forinagai comments

Penelope - of course we all generalize. The flyjins we are ALL taking about are those who left the rest of us here with extra work and extra BS to put up with. THOSE who took longer than normal holidays. If every employee were to do the same as those who left irresponsibly, companies would close rather quickly!

I wonder if my company would be happy if I decided to take a 2-3 week holiday with 2 day's notice....I don't think so!!

Of course THOSE people were not cowards....just looking after themselves.

AdamB - They didn't run?!?! Did you see the same shots of the immigration center and airport as I did? OK, I'll give you that. They didn't run. They walked in an orderly manner and left their company with enough time to cover for their absence.

They protected themselves...by becoming flyjin - i.e. flying out of the country to protect themselves.

Thank you for the offer of a medal. What I did was not brave.Not at all. It was certainly a lot braver than flying out of the country in an orderly manner, giving the company the usual notice for taking an extended vacation, and in looking after my own or family's personal safety in another country.

y3chome - agree with you. Meanwhile, those of us who stayed and perhaps returned were/are in a position to help. Unlike many of those people who, at the first sign of danger, ran to the hills...or to their home country.

nigelboy - strong/harsh words indeed. I totally agree with you! The people who fled from Tokyo and its immediate surrounding did so out of irrational fear. I do love that word....irrational.

If only those people took the time to read/listen to what the real experts were saying what could've happened at Fukushima. Even in the worst case scenario, a 'perfect storm' situation, the worst that would've happened was that by staying indoors for a couple of hours would've protected Tokyo. THAT was based on the worst case happening. So as far as fear from radiation was concerned...yes, the fear (in Tokyo area) was totally irrational.

As for leaving because of 'family concerns'. What a stupid excuse! It's kinda like saying that those people who chose to stay in Tokyo have family who don't care about us or that, if we have family here, that we don't care about them. Stupid excuse. Most of us have family or friends who wanted us out of here.

Taking up slack. Yes, some people left in an orderly way and may have continued to work while overseas or in another part of Japan. But there were many of us left in Tokyo (Japanese and foreign) who had to work all that much harder because some people left like frightened rabbits. Of course, we will never welcome those people back with open arms. Why should we? Why should we continue to act as if those people did nothing wrong?!

Anyone, Japanese or foreign, who didn't follow their company's policy regarding their paid vacation deserve to get fired. Simple. If they keep their job...they should consider themselves very lucky. I'm sure that on the surface there will be smiles, but smiles can hide our true feelings regarding such flyjins or flynihonjins.

Perhaps the derision these people experience is one of the consequences of their decision- so learn to live with the derision.

Well...it is all about personal decisions. If people want to label you...so? 'Sticks and stones may hurt your bones, but names will never hurt you'. What's the problem if others call you 'flyjin'?

If it's such a free world, then let others call you names. :P

Why? Have they done something illegal?

Horrified - Did I say you were 'chicken'? No. I said the managers I work with were! Each person has their own circumstances. I have not, nor would I presume to judge your situation or any other person's situation (of whom I know nothing about).

I am, however, in a position to judge my managers' situation. Their situation certainly did NOT merit repatriation at their earliest convenience.

Also - I don't need your thanks. That's what the whole post was about. Obviously you have some kind of guilt complex if that's the tone of your reply to my post.

I stayed. Not to prove what a loyal little foreigner I am. Far from it. Just one simple reason:

Japan is my home now. I have family and friends here. Nothing heroic - just like the millions of Japanese who stayed and continue to stay around the Tohoku/Kanto region. I'm not expecting any thanks. Not expecting people to treat me any differently. I'm here to earn a living like everyone else.

And why should Japanese care?!?! Just because I'm foreign, doesn't make me 'special'.

The disaster that unfolded on March 11 was no respecter of age, sex, or nationality. HUMANS died. The only thanks or respect I should get from other people here is the respect due to any human being.

In saying all that...I have no respect for the managers in my company who bailed out at the earliest opportunity...only to return a few weeks later...all smiles and cheery. I'm treating them with professionalism...but respect?...no chance. Reason?...they chickened out, while many others didn't...of ALL nationalities.

I also have the same feeling of contempt for the 'hoarders'.

Perhaps, that'd be another good question to ask, 'Did you buy more than your usual foodstuffs or daily goods just after the earthquake? And, do you continue to maintain a larger than normal stock?'

At the end of the day....does it really matter?

In answer to the question posed: Perhaps one reason is that those foreign friends/colleagues who stayed felt let down by others leaving so quickly. Who knows what other people are thinking?

It's just a simple case of looking out for oneself/one's family. Each to their own.

Perhaps there would be a feeling of resentment of those people returned 'as if nothing happened' ie. back into their job/position/role in management. Personally speaking, any respect I had for my foreign managers who were very quickly repatriated...and have since returned, went out the window. I stayed and several other foreign colleagues stayed...all Japanese colleagues stayed...ONLY foreign managers left. Why should any of us have any sense of respect for those managers?!?!

Absolutely everyone's right to leave Japan at this time. I wouldn't call those people 'flyjin'.

My irritation would be if those now returning would expect to get their old job back after being away for however long they were away...perhaps a minimum of a week....perhaps longer. If they did a similar thing back in their home country ie. take a holiday with minimum notice, they'd probably lose their job. Same thing should happen here.

Perhaps in many Japanese companies, Japanese doing the same thing would lose their job. Just because the person is a 'foreigner' it doesn't mean they should be treated like everyone else.

Think about it. If every employee expected to return to their job after taking a sudden 'holiday' for a couple of weeks, companies would very quickly go out of business. The rest of us who stayed had to work all the harder to make up for the people who left on 'holiday'.

By all means leave Japan. But do not expect to fall back into the same job with the same company you left. And do not expect a hearty welcome from colleagues (Japanese or foreign) if this happens.

As for the photos...stunning.

As for the guy pictured...lucky, lucky, lucky!!

Why of why do people live here in Japan??!? It's a dangerous place!!

OK... I can understand why Japanese live here. But for the foreigners whose 'home country' is perhaps safer - I know mines is, why do we still live here?!?!

I'm just venting...perhaps at myself... I should be asking...why do I live here? :P

For anybody up north reading this...I can't imagine what you're going through...all these shakes...it would do my nut in, if it were me there!

Words somehow don't seem enough to express one's feelings here...

A very simple picture.

Really only word other word for me describes this: Moving

YongYang - That is a very nice way to put it... 'Don't attack a flicker of life caught by a camera, you can contextualize the moment, but not, in this case, the man.'

Little sad that people do choose to attack.

czykent - Agree with you totally. Perhaps those people who choose to voice their negativity feel they are being clever or it makes them feel superior in some way? I don't really know....just a couple of ideas.

Agree with others. If this monk and other religious types can offer help and support through what they do, then all the best to them.

I have great respect for people like this who are doing selfless acts to help others.

I am not a 'believer' but I do believe in respecting others and respect the fact they believe in a higher being. It's a pity that a certain other poster doesn't have a similar respect of others.

A very good photo that just captures one human's feelings of loss. Pointless speculating about the rest of this monk's situation. The photo is powerful enough.

A touching/sad photo.

Suddenly this place freaks me out! Too many aeroplane/airplane otaku!

All forms of power generation have some risks involved. The reality is that windmills/ hydro-electric/ wave power just can't generate enough power to satisfy a 'modern industrial country'.

Nuclear power has done quite well up till now in Japan.

puaokalani - not that US water has much to do with the article. However, I feel the need to correct your statement.

According to the people who did the research here's what was said. "...observe an activity of the isotope of I-131 (Iodine-131) of 4.26 Bq/l. At this level, you would need to drink 632 liters of this rain to obtain the same radiation effects you obtain on a round-trip flight between San Francisco and Washington D.C. Therefore, the increase in radiation levels in the rain water due to the events in Japan remain extremely small.' (I bolded the relevant parts)

I think it mighty difficult to drink 632 liters of rain water!

ebisen - agreed. They obviously had no source of fresh water to draw upon. So, the resorted to the last resort of sea water. I'm sure they were well aware what their decision meant for the future of the plant.

The most important thing is/was to get the fuel rods cooled down to a manageable temperature.

Disagree about police action regarding the cheating incident. I didn't realize cheating was a criminal offence requiring the involvement of police.

Japan was coordinating with the US government as to what help the US could provide. This was reported as early as March 17.

How many back-ups should be required? The experts obviously thought three were sufficient - indeed that's often the number of back-ups required in other systems.

The J-government was very quick to accept aid this time round compared to the Kobe earthquake. I think the gov. should be commended for that.

tkoind2 - In reply to your catalog of errors:

Not an error - this was how these reactors were design. They had 3 back-ups - all kicked in successfully, unfortunately they could never have predicted a tsunami of the size that swept in. 3.? After the quake: 1. Me thinks they were doing their damnedest to get them cooled! 2. The government very quickly accepted offers of help. 3. Don't know enough of this to comment. 4. Agreed - TEPCO should be hung out to dry for this. 5. TEPCO - maybe. The government has worked hard in this area. 6. Needed to be tried. 7. Not true.

Yubaru - I wouldn't just limit that to 'Japanese people'. Look at the rest of the world too. Seems to me that many people of all nationalities believe what they read or see on TV.

Would be difficult to prosecute those responsible for rumors. That would entail tracing the original source of the rumor. It would also put the burden of proof on the prosecution. Somewhat difficult to do against media repeating stories they've heard.

I'd like to know what "...chain of tragic errors..." there's been.

Perhaps believing the false rumors should be a prosecutable offence?

Some people are just so naive. Some of the nonsense I've read over the past few weeks related to Fukushima and nuclear power have been laughable....but still some people believe it.

I stop myself griping about life in general here in Japan. Give thanks that I wasn't one of the people up north.

Genuinely has made me appreciate life just that little bit more.

There but for the grace of God, go I. Although I'm in no way religious.