Not really anything to do with the earthquake but

it's the kind of story that might inspire "volunteer spirit".

Diplomatic relations

Blog assignment:Please, provide us with short answers to the following questions:

 1.    What country are you a national citizen of and how did you react to the outbreak of the nuclear meltdown?
  Australia
  I was in Tokyo and made no plans to leave. I gave the OK to my sister and her family in Australia to come  to Tokyo the day after the earthquake as they had planned.


2.    Did you consult your embassy for any kind of support following the crisis or did you fully rely on your own devices?
No.  I learned a long time ago the embassy is not here for people like me.  They are here to facilitate business links.  That said, I was pleasantly surprised that the gave out chocolate Fantales when I went in to vote last time. ;)


3.    What were the actions taken by your government towards their citizens and/or Japan at large, and how do you evaluate the way your embassy managed the crisis in the immediate aftermath? How about in the following weeks?


My sister and her husband had registered on the Aus Govt.  Smart Travel site http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/ which quite reasonably puts some of the responsibility of travel precautions onto the traveller. They received a phone call from the embassy. (I actually answered the phone and asked the embassy why I hadn't received a call... )  Even though I am registered with the embassy, I didn't get a call - I know other Australians here that did though.  Perhaps they had a policy of only calling landlines and I wasn't here to get it?  I'm not sure.
The  Aus. govt. gives detailed advice for travel to specific locations.  http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Japan  My sister and her husband paid close attention to it, and left Tokyo for Takayama when travel advice advised not being in Tokyo.  I eventually got an email from them - perhaps two.  I have posted one below.


4.    Would you have wanted your country to react differently? If so, how?
I don't really expect much of them. I don't pay tax in Aus due to reciprocal tax agreements so I can see why they might think long term residents should fend for themselves.  It shouldn't be hard to maintain a data base of Australian residents though for sending out emails. (which they eventually did)  It took a long time for them to remove the advise against travel to Tohoku generally - which irritated me because Akita, Aomori & Yamagata were never in any danger (except for a small area on the coast near Hachinohe.

5.    To the best of your knowledge, has the triple crisis affected your country’s diplomatic relationship with Japan in any way? If yes, how would you characterize the current state of bilateral relations between your country and Japan?
Aus PM Julia Gillard visited Minami Sanriku - the first foreign leader to do so. She wore black - as  you would in Japan at a site of mourning & was criticised for her gloomy fashion sense by Australian media - cringe.... Australia's relationship with Japan is good.  Japan has paranoid feelings of being a spurned lover -  that Australia now loves China more than Japan..... It's true up to a point - but the Aus. opinion is a bit more free love - we can be  friends with both.  In sections of Aus political circles there is a feeling that the Japan relationship is taken for granted on both sides and more should be done to promote it.


6.    In your opinion, and in the case of a highly-industrialized country like Japan, what specific impact do you see disasters having on diplomatic relationship with other countries?
Depends on the disaster, depends on the people, depends on the countries.. depends depends depends...
It created opportunities for improved and worsened relationships. For China there has been opportunism and glee that Japan can no longer be smug in terms  of food safety, but at the same time it seems  that there is awareness that there's a chance to recast relations more positively... I will believe it when I see it though....
 Relations with the US military have improved - though not in Okinawa probably.  I have heard comments personally and anecdotally  to the effect of  I hate the American military being in our country, but we couldn't have done without their help.    I think it's harsh to criticise Japan for not accepting all aid.   Taking rice as an example. There was complaint that Japan wasn't accepting rice - but actually there is plenty in national stores which should be used - the difficult was having the helicopters to fly in the quantities needed.  And without electricity or potable water as in the initial stages, raw rice was not appropriate to be taking in at all.  There were blankets rejected for being too thin - better than nothing surely, but better to get warm blankets for people when it's snowing outside.....
There has been a high level of international co-operation especially evident on the nuclear front.  I hope it continues.

  

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <Ecu.Manager@dfat.gov.au>
Date: Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 11:43 AM
Subject: Registration Confirmation [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
To: 



You have been forwarded this email as you have registered your presence in
Japan or you have registered your intention to travel to Japan on the
Online Register of Australians Overseas.

You may have already been contacted by Australian officials in Japan or
Australia and some of you may have already returned to Australia due to the
fluidity of the nuclear situation.

Our aim is to ensure we have accurate contact details for every Australian
(and their family members) registered, who may be in or near the earthquake
affected areas of Japan.  To that affect we would be grateful if you could:

 - Advise if your original registration remains valid.  If it has changed
please advise.  Some people listed their Australian address as their
Japanese address.  It is important that we have correct phone and email
details and a correct city name and address in Japan if possible.

 - What are your intentions eg are you intending to remain in Japan or
leave.  If leaving, grateful advice of your planned departure time.

 - Advise if you have delayed your travel to Japan.

We would be grateful if you respond by return email to
ecu.manager@dfat.gov.au

Can you please include the registrant name in the email heading eg Citizen,
John Smith, DOB (or passport number), Japan earthquake 2011.

When we receive your reply we will add your details to our contact list of
Australians in the affected areas of the earthquake / tsunami which will
ensure quicker contact (local conditions allowing) should this be required.

Volunteering part 2

As I left China I had a meeting with the university president about the school fees and at the same time I asked him if I could entrust the collection of tapes and books I had accumulated to the university library.  I suggested that the uni might want to expand the selection as many students had improved so much using them.   I was so naive... According to my students, the books never made it to the library - they got put into boxes, collected and then disappeared....     In 20'20 hindsight I can see clearly that had I given them directly to individual students a month before I left and spent time encouraging them to swap with each other at their weekly English corner I could have established a self sustaining system...What was I thinking in passing responsibility to the uni? I was supposed to be empowering the students....  It was a lesson to avoid intermediaries wherever possible. Even where well intentioned, giving assistance directly to known quantities has more scope empower at the local level.

Back to Aus. back to teaching, this time history.  Back to a normal insular life. No students knocking on my door at random hours asking for help with something or wanting to practice English. As a year 10 home room tutor I was responsible for the students who had a chosen charity to support. It was hard to be enthusiastic. They had to do something to raise money - it was compulsory.  Rather than cultivating their hearts, as Confucius would have advocated, it had been set in their mind as a chore.  Volunteering works when it is from the heart. Compulsory volunteering breeds resentment, power struggles, passive aggression and insincerity....

When I came to Japan I was deeply troubled by so many homeless people.  Despite this, I couldn't find the interest or energy to become involved with the groups that feed them.  Perhaps it was an unwillingness to be tied down to anything... perhaps it was the effort involved in getting to Shibuya or the Sumida-gawa.  I wasn't interested in the preaching for food that happens at Ueno Park. Over time I realised I don't need to be a part of a volunteer organisation to be doing things that make society better / people happier.  Why go to the Sumida gawa to take onigiri and coffee to people when I can buy onigiri and coffee for the homeless man near my station? Why be worried that he smells bad when I  can leave a bag with a new change of socks and underwear by his trolley?  The idea behind volunteering is really just doing things to make life or society better.   Giving up a seat at train, baby sitting a friends childen overnight to let them go out as a couple, checking over essays and application letters that former students email, walking a block or two out of the way to show a tourists where  hotel is.... none of it is grand enough to be labelled volunteering, but it still makes some kind of social contribution. Much of volunteering is just being aware of others and acting on that where one can.

In the case of the recent tsunami,  the area will never recover if it's left to locals alone. Given that the university has made it so easy to go up there to help with the clean up, and facilitated a situation where students can help directly,  it seems a natural thing to do - if one can. I will wait till the summer to do so.  It's good for the local economies too to have people up there.  I hope there is an effort being made to source goods locally.  It was with mixed feelings that I sent a couple of boxes of gift set towels and sheets that had accumulated from weddings and funerals over the years via a friend in Morioka.  The goods were all new and would be useful to people moving into temporary accommodation.... but should I be sending money instead so they can be purchased locally & help revive the economy?  I sent them, because I know she is distributing them to people that need them and want them,   but at the same time I am conscious that there is not much of an economic multiplier effect. I  hope it cheers people's spirits as well as providing goods that are needed.    The multiplier effect is an important consideration - though it can apply to attitudes as well as economics.

In developing countries I don't give money to beggars usually but often buy food from nearby food stall to give them esp. for children. It starts the multiplier effect.  Even though it contradicts personal autonomy which is important, it gives the stall holders income,  children nutrition &  the pimps don't get a chance to take a cut of the childrens' takings... Efforts that build the local economy, and people's ability to be self sufficient are really important for sustainability and dignity.

I was talking to a friend the other day about volunteering - she has three small children and a husband that works crazy hours and difficulty finding occasional day care for the youngest.  She was telling me one of her neighbours goes to a day care centre several km away as a volunteer that holds babies in a day care centre....  I commented that was a nice thing for her to do. My friend agreed, but looked at me with her exhausted face and said... I just wish she wanted to come and volunteer here.....

So.... after a long and detailed meandering I'd say
* "volunteering" need not be anything formal or particularly onerous.
* compulsory "volunteering" may get people into a habit, but does not cultivate people's hearts.
* cultivating hearts (to quote Confucius) is where the power of "volunteering" lies
* "volunteering" ideally can be learned young, by example, close to home.
* "volunteering" is most rewarding when you see it inspiring others to do the same.
* ideally people should want to volunteer....

In charity type volunteering in particular
* respect and dignity are imperatives
* don't patronise by assuming you know best for other people
* money alone isn't a solution but
* given the right way, money can be very effective.
* deal with known quantities - people you trust
* formal volunteering & NGOs should avoid creating dependency and instead nurture self sustaining projects that empower people to make their own decisions.
* there is so much to be gained by taking time out to help other people.
* it's not just something for other people to do.

Volunteering part 1

Rather than start theoretically, I'll trace my own evolution of volunteering and the way it has shaped my perspective.

Growing up in a small country town in Australia, I didn't really have a concept of the word volunteering - not because it didn't exist, but because it seemed so integral to the fabric of the society that it didn't need a word- it was just what people did.  The word volunteering suggests some people do and some people don't - but I don't think it occurred to me not doing it was actually an option.

My father mowed the nuns' lawn for as long as I can remember. I enjoyed going up to do it  - they always made us fantastic lemonade.  My mother made sponge cakes for fundraising street stalls, my grandmother would make chocolate fudge, and my aunt sultana slices and light fruitcakes. Everyone had their specialty. Mrs Whitney's cakes were the best.  Mothers were rostered on school tuckshop duty - for either cooking or serving.  Now that I think about it there were mothers that didn't participate - but they had reasons and I doubt it was ever an issue or source of tension.   Tuckshop duty was a social outing as were street stalls, the agricultural show, the rodeo, and other town events - which always relied on volunteer effort.

"Volunteering" has a long history in Australia - in my hometown, of 1000 people, growing up we had the rescue squad, the country fire brigade, the parents associations at schools, the Red Cross, CWA, the Hospital Auxiliary, Rotary, Lions, Apex, the Returned Soldiers League, Rugby Union, Rugby League.... it seemed very normal.We were always raising money for something both for things inside and outside the town.
If the town wants, for example, a swimming pool it needs to be local momentum that gets the project going.  The fact that almost every town in rural Australia has a pool is testament to the spirit.

I went to Sydney for high school & the philosophy was similar we raised many thousands of dollars (which was a lot of money then!) for a sister school in India.  We did the World Vision 40 hour famine. As as a boarding school I was disconnected from it though and help was always for people "out there".  Even at that time this troubled me.  I thought the school should have opened its facilities to the community on the weekend -  it seemed for such a privileged  school we should have been doing more. A couple of friends and I set up a branch of both Amnesty International and St Vincent de Paul.  The school in a surprising degree of openness allowed us to go into the city on Saturday nights to join patrols handing out sandwiches and coffee to the homeless people in the city centre.

As an undergrad, I was hopelessly disorganised - remembering where and when my classes were after 6 years of having every moment of my time planned for me was a challenge and the extent of my volunteering was within my residential college.  After working for several years  and doing nothing for anyone besides myself... other than the occasional donation to St Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army or Youth off the Street, I figured it was time to pull my finger out and give back a bit...I was well aware I was very fortunate.

I spent a year teaching at a university in China - paid well by local standards - but about 280$ US per month at the time - by Australian standards it was close to volunteering.The year in China in someways took me back to my childhood - just doing things because you should - but it was very different because I was rich and most of my students were far from it (there were a few exceptions).    I don't see being poor perse as a problem that needs fixing.  But I do see injustice as a problem.  (an overdeveloped sense of justice is a family curse that saw my siblings & I  winning the principles before popularity award on prize giving day......  ) Where people's  situation excludes them from heath care, nourishment, education and opportunites, I believe it's incumbent on those who can, to do something to help.

In China this was tough.... some of my students were desperately poor - one girl even her classmates said she didn't have enough to eat because she was working to pay her fees as well as her daily life. She survived on 2 meals a day. Class handouts were to be photocopied and charged to students... but how could I possibly add to financial stress.... students from the countryside had minimal chance to improve their English  listening because even if they had a walkman, there was no listening library and a book tape set was a days wage for a teacher, a student who developed a brain tumour whose family already had no money from his father's cancer.   My 280$/month salary...wasn't looking so high anymore.  But money is tricky too... they had pride and giving handouts would have been met with understanable hostility. One boy was telling me he would go to Shanghai to do labouring work through the summer. I asked if he'd considered applying for a scholarship - there were 6 means tested scholarships in each grade and he would have qualified.   He looked at me with  penetrating steely eyes and told me emphatically he would rather die than beg.  Dignity is integral to volunteering / helping people. Doing things on their terms, not on yours.  Not coming in, creating divisions and leaving.

Far better to have dinner with students at the little street stalls outside the uni gate from time to time than give them money for food. It was very easy for them to accept the line that when I come back to visit them when they are working, they can take me to some where much more upscale.  It was win-win - they could practice English, I learned more about them and China and they were better at ordering food than me.    Volunteering doesn't have to mean doing something extra.

When I arrived at the university they had magically found extra classes for me - teaching company classes.  I was not impressed.  They were making a tonne of extra money which I was seeing none of.  I was able to negotiate that they paid me for the classes and that I would use the money to start a listening library- the speed with which they agreed made me realise I set my price way to cheap.....  Students came and borrowed tapes with tape scripts - it  was a way of motivating them with the English and to equalise the social discrepencies.   I was to learn a bitter lesson about it when I left.

I was sorry not to be staying in China longer, I figured since I had no money to speak of in Australia, it was not really realistic to spend years in China and create my own poverty....I can't do much for others if I can't look after myself...  As I left China I wanted to do something .... some of the students had improved so much - mostly through listening and repeating tape scripts - very old fashioned in terms of pedagogy but the ones that had improved most had huge motivation.  Some people have a sense that money is inferior to actually doing something.  I couldn't disagree more.  Doing something when there are things to be done is absolutely critical, but it doesn't make money any less of a worthy contribution.  Before I left China I decided to pay the fees of a couple of students who were particularly hard working, and had particularly difficult economic circumstances. Two of them cried and cried and told me though appreciate it,  they couldn't accept it because they couldn't repay me.  In my mind I was their teacher not their banker...   I made them promise when they were teachers (it was a teacher's university) that they would look out for students that needed help, and that they would try to help in the best way they could - and that didn't have to be money.    They agreed that this would be fair repayment.

I got an email two years ago from one of them to say the mother of one of his students had died and that he organised the school to help her financially and academically. I could feel his joy in the email.  I was so proud of him.    This is where the heart of volunteering lies for me - the purpose is to make the world better by helping on a small scale.  If by doing something unbidden, it inspires other people to do likewise, then the volunteering has truly achieved something.

I saw on NHK the other day that New Orleans had sent a whole lot of brass instruments to Kesanuma (I think) because after Hurricane Katrina Japan had done the same.  Volunteering isn't really about reciprocity on an individual or even national level, it's something that is at the level of humanity.

TBC

Ganbarou

The assignment this week is to find some cultural response to the earthquake and it's aftermath.
The link below is not a Japanese cultural response, rather a Canadian photographic essay.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/multimedia/pov/Japan-three-months-after-the-earthquake-and-tsunami-123642329.html

Nonetless it's magnifcent. It's amazing how Jietai, local residents, the US armed forces and volunteers have made such an amazing difference. It's really encouraging.  From what I saw of the area when I was up there in Golden Week, I know there has been phenomenal effort made.  Ganbarou Nippon, Ganbarou Tohoku, Tsunageou - let's reconnect the country....

Although on one hand I am profoundly impressed by the solidarity... I feel a discomforting unease as well..and wonder about the extent to which it is contrived.    Since when has Kanto cared about Tohoku?   Tohoku is where the day labourers come from during the winter time - trying to earn money between rice crops.  And at the same time they are an economic burden - the undeserving recipients of rice subsidies.  Tohoku dialects are used as voice overs in American movies to show the ignorant and illiterate.  People from Tohoku that come to live in Kanto try to lose their accents quickly and in many cases dare not use them in public for it marks their provincial backwardness.  At Ueno station the - marshalling place of Tohoko-ites in bygone days - Morioka's Takanobu Ishikawa's tanka describing the melancholy of their dislocation can still be read 古里 の鉛懐かしい停車場の人込みの中にそを聞きに行く 'for the sounds of my hometown // I go to hear it among the crowds of people at the train station."  。。Kanto people  take pride in not understanding Tohoku regionalisms....
Tohoku is where suicides are highest and alcoholism is greatest. Tohoku is depopulating faster than most regions in Japan ... there aren't jobs.  How many Kanto people have even been to Tohoku? Or  knew the names Kesenuma, Kamaishi, or Yamada machi before the tsunami? After all they're not nearly as appealing, or glamorous, as New York, Hawaii or Paris...

Ganbarou Tohoku

There is something else about the Ganbarou Tohoku that troubles me.... what about Ibaragi and Chiba?  There are evacuation centres in Asahi Machi, Chiba....  I've heard little about damage sustained in Ibaragi, though I presume if there are evacuation centres on the Chiba coast, they would be in Ibaragi too.... .And in Urayasu,Chiba, there has been severe damage too houses have sunk and  the liquefaction had water off for weeks....  Is Ganbarou Tohoku a way to create regional solidarity in Tohoku, while at the same time distancing it from Kanto?

Ganbarou Nippon - may the experience of the earthquake truly serve to build regional empathy and understanding.

Media reflection

The media and its influence on me.

The earthquake happened Friday afternoon.  My sister, her husband and their three primary school aged children were due to fly out of Sydney the following afternoon to arrive on Sunday morning.   A flurry of communication ensued... cancel? don't cancel?  what to do?   Media was crucial to making a decision.  The situation on Friday was grim  - that the tsunami caused devastation was clear, the extent was not. I spoke to my sister on Sat before they left for the airport and told them the trains were back on and though there would be aftershocks and possible electric disruptions that it was safe to come.  And so they came.

I suggested to my sister to get the kids into a state where aftershocks wouldn't distress them. She's  a genius. She had already developed an adventure point system - the kids got points for new foods and new experiences  - if they could accumulate enough adventure points they could go go Disneyland. (In the end it was Universal Studios Japan).  Aftershocks were just added to the list of many new experiences and the kids found it an exciting way to accumulate points without making any effort.

I kept the television off almost the whole time they were here.  It was their first time in Japan and I wanted them to enjoy it, despite everything. I didn't cut myself of from news though,  the internet was an invaluably discreet way of keeping informed and when they crashed in the evening the tv went on.   Their policy the whole time was to comply with Aus. govt. advice.  Though I felt deeply for the Sanriku, the tsunami wasn't affecting the mechanics of daily life in greatly  Tokyo.  I was relieved that despite an earthquake of that magnitude, actual earthquake damage  was relatively light.  Things seemed OK in Tokyo.

In the first four of five days the media reporting did not make me anxious.    I am the only foreigner I know who didn't have friends or family anxiously urging me to leave. They tend to be media sceptics which also helped. Perhaps because I was blogging about it and they could see my accounts were quite different to a lot of the media they were encountering. When they encountered reporting dubious reporting - like Tokyo had no food - they knew it was false.  In a way I was became the media that they believed.     A further factor to being calm is being on two Japan based email groups, both of which have a lot of level headed people who were often armed with accurate and insightful information.   There was no hysteria on either list, some members left for overseas, the vast majority did not.

Initially I became anxious though being out and about in Tokyo rather than from the media.  In Omotesando I think on the Tuesday, shops were shutting and it was only 3pm.  There was an eeriness that made me deeply uneasy... it felt like people shutting up to be at home with their families when Armageddon came.  Irrational, and I knew it was irrational at the time, but it felt like everyone had information that I didn't have... there were much fewer peolpe around.   We were took a Ginza line train at 5pm and having just warned the kids it might be quite squashy and there were plenty of seats to sit down.  Things weren't normal and the media wasn't helping me to understand what was happening.  I knew that the situation in Fukushima was serious, but  the air radiation in Tokyo wasn't exceeding limits... the British nuclear advice supported the idea that things were OK...

I suggested on the Wed that they go to Kansai ahead of time, just to be precautionate also  since so much of Tokyo was shut they could take a detour via Takayama and see somewhere else.   It turned out to be a good decision... Friday morning the situation in Fukushima seemed dire - neither Japanese nor foreign media could make sense of it for me.  I was both sad and relieved they left, if something happened to my husband or me, we could live with that, but not if we had put them in danger. When headlines flashed that Tokyo water had high radiation, I was very relieved they were far from Kanto even though we had an unopened box of water, sent by someone a couple of years ago for o-chugen (mid year gift giving) to offer then.


A couple of disjointed comments


The international media has come in for considerable criticism for its reporting of the 11 March earthquake and its aftermath.  Though much of the criticism is deserved, an analytical framework based on Japanese and international media risks creating a false dichotomy that downplays problems in the Japanese reporting and overlooks stellar reporting and analysis from foreign news agencies.  A discourse seems to have developed that foreign media was bad and irresponsible, and Japanese media was calm, though perhaps down playing fears to greatly.  It:s not really that simple.

I have blogged previously about stories that piqued my interest - there are a lot more I could write about.
True? story from a Vietnamese in Tohoku
Charlie Brooker media critique
Gratuitous reporting from NHK

Something that hasn't been discussed much is why the reporting was sensational.  There is a kind of understanding its because the media is just trying to attract viewers / readers.  This is true for sure in some cases but I don't think it's just that. This interpretation misses the point that the number of foreign reporters in Japan has declined.  Also many that are here rely on interpreters to find and get stories.    Part of the reason for problems with coverage is that there are few expert reporters and media outlets were scraping around trying to find 'authorities.'  I was contacted by the Guardian to write, several friends had media outlets post to their blogs asking for contact about a story.  Another factor for sensationalism is perhaps that it is easier to sensationalise than to analyse... Reporting to create fear is perhaps easier than reporting to create understanding, especially when lay people tend to be uninformed about the intricacies of nuclear energy.

Another issues is even though sensationalism  usually doesn't enhance understanding, it does bring the attention of the public to the matter.  How would the people of the Sanriku be faring if media attention treated it as a passing natural disaster.  The upside, at least in the short term, of sensationalism is the springboard it provides for donations.  The floods in Pakistan last year (2010) displaced 20 million people... and yet images that captured the public attention are negligible, so were donations...    The danger of course though is needing to out sensationalise the previous disaster... But would aid be forthcoming to the same extent without the media .... unlikely.



Articles I found interesting
Praise for NHK's calm - Washington Post
Kamaishi student evacuations, 2900 survive, Japan Times
More to be posted later

Disgust with the Japanese Diet

The self serving, arrogance of Diet members is staggering.  In the midst of nuclear meltdown, tsunami devastation, an impending electricity shortfall, developing plans to rebuild and reconstruct communities,   how they can possibly have put unseating the PM at the top of their priorities.... I just cannot fathom.   Why they aren't working together? Why are they so removed the daily lives of their constituents?  How can Ichiro Ozawa, the ringleader, really come from from the Iwate coast?   I say ship them off to Fukushima and the Sanriku for a week and have them working along side victims and volunteers... they might develop the humility and compassion that is needed for people in their jobs....

This is reposted from Asahi Newspaper.

Diet infighting angers disaster victims   

2011/06/03  Asahi Shimbun

People watch as LDP head Sadakazu 
Tanigaki gives a speech
June 1 in Tokyo's Shibuya district. 
(Yoshihiro Yasutomi)

Bickering among politicians over who should lead Japan as it tries to rebuild following the Great East Japan Earthquake is provoking fury and confusion among people hit by the disaster.    As maneuvering continued against the Diet ahead of a no-confidence motion in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan on June 2, residents and local government officials in quake-hit areas of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures said their problems were being forgotten by representatives more interested in partisan advantage.    

 Shinichiro Matsukawa, 71, evacuated to an elementary school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, after his two-story wooden home was swept away by the March 11 tsunami.

