picture of the day

Life goes on

16 Comments

People ride bicycles amid debris of buildings wrecked by last week's earthquake and tsunami in Natori City, Miyagi Prefecture, on Sunday.

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16 Comments
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Life does go on as this picture simply demonstrates. Gambatte Nippon!

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Can't even begin to imagine how devastated these places are. Never thought water could do so much damage.

The Japanese are a resilient and hard working people though and will bounce back from this horrible tragedy.

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If something like this was in North America then people would be DRIVING their CARS for most do not have bicycles.

Though earthquakes & the water is not like that in our places.

Still good photo to wake people up.

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Smythe- correction - they would likely be walking. Must be incredibly surreal to ride your bike through that.

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This really does show their resiliency and patience in the face of adversity. No looting, sniping, rioting, and greed. Just simply bouncing back with the "Shoganai" and "Ganbare" attitude and being strong.

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Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Kobe and this.... too much suffering, yet Japan and Japanese people always bounced back. They are the most courageous, humble, unselfish, peace loving and resilient people I have ever known. We all have to learn from these Japanese who are a role model in humanity.

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This is a picture of the BRAVEST people in the world. "We will overcome" is the truth. Send money, not stuff, to help Japan rebuild. japantoday.com needs to supply a list of relief organizations that will deliver funds and stuff with a high administrative cost. From Sendai.

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It's too bad that so many buildings seemed to have been made of wood in those coastal towns.

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Sumimasen - WITHOUT A HIGH ADMINISTRATIVE COST as many organization have. It is a stressful situation. Where does one send the money?

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When I see pictures like these. I always sit back and imagine what it would be like driving, riding a bike, or even walking past what used to be my hometown after a disaster like this.

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i think this should be a wake-up call for all japanese Architect to build concrete homes instead of Shinto homes.

why aren't the americans and the japanese government para-shotting supplies in to the northeast?

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These coastal towns should have followed what Okinawa has done. Almost all buildings are earthquake protected - basically concrete or concrete block construction. And I must add typhoon proof.

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haouhakisaki: "No looting, sniping, rioting, and greed."

Sadly, there have been cases of greed, as you can see with the man stealing the change donation box at the convenience stores, and fake donation boxes, phone calls for donations from fake aid services, etc. However, that aside you are exactly correct -- I can only imagine the looting that would go on in many other nations, not to mention the potential for violence as people fight over things. There is a resilience and honesty here that is hard to match.

The picture does demonstrate that, I think. I'm happy to see the people trying to go about their daily lives amidst the nightmare in the background.

Smythe: "If something like this was in North America then people would be DRIVING their CARS for most do not have bicycles."

Not without gasoline, they wouldn't, if they're vehicles survived at all. As the poster after you said, they'd likely be walking. I had at least two bikes stolen back home, despite me locking them up and taking the front tire with me when I left the bike behind and entered a building. Again, goes back to the honesty of the people here in general.

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As for riding bikes as the only initial means of transportation after such a calamity as this, I think most senior citizen Americans wouldn't be able to do this, either because they've become too fat, are too out-of-shape or just have plain forgotten how to ride a bike after so many decades of always driving everywhere by car. (BTW, I'm a native-born Californian.) I truly think for most this would be true. How pathetic!

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Hmmmmm. In Japan, bikes are the rule, the way of life, the default. In the USA, it's cars. Big difference! And, if I decide to buy a really nice bike and forego my rickety mama-shari, I can pretty believe that it will not be stolen from under my eyes...unlike what happened to me in the lovely USA. Sigh. Good luck America. Your turn is coming.

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why aren't the americans and the japanese government para-shotting supplies in to the northeast?

Anyone in Operation Tomodachi, please drop supplies to NE of Japan.

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