World bows to Japanese fortitude

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

16 Mar 2011

 

 

Commentary by Atiya Achakulwisut

 

 

 

In the online version of Time magazine I read the story of 76-year-old Sendai farmer Masahira Kasamatsu, who tried to look for his daughter who worked at Sendai airport which was struck by the 10-metre-high tsunami, and I had to choke back tears.

 

The article described how Mr Kasamatsu, after waiting three days for news of his daughter Yoko Oosato, climbed into the car with his wife Emiko, drove along the debris-strewn road towards the airport until they ran out of gas. The couple spent a night inside the car. Then they abandoned it and waded through the water and mud in their bare feet, to get to the airport.

 

"I know there are so many people who are dead," Mr Kasamatsu told the Time reporter as he walked into the airport's terminal. "I know that my daughter may be just one more person among so many dead. But my deepest hope is that she is alive. That is my only prayer at this moment."

 

I wanted to cry because the story made me think of my own father, and what he would have done in a similar situation. Due to its suddenness and widespread scale, the massive earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan have made people look back on their own lives and mortality. What is the point of hoarding up wealth, of being mean to one another, when all we have is a short and fickle time on earth? When there are powerful forces at play which are not in our control which can up-end our lives any time without bothering to hear our plea bargain? If and when a massive disaster befalls our city, it will be your old, introverted father or members of your family who will care enough to brave it through the wreckage to look for you - not the people you worry about on a daily basis in your professional life. Another thing that has come to light after the quake is an admiration for the Japanese adherence to discipline, duty and egalitarianism. The stoicism of the people in a nation often described as being obsessed with tragedy, that has been on display since the earth shook violently on Friday and the ocean swept across towns and took so many and so much along with it, is all but heartbreaking.

 

Social media are abuzz with tales of supermarket clerks who went in to open the store, whose windows were shattered, doors broken and floor splattered with mud, because they knew stricken people would need food and other commodity items.

 

[color:red]People in Thailand also observe with amazement the fact that quake and tsunami victims in Japan "queued up" to buy food or to go on public transportation, even if the lines were so long as to wind around many building blocks.[/color]

 

[color:red]No looting has been reported. Some of the Japanese do complain about their "weak" government but they do not come out to stage a protest against it or to quarrel among one another in ways that would exacerbate the crisis.[/color]

 

[color:red]Instead, we see residents trying to help one another and young Self Defence Force members carrying old people on their backs to safety.[/color]

 

Another moving story, also from Time, that illustrates the spirit of the Japanese, one that undeniably has helped the nation rise up from the destruction of World War Two, is about another farmer, Tomeo Suguwara. After the tsunami tore away most houses in his neighbourhood, Mr Suguwara took to feeding a calf he found wandering in the area. He did not know whose calf it was. When asked why he was feeding it, the man said: "Because it's alive."

 

I know well that the Japanese are not without blemish and that there are bound to be people who will point to their past aggression. I have been to Yakusuni Shrine and I realise what kind of philosophy lies behind it. Still, amid the devastation and scenes of forbidding crisis that continues unabated, that is evolving from one about floodwater and lack of electricity to one about nuclear threats, the Japanese people have shown the world the beauty of their stoical spirit bred by centuries of belief in the imperfection and transience of all things.

 

For Mr Kasamatsu, the good news at the end of many long days is that his daughter is alive.

 

For millions of Japanese, however, the ordeal described by their prime minister as the worst since World War Two, is far from over. We can only offer our prayers for them and for their indomitable spirit.