radiation contamination in the US. How irrational!

An earthquake the size we had in Japan would never strike in the center of Germany and would not damage those nuclear plants. No one in the US should be taking Iodine pills since many experts agree that radiation would dissipate over the Pacific Ocean miles before it ever reaches the West Coast of the US. It’s all fear and it’s very dangerous.

Pointing Fingers
A great cause of concern has been the position US government officials have taken to point fingers and accuse the Japanese government of “downplaying” the danger that the nuclear reactors pose. The US dared to expand the evacuation zone for its citizens around the Fukushima Nuclear Plant from the 12-mile radius the Japanese had recommended, to a 50-mile radius — thus, clearly telling the Japanese, “we don’t believe you are handling this correctly, let us step in and correct you.” It’s very insulting, considering that Japanese people are in those nuclear plants right now, fighting around the clock to cool the reactors, stop fires, and restore power lines. These men are sacrificing their lives for the millions of others living in Japan and they do so with pride and unity. Let’s trust them a little.

On Friday, the Japanese made huge progress in cooling off the reactors. They have restored power lines and pumps are working again. They have spent endless hours planning how to extinguish fires, moving quickly if something goes wrong — they have handled this situation and will continue to do so. They will succeed. Unlike, us, Westerners, the Japanese don’t spend their time screaming on the streets at the time of a tragedy. They don’t go and loot or riot either if disasters strike. We have something to learn from the resilience on this island. I have reported from 5 disaster areas during my 7-year career as a journalist, and my jaw drops at how strong and calm the Japanese are. I’m in awe and I respect them immensely.

Evacuating Americans Off Japan
There is no danger to Americans in Tokyo, yet, the State Department has moved to evacuate those who want to leave. The US Embassy in Tokyo has failed in all their emails to US citizens living in Japan to cite scientific information or sources that justify these evacuations. The reason why the US moved to start evacuating citizens: to calm down nervous people who have been unable to pull themselves away from the TV for a week and are now one-minute away from a heart attack. These costly evacuations are a waste of US taxpayer dollars and it’s money that could instead be going to the relief efforts.

Friday's radiation levels in Tokyo.

The radiation levels in Tokyo have been fluctuating every day, some days they are slightly above normal, then they drop again. You can take a look at this yourself and compare that the levels from a year ago in Tokyo, they have not increased as much as the news will lead you to believe, click here for the Tokyo University radiation meter for Tokyo. Last year, the levels stayed slightly below 20, now, they are only slightly above 20 — the levels are safe.

What To Look For
If you are keeping track of news from Japan, look for news that show progress because that is what is happening. It will probably take a few weeks to get this totally under control, but it will indeed, be under control. Don’t buy into the hype, or the “experts” that tell you that the Japanese don’t know what they are doing. That is outright condescending.

For those of us still living in Japan, stay calm, go outside and get out of the bubble. You are safe in Tokyo right now, when you aren’t anymore you will know. Listen to what the authorities are saying and make informed decisions. Don’t pick up and go and leave the life you built in Japan over some unfounded rumors.

A special thanks to my friend, Evan Jarvis, who amid these difficult moments has helped me and others at the Jiyugaoka Guest House, stay level-headed.

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Editorial Correction: The evacuation of US Citizens begins on Thursday. An earlier version of this article stated that it was on Friday.

Reporting from Tokyo, Japan

The US Embassy in Tokyo has officially announced that it will start evacuating American citizens and their families off Japan starting on Thursday, local Japan time. The Department of State cited the “deteriorating” nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant as the reason to take Americans to “safehaven.”

According to an official message from the Warden to US Citizens in Japan, people wishing to leave can do so from Narita and Haneda International Airports. The Department of State will have chartered planes ready for evacuees.

The safehaven locations so far are in Korea and China — Seoul and Taipei respectively. Citizens wishing to go back to the US will have to make their own arrangement from these locations.

