Japan: A Fly on the Back of the World

March 8th, 2011 was just another Friday for the Japanese. The adults were working, the children were at school and everyone was counting down to the moment where they can all go home for the weekend. Sadly, however, this wouldn't happen for those who lived on the Northern end of the country. The largest recorded earthquake in Japan's history hit off the coast on this "normal" Friday; it's also the fifth largest earthquake in the World's recorded history. The earthquake itself, however, did not do the shocking damage, rather, the massive tsunami wave crashing into the coastal towns at 500 miles per hour is what caused the devastation.
    It's quite the interesting feeling, waking up in multiple cities throughout Germany and in Denmark where everyone is going to work, we're going on tours and all we really do after this is eat, drink and then go to sleep. There is no devastation, no destruction, no one is dying on a massive scale and everything is "normal". I've seen booming economies, fast cars and happy faces all across the board. Yet every single day, I wake up to the news that Japan continues to get worse and worse. Not only are there over 3000 recorded deaths, over 10,000 people are suspected to be killed in one town alone. Along with the wave that destroyed the Northern tip of Japan, the nation's Nuclear Power Plants are all shut down; what this means is that the coolent systems are shut down and causing explosions in the reactors. Nuclear fallout seems all too real for Japan, and this wouldn't be the first time.     But here I am, writing a blog post in the lobby of my hotel in Copenhagen. I see the sadness on the faces of those who have suffered, I know people who have lost friends in Japan, but I don't feel that pain. I feel bad, scared for what could happen, horrified really. Reality has set in and even the Japanese emperor did something that he rarely ever does; he addressed the nation and claimed that he was "deeply worried" about the nuclear problem. I think the whole world shares something with the Emperor... We are all worried, scared and waiting. Just waiting.

by Sam