Stay tuned to the latest news in Japan by following this page. I will try to keep it updated as often as possible, especially as things evolve in the Tohoku/Fukushima region (or not!).
|
| Life In Japan - News | | Written by Guillaume Erard | | Sunday, 18 December 2011 01:06 |  As most people know by now, Japan is not a country prone to protests and demonstrations. In fact, there simply hasn't been any major protest going on in the country since the 1960's student demonstrations against the Japan-U.S. security treaty. The post-World War II Japan is indeed a country where most people are fiercely attached to compromise, self-sacrifice and moderate views. This added to the more ancient cultural tradition of hiding one's feelings has resulted in this seemingly passive, sheep-like attitude that tends to irritate most of the international community when crisis such as the Fukushima debacle occur. Since the March 11, 2011 earthquake and the following nuclear accident however, demonstrations, even though they are still relatively limited in scope and duration, have been more and more frequent in the streets of Tokyo. The legitimate question that one might ask is: Is Japanese mentality changing in the face of manifest governmental inaction and TEPCO's irresponsible behaviour?
|
|
| Life In Japan - News | | Written by Guillaume Erard | | Wednesday, 16 November 2011 09:10 |  Eight months have passed since March 11th 2011 and the Great Tohoku Earthquake which triggered a tsunami that devastated the eastern coast of Japan and provoked the worst nuclear incident since Chernobyl. The initial fears and the foreign media frenzy now over, one could now think that all is back to normal in Japan. From inside Japan however, things are still far from normal, even for those who were fortunate enough to live several hundreds of kilometres away from Fukushima and its crippled nuclear power plant. One of the main problems that all people have to face is to ensure their family’s safety as regards to the food that they consume. While the entire population of Japan is concerned, foreigners are a lot more susceptible than any other as they might not necessarily be able to access or understand crucial information regarding to the provenance and relative safety of the food that they purchase.
|
| Life In Japan - News | | Written by Guillaume Erard | | Friday, 23 September 2011 08:45 |  On Wednesday the 21st of September, Typhoon Roke hit Japan and passed through the Kanto region. Just days after the previous typhoon that heavily affected eastern Japan, authorities have advised over a million people to evacuate their homes and regroup to shelters. Prior to its passage over Tokyo, the torrential rains and the winds reaching over 200 km/h had killed already for people.
|
| Life In Japan - News | | Written by Guillaume Erard | | Friday, 18 March 2011 04:13 |  To all of you who wrote to urge me to come back to France, here is my point of view. I really appreciate your concern and kindness. I will try to explain to you the situation as it can be seen from here but there are some circumstances that cannot be grasped from outside Japan. I, myself do not understand all of them, even from within. I have chosen to settle in Japan over a year ago. Little by little, I made my place, my life, friendships and even more. I currently share my life with a Japanese person. As Olivier Gaurin was explaining in his own note, if you decide to settle somewhere, whether you want it or not, this place and its people will deeply affect you in more ways than you can imagine.
|
| Life In Japan - News | | Written by Guillaume Erard | | Friday, 11 March 2011 09:50 |  A massive earthquake of a 8.8 magnitude (the biggest ever since Japan started recordings 140 years ago) occured in the Pacific Ocean at about 160 km from North-eastern Japan at 2:46pm on March 11 (JST). Significant damages occured and an up to 10 m tsunami hit the coastal areas. The death count keeps rising as the water clears. Below are the post I gave at the time.
|
| |
|
|
|