The current nuclear crisis is Japan has prompted foreigners to leave the island. Many European governments urged their citizens to leave since earlier in the week. Current radiation levels in Tokyo are still safe according to authorities, but they could rise if the reactors suffer a full meltdown.

Partial message from the Warden sent to US Citizens on Thursday at 3:00pm, Japan Local Time:

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo informs U.S. citizens in Japan who wish to depart that the Department of State is making arrangements to provide transportation to safehaven locations in Asia. This assistance will be provided on a reimbursable basis, as required by U.S. law. U.S. citizens who travel on US government-arranged transport will be expected to make their own onward travel plans from the safehaven location. Flights to evacuation points will begin departing Japan on Thursday, March 17. There will be a limited number of seats available on evacuation flights departing from Narita and Haneda airports on March 17. Priority will be given to persons with medical emergencies or severe medical conditions.

Persons interested in departing Japan via USG-chartered transportation should proceed to Narita and Haneda airports or contact the US Department of State and Embassy Japan by sending an email to JapanEmergencyUSC@state.gov or by calling 1-202-501-4444. Please provide the following information:
Name, age, place of birth, U.S. passport number and any special medical needs.

Immediate family members (spouses and children) who are not U.S. citizens must be documented for entry into the safehaven country and/or U.S., if that is your final destination.

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Updated March 15, 6:44pm, Japan Local Time: Radiation levels in Tokyo are 22 times higher than usual after this morning’s explosion of Reactor No. 4, according to NHK. Levels still not high enough to cause immediate harm.

Reporting From Tokyo

People living in Japan have been glued to their TV sets since Friday, the day the 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the Tohoku region, creating powerful tsunamis that devastated villages and cities in Miyagi prefecture. But the worse of this tragedy may not be over, fears of radiation exposure from failing nuclear reactors in Fukushima prefecture, has the entire region on edge.

The unprecedented nuclear crisis that Japan is experiencing has authorities wrestling with how to provide information to the public that is accurate and can prevent panic. But the Japanese government and agencies involved in managing the situation can only do so much. The recent explosions of Reactors No. 1 and No. 2 in the past 24 hours shows a situation that is rapidly deteriorating.

So far, orders have been issued to evacuate people living within the 12-mile radius of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant to prevent them from being exposed to high levels of radiation sipping from the failed reactors. But some 160 miles south of Fukushima, in Tokyo, radiation levels have already rose. These levels, though still safe, could rise prompting people to plan for the worse. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked people to stay calm during the crisis.

The Japanese government is already rolling out plans to distribute iodine pills to people living in areas that could receive the highest levels of radiation. So far, there has been no mention of distributing these pills to areas in the Kanto region, where Tokyo is located.

According to the US Embassy, it will alert US Citizens as to what to do if the nuclear crisis worsens or if there is a major aftershock. This is where Americans can get accurate information. “There is a lot of misinformation right now,” said a woman with the Citizens Services Office at the American Embassy in Tokyo. “People who need information can go to our website for the latest.”

The language barrier has also posed challenges to non-Japanese speakers that can’t get access to real-time English news within Japan. Juan Camilo Corena, a Colombian national living in Tokyo left to Osaka on Tuesday afternoon in order to avoid the uncertainty the Kanto and Kanagawa regions face. “It’s really hard to really know what is going on,” he said of the media.

NHK, Japan’s government run network, has provided some English news since the earthquake on Friday, but it’s been mainly sporadic and during certain times of day. Viewers are encouraged to visit the NHK website in English for the latest information.

It’s unclear how fast radiation levels could rise from one minute to the next and how quickly radiation could spread from where the reactors are to other areas of Japan, including Tokyo.

To be on the safe side, Japanese people are choosing to stay at home and be with their families, according to a caretaker at a Tokyo daycare center. “We have the day off tomorrow, there aren’t many children coming,” she said.

Tokyo has been partly crippled by a lack of local train service. Most train and metro lines have been running on special schedules, something no one in Tokyo is used to and negatively impacts the psyche of the Japanese who rely heavily on trains that usually always run on time.

