A ridiculously large earthquake and a 13-ft tsunami just tagteamed Japan.
First things first - we have people from here who live in Japan, and I'd like to make sure everyone is alright. Please let us know you're out there, guys.

Somebody living around Tokyo might have injured at the worst but I think they're generally fine. Most in West Japan even didn't notice quake. The disaster is hitting the pacific side of Northeast Japan (not sure any STC members are there). It's quite appalling to see the tunami washing down many buildings, cars, and even humans... It reminds me of 9/11.

Just came here to ask the same thing - check in when you can - apparently regular phone lines are down in a lot of the Kantou area, so internet access might be iffy.  :\

i hope everyone is allright. i saw some clips in the news of cars being chased by masses of water.....that's just horrifying.

I'm fine... the train lines were all stopped but I was fortunate enough to only have a walk of a few miles to get home from work.  Thousands upon thousands of commuters are stranded away from home on a cold night so I'm hoping everyone is alright.

Have lived here for ten years and felt several stout quakes but nothing close to those two.  And now reading the news reports about how much worse it was in northern Japan I feel so sorry for everyone there.  Here's hoping the reports don't get worse and the aftershocks (still getting a sizable shudder at least once an hour... and there's another as I write) subside soon.

We felt some slight, but prolonged, tremors in Osaka, but there's nothing to worry about here.

Glad to hear you guys are OK. I feel bad for all those victims and stranded people. What a mess.

Such a terrible tragedy.  Prayers to the victims, and I hope relief comes sooner than later. 

Donate, if you can.  Every little bit helps.

I am just as shocked as everyