Far East Cynic

More surrogate blogging…….

About what’s going on in Japan. This post will consist primarily of the S.O.’s and other folks messages to me about what they are up to right now. Since most of my friends in Japan are associated with the Navy in Japan-it is of necessity more focused on Japan and Yokosuka.

The S.O.’s comments are in bold italics. Everyone else’s are simply in italics.

Lets begin:

Under the category of : it’s really going to suck to be these guys when they get back to Japan-this Tulsa news paper article has more than a few people pissed off. Besides the fact that it is full of incorrect-and to put it frankly-a pretty arrogant attitude, it creates a distorted picture of the real situation of the place where they were living.

This article really &^%$% me off! First, is full of outright lies, second, is unbelievable that someone could think that their situation is even worth whining about in the face of what the people of Japan are facing, as well as what our military forces, civilians and dependents that decided to stay are exposed to daily in their efforts to help rebuild this nation and to help those in real need.

I’d say so. The thing is, the bases in Japan are really closed communities-now that this is out there, don’t think that someone is not going to mention it. Furthermore-as the article states, the guy was a DODDS school teacher. They are not going to evacuate him mandatorily unless there is a full evacuation of students. He’s lucky he got to leave at all.

And if they were in fact “missionaries”-then perhaps the best way to witness would be to stay and pitch in with those acts of kindness that speak more loudly than any amount of proselytizing. Oh wait-that would wreck the storyline……..

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Meanwhile, back in among the working man’s Navy and Marines Corps-HMM-265 is moving the goods:

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Last night, I called mom, she was ok but still many supplies, food, gas, kerosene, etc. are short in stores, she said. Then I got a phone call from 1 of my Japanese friends in Yokosuka. She said, she had to make line to buy food from stores and purchase qty was limited, e.g. milk 1pack, water 2bottles, and can’t find batteries anywhere, still having blackout often. She thinks that taking a bath (not shower) is very extravagant as most evacuees in Tohoku can’t take a bath. Life over there is still FAR from normal! Just sigh…..
 

This is in Western Fukushima prefecture. The main roads were re-opened to non-emergency traffic a few days ago.

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“Before and After”, normally we see better picture on “After” part, improved or nicer but now we see worse picture on “After” part, it’s the picture after the tsumani attacked beautiful towns in Japan. I do hope to be able to see next “Before and After” picture with a beautifully reborn, rebuild towns! Ganbare Nippon!

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This is interesting:

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — After initially allowing voluntarily evacuees from Japan to fly only to the continental United States, the Pentagon will allow some family members to fly to any of the 50 states, as well as several Asian countries.

The Pentagon is preparing detailed guidance that will allow units in the Pacific to authorize evacuations to the additional locales, Defense Department spokesman Eileen Lainez said. Travel expenses will be covered and families will receive per diem pay based on their destination.

The changes could affect the relocation plans of many of the 10,000 family members who registered for the military-assisted, “voluntary departures” from U.S. bases in Japan following the March 11 earthquake and subsequent catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

As I have said often times before-there is probably a story here-and I’m not so sure its a good one. Probably best leave it at that-but folks who have been around the Navy in Japan long enough know which population group I am talking about. Paid home leave to the PI anyone?

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Needs no explanation:

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Looks like people in Japan are buying bottled water a lot!

I think so!

Danny Choo has some pretty good pictures up detailing the supply shortages in Japan.

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The first part of that excerpt is true—foreigners really have fled, and lots of Japanese companies are really pissed about it. I just heard a story of a person fired from a (rather domestic, small-minded) Japanese company for fleeing the country and missing 8 days of work. (I think the biggest problem in this sitaution wast the backward employer and the failure of communication by the fleeing foreign employee.)

This concerns an recent article in the Wall Street Journal-that coined the term “Flyjin” for foreigners leaving Japan. Only one problem-no self respecting Nihonjin is using it:

But has anyone heard the word “Furai-jin” in actual Japanese conversation? A search of the Japanese version of news.google brought in zero results for “?????” and no relevant searches for “????”. A google search for the later brought up lots of pages regarding people who are in love with fly fishing. A targeted google search brought up one thread on a 2ch Japanese chat threat—which is a translation of the Wall Street Journal article! In fact, I find myself in full agreement with a commenter on that 2ch thread:

 

?”flyjin”?fly + gaijin?
?????????????????…

Translation: “’Flyjin’… I bet the guy who wrote this article came up with that.”

So a challenge to Mariko Sanchanta, author of the above WSJ article: can you show us the word “furai-jin” was used before you put it in your article?

H/T to Mutant Frog for this one!

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Speaking of the S. O.-her priorities are in the right place:

When I made coffee for Skippy this morning, I wasn’t happy ‘case I couldn’t drink it due to blood exam. After came back home, first I drunk coffee w/my favorite mug, it made me SO happy. Then I thought about all evacuees & victims @ shelters in Japan. I know most of them lost everything, or so many things. I was just grateful for my cup of coffee.

That sums it up pretty well.

  1. Losing absolutely everything, wife, child, house, household goods. Sucks big time. I don’t know if that was what turned me all bitter and everything but losing my health and eyesight, yeah, that’s about everything. Still got one of my 3 mugs so that’s something.

  2. It’s not a Japanese word. In Japanese articles on the subject, the word “nihonbanare” shows up, but obviously it’s not a synonym for flyjin.

    Flyjin was coined by English native expats on Twitter. The history and propagation can be traced pretty easily there. Then it spread to various forums and blogs and podcasts.

    Ms. Sanchata participates in Twitter, was in on its use there, and here’s her Twitter feed:

    https://twitter.com/#!/sanchanta

    Now go and read her piece again: Where does she say it is a term coined by and used by Japanese? You and Mutant Frog just jumped to a conclusion.

  3. Skippy,
    My office is full of MLC employees and two of them have decided to take leave during this time. Both left the area (Yokosuka), and I know of a lot more people (JN) that if they had the opportunity, they would leave this area. My SO was at first kind of upset about people leaving Japan en masse (like the French, and others) but now that she sees how the J-Gov, has been not really upfront at times, she can understand now.

    You are right about the free trips to the PI. I was in a town hall when ADM Willard was here and this was brought up. One man (US citizen – Hakujin) was arguing why he couldn’t go to the PI with his family, since none of them have US passports, and that is what he consideres his home. In my opinion, his failure to plan accordingly is his fault and not that of the US government. How could he not be aware that at least he should have gone through the procedures to make his wife an immigrant (my SO is, and I work here and it was a breeze getting the paperwork done). Some employees I know have spouses and kids whose passports are expired, or who do not have a passport at all.

    As I sometimes listen to Jerry Doyle, he once made a great comment on “not being caught in the Superdome” in regards to the people who were there after hurricane Katrina and had no way to provide for themselves, just waiting for the government to save them. I plan on taking those words to heart, by making sure that I have a plan for my family, ensure that we are both updated in our paperwork, and at least have enough saved up to get out of here (transportation dependent of course) in the event the Navy is moving too slow.