No one knows when a sense of normalcy will return to Tokyo — a city that until 4 days ago, enjoyed few challenges, but now only waits and prepares for whatever will be next.

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TOKYO — This TV footage from Japan television shows how tsunami waves struck an area of Sendai on Friday after a 8.9 magnitude quake shook the Eastern coast.

More than 800 people have been confirmed dead, thousands are still missing.

Video recorded by Dolores M. Bernal in Tokyo.

Editorial Note: Dolores M. Bernal is one of the Co-Founders of the News Junkie Post. She has been living in Tokyo, Japan since September 2010.

TOKYO — It’s been less than 24 hours since the 8.9 magnitude earthquake shook the Eastern coast of Japan. At 2:46 pm, local Japan time on Friday I was on the 7th floor of an office building in the busy district of Shibuya when the movement began. Since then, devastation closer to the epicenter, plus aftershocks have kept most of us living in Tokyo, on high alert.

The movement in Tokyo was slow at the beginning. I didn’t think much of it at first, but this seemed different than the quakes we are used to having — this time it wasn’t stopping, and worse, it was getting stronger. I rushed out of the office I was in and looked around as colleagues held on to doors wondering why the quake wasn’t stopping.

The movement was back and forth and I couldn’t help but wonder which walls would collapse first. After about a minute into the quake, I rushed down the stairway. Many of the Japanese office tenants were making their way down as the shaking continued. Some walked very calmly, I was surprised. When we reached the first level and went outside, the sidewalks were packed with people who had come to a standstill due to the quake. They were all looking up, at the parade of buildings just moving back and forth. Most were calm, others were upset and holding on to one another.

I stood on the side of my building trying to reach relatives in the US to let them know I was OK, but the lines were already down. I used my iPhone to check the location of the quake via the USGS website and that’s when I first saw the big red square on the map, marking the epicenter — just off the coast of Sendai. If the earthquake was felt so strong in Tokyo, how did the people 235 miles north of me, in Sendai, felt it?

We had another massive aftershock that was so strong we didn’t know if that was it. People didn’t know if to run or stay put, again we all looked around where we were standing and it struck me that if the glass began to fall down from the buildings around us, we could get badly injured. I walked down the block to the intersection of Meiji Street and Miyamasuzaka hoping to not be too close to tall buildings, but it made no difference — Tokyo is an ocean of tall buildings, some taller than others, but it’s almost impossible to not be beneath their shadows.

The people at Shibuya Station were paralyzed, I knew right away that those trains weren’t going anywhere. In case of an earthquake, the trains and metro in Tokyo shut down, if I was going to get home, all I could do was start walking. As I made my 5-mile walk from Shibuya to Jiyugaoka, I kept refreshing the news pages and trying to keep informed. Large pockets of Japanese people huddled around each other along sidewalks, looking at TV news on their cell phones. Here is a video I shot of a man waiting to use a payphone to call home after the quake, he tells his story:

There was no visible damage in Tokyo itself that I could see. It was later when I found out that a parking structure had collapsed in Machida and that other minor damage had taken place in the city. The real disaster had occurred in the Sendai region.

When I got home, I saw the live TV images of the tsunami waves swallowing anything on their path. All Japanese TV channels were showing news of what had happened. There were tsunami advisories in Chinese, Portuguese, and English urging caution and for those living closer to the coast, to move to higher ground.

We experienced many tremors and aftershocks throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Some of the aftershocks were 7.0 in magnitude at their epicenters. In Tokyo, these quakes felt less strong, but they were big enough to break dishes, mirrors, and cause other minor damage in my home.

My best estimate to a final death toll is between 1,000 to 3,000 dead, specially in the Sendai region. So far, the authorities have the toll at 200, with scores of people missing.

The shaking still continues as I write this first person account, we may have aftershocks well into April. So far, this hasn’t been the earthquake Tokyo has been expecting for the past 25 years, that other quake — the Tokai Earthquake — would devastate Shizuoka, Yokohama and Tokyo; it’s still 75 years overdue.

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