"Doing what needs to be done"...from Japan

I found this young Japanese mayor to be an inspiring example of selflessness and compassion in action. I wish him and his remaining family well.

Read about Japanese professional soccer after the tsunami and other events: "Courage under Fire"

From inbedwithmaradona.com
Read Barry Valder's report on how Japanese football has responded to the recent disaster.

It’s Shimizu S-Pulse’s first home game of 2011 and the football crazy fans of Shizuoka City eagerly anticipate their team’s entry onto Nihondaira’s perfectly kept surface. But in the early spring sunshine, something is missing. There are no pounding samba drums, no announcer bellowing over the loud speaker, and the customary roof-lifting roar is eerily absent. Three sides of the stadium sit surreally empty.

After a muted introduction, S-Pulse and Yokohama FC emerge to a warm round of applause which soon fades to silence. Both teams line up in the centre circle, and we stand and bow our heads in sombre remembrance of the tragedy which shattered the north east of the country.
Today’s match is a training ground practice game hastily rearranged to be held at S-Pulse’s home stadium. Entry is free but players from both teams man donation boxes at the ticket gates. Despite the event only being announced three days previously, over 5000 people pack the one opened stand, and the charity boxes are stuffed with notes.

The 2011 J. League season was just one game old when the earthquake and tsunami brought a halt to all major sporting events in the country. The scope of the disaster, which occurred on a Friday morning, was soon apparent and an evening announcement postponed all the weekend’s games. This was soon extended indefinitely.

S-Pulse’s opening home game with Kashima Antlers was set for a sell out but it was Kashima who were one of the teams hardest hit. Their stadium and training facilities received considerable damage and are unusable for the immediate future. It’s a situation common to other north eastern teams, in particular Vegalta Sendai. The team nearest to the epicentre, Sendai’s club house was destroyed and training grounds rendered unusable. Their Yurtec Stadium was also badly damaged.
Other teams are unaffected by physical damage but still have to face up to shortages in power and supplies. This, along with considerable difficulties in transportation and communications, are affecting areas such as Yamagata, home to Montedio Yamagata.

As the emergency operation was in full swing, J. League teams throughout the country began offering the use of facilities to those in need. Sendai have been offered the use of Kashiwa Reysol’s second stadium, and of Vissel Kobe’s training ground.

And the country’s football fans are right behind them. Fund raising games such as S-Pulse’s with Yokohama FC are no one off. It’s a situation mirrored up and down the country with many matches played and many more scheduled. From the Yokohama fixture alone, 2000000 yen was raised. Multiply these efforts over the J. League as a whole, and you have an idea of the scale of endeavours by the nation’s supporters. Before the season is due to resume, S-Pulse have three more charity games lined up, including a high profile fixture in Holland against Ajax.

A major recurring theme since March 11th is the unifying effect of adversity. The sharing of stadiums and training facilities is strengthening relationships and building new ones. Supporters of rival teams are standing shoulder to shoulder raising funds. Players nationwide have been donating their time to community events such as a free S-Pulse football workshop for Shizuoka children which raised over £2500.

When a J. League all star XI took on the Japanese national team on March 27th 50,000 supporters packed Osaka’s Nagai Stadium. It was the first major footballing event since the quake. One huge banner simply read: Football Saves Japan.

And it was with a strong sense of this sentiment that I watched S-Pulse play out an entertaining game with Yokohama FC. The, if only brief, sense of normality is something those around me seemed to be craving. After such a traumatic fortnight, football does save. This sport has given people a channel for their energies, and one which is perfectly suited to the overriding national characteristic of community and common responsibility.

The unimaginable hardships being endured by those in the most badly affected areas are not dampening the ambition and drive to get their teams up and running again. Due to efforts of officials and supporters, their own and of other clubs’, Sendai will be back in action at a training camp as early as April 3rd. For many there is still a long, hard road ahead, but when the season restarts on April 23rd, it will be with a new sense of unity. Rivalries will exist as ever, but beneath the surface, ties between opposing teams and their fans will be deeper than at any time. The J. League will be all the stronger for it.

To read more from Barry, visit www.ukultras.co.uk.

Japanese dog rescued 3 weeks after tsunami :)

Read this viral email going around Japan about the brave workers that are sacrificing their health so others may live. With a deep bow to them

Please send these people your prayers.

Right now there are people working diligently at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant risking their lives to save the this country, this Japan, the citizens, you and your families.

Please Pray! So the work is successful! Please!

The members of the Japanese Specialized Scientific Defense Team are all volunteers. They are all 55 years and older, They all stated that they are done raising their children and have no regrets and thus have volunteered to the group. There are 50 volunteers like this.

There's an article from an information announcement company,

Eastern Electric corporation put out a call for help to all of the electric companies and related companies in Japan. They were looking for veterans in the Nuclear plant related field for volunteers to be a part of a "Decided to die" group (there is no direct translation for this term in English) to work on the internal structures of the nuclear plant.

A man from China Electric, who has been in working on Nuclear power plants for the past 40 years quoted " This work should be done by veterans like me. I am only a year away from retirement, my children are all grown up." And thus he volunteered.

The family shared their feelings with calm, and say that they could not say anything to their father and their husband's firm determination and decision.

This man's daughter says she saw a peaceful face on her father that day that she had never seen prior.

20 volunteers the next day as if going to go to work as usual said "I'm leaving!" and walked out of their front door.

While working at the nuclear power plant there is radiation exposure. The country has a standard rule for allowing no more than 100 millisieverts to their workers. (The International standard is 20 and in Japan it's traditionally 50. The Fukushima plants have been recorded to be radiating about 300 to 400 millisieverts in the past several weeks.) Recently the limit went up to 250mSv. That's because the workers requested that.

If the limit was 100mSv the time allowed to do the procedures would be over in a few minutes and no work can be completed. That's why they turned in a formal request to raise the acceptable radiation exposure level on the books to 250mSv. They made a resolve to face and accept the radiation exposure received in the process.

Because of this, yesterday the reactors were entering their critical temperature for a potential disaster and at the nick of time the critical point was averted.

If critical temperature was reached, we wouldn't be here spending this time, we wouldn't have had this time to spend.

We wouldn't have had this time with our family, our loved ones and our friends. The survival rate for all life within the 300km (186mile) radius of the Nuclear Plant was close to zero. This time we have now, alive, is because of these people's efforts.

The business management executives because of the worry for their own well being, have been limiting and slowly doling out information and have not come out from far away Tokyo.

Please, Everyone pray for them!

This heart-warming story from Japan, a few days ago, 4-month-old baby found alive in the rubble

Photo of the day: Japanese house swept out to sea

This Californian prays today for Japan & its people

Earthquakes, tsunami, and radiation exposure...my heart goes out to the suffering Japanese people. As a coastal resident who lives near an active earthquake fault, I am very empathetic.

Photo via WSJ.com