Farewell Friends

      Thank you everyone who has been reading my blog. Honestly this has been a really cool experience, and I can honestly say I am proud of how this blog turned out. (To all my blogging friends in school, it was a lot of fun working with you guys in Journalism and hopefully we can keep doing that in creative writing).
Making the blog roll was really neat, I would not have known about all those other blogs out there if it was not for that. I have actually never spent any real length of time on a blog before doing this assignment but it seems like this is sort of the way of the future as far as personal expression and sharing of information so it was really rewarding. To anyone out there who may for some reason not be involved with my school and was actually reading this for informational value I think that is really awesome. If I have even in some small way provided you with some knowledge you didn't already know that would make this whole blog worth it. It would make me even happier if this blog led to some donations to the Japanese relief programs. If you want to comment or talk about ways you can help I'd be more then happy to link some information to you regarding who to contact, what you can do, etc. They really do need as much help as they can get and anything would be appreciated.
    The year I spent in Japan felt like a dream. The geography  is so unique and wonderful. Doing this blog if nothing else was a way for me to feel like I was helping or giving thanks in some small way to the place that I called home for so many months. So in conclusion, I hope you all enjoyed reading along, Domo Arigato Gozaimasu, thank you very much.

(Picture from cia.gov - flag of Japan)

Video Interviews...

Government Reaction in question...

      The more you read about the reaction of the Japanese government, the more it becomes clear that they were totally unprepared and unable to respond properly. A first hand report from a Japanese man, who wishes to remain anonymous, states that the " Japanese Red Cross can’t accept the food he is trying to donate for the refugees because there is no gasoline to get it into the stricken areas." Apparently fuel shortage problems can be seen limiting relief efforts across the board. This lack of fuel means that no medicine can reach the refugees. There is no food or heating fuel in the area yet they cannot leave because of the danger of radioactive emissions. According too "The Daily Beast" This has reportedly lead to the death of several elderly men and women who died from exposure to the cold. Also many complain that the reaction time of the Japanese government was unacceptable. The United states had send a ship with supplies, doctors, relief workers, and soldiers to Japan that arrived on March 13. The Japanese self defense force arrived on March 17 aboard a civilian ferry. Well the government urges people to remain in doors that problem with that is obvious, that can't stay inside if there is no heat, food, or water. Relief operations can not even accept the food that many Japanese would like to donate because it would require fuel to be delivered, however many accept cash donation but refugees have almost no use for money at this stage of disaster relief.

(Toshifumi Kitamura / Getty Images)

     
     It also has to be said that it is easy to criticize something from far away when you are not directly involved but the information in this report came from a first hand account of a Japanese man. He states that these failures are for the most part common knowledge among the Japanese. Now that fuel has returned and the aid agencies have long since been able to help those in need it is more important then ever to donate. There is a long road ahead for many of these refugees, they could use all the help they can get.