"All the evacuees here are wondering what they are doing in the Diet at this time. If they have that much time on their hands, they should be spending it on doing everything possible to deal with the disaster," he said.
"Facing a natural disaster on a scale that no one has ever experienced, I believe it was difficult for the government to move swiftly," Matsukawa said. "The prime minister is doing the best that he can. I think he should be allowed to continue for the time being."

Shizuo Watanabe, 59, a farmer from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, said: "The rebuilding will be delayed if they only engage in what appears to be factional fighting. They probably have no idea what the disaster victims are going through."

An 85-year-old fisherman from Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, who is living in an evacuation center, said, "When I see them take sides as the Democratic Party of Japan or the Liberal Democratic Party, I just lose all motivation to do anything."
He was not a supporter of the government: "The measures by the central government have been too slow. Even I want to submit a no-confidence motion against Kan."
But he said there were more important things for politicians to be doing than trying to unseat the government at this time.
Hidenobu Asada, the 61-year-old president of a building materials company in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, was evacuated to Iwaki city because of the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Namie is within the no-entry zone around the facility. Asada said: "While there are problems with Kan's slow response, he should be allowed to remain in office so he can focus all his energy on providing support to the disaster areas. He can be asked to take responsibility when the situation has become more settled."

In Iwate Prefecture, the issue is more personalized because it is part of the stomping ground of Ichiro Ozawa, the DPJ power broker who has helped orchestrate moves within the party to unseat Kan. The coastal region of southern Iwate Prefecture was part of the electoral district that Ozawa represented before the single-seat system was introduced.

A 57-year-old man operating an evacuation center in Rikuzentakata said, "I cannot understand how Ozawa, who is from Iwate Prefecture, can be playing a central role in moves that ignore the disaster areas."

In Ofunato, a 58-year-old former construction company worker who has supported Ozawa for 30 years was more supportive of the rebels: "While it may slow down the distribution of subsidies to the disaster areas, it is better than proceeding down the wrong path."

Local political leaders in Tohoku are also perplexed by the maneuvering in Tokyo and worried that an unsettled political situation could slow down the second supplementary budget needed for the reconstruction.

On June 1, after the no-confidence motion was submitted to the Lower House, Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai told reporters: "The disaster areas must restore services and rebuild and they cannot afford to wait. I hope the ruling and opposition parties will cooperate and turn their eyes toward us in carrying out the work that has to be done."

Murai said: "With a mountain of things that have to be done, I believe every evacuee feels discussions should be pushed forward."

Toshitsuna Watanabe, mayor of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, where the crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant is located, said: "Rather than spend all their time on political struggles, I hope they will work on measures to deal with the disasters. I feel all the local governments that have been hit by the disaster are of the same opinion."

Okuma residents and its town government have all been moved to Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. They don't know when they will be able to return.

Watanabe said: "I hope the government will do everything it can to respond to the feelings of evacuees who want to return to their homes as soon as possible."

The opposition LDP, which has taken the lead in submitting the no-confidence motion, has come in for criticism.

On June 1, LDP head Sadakazu Tanigaki was heckled when he gave a speech in Tokyo's Shibuya district to explain why the motion had been submitted. A 64-year-old unemployed man wearing a gray jacket shouted at Tanigaki: "Stop doing such a stupid thing. You have no pride as a Japanese. Foreign nations will laugh at us if you undercut each other at a time like this."

Outside Tohoku, many are also weary of the political squabbling. A 32-year-old man who works for a clothing company said: "This is not the time for blaming people. Regardless of party, priority should be placed on helping disaster victims rebuild their lives."

A 16-year-old girl at a high school in Tokyo said: "I want everyone to cooperate with Kan to resolve the problems. This is not the time for fighting."

A self-employed 59-year-old man from Saitama said all the parties should work together until the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant was stabilized.
"That is about the only thing today's politicians will be useful for," he said.

Nobuo Osawa, 63, who operates a restaurant in Tokyo's Musashino city, which Kan represents in the Lower House, said: "It will be the same no matter who serves as prime minister. I cannot understand why they are so determined to bring him down."

The 75-year-old owner of a sushi restaurant said: "He should not dissolve the Lower House. Now is not the time for an election."
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106020179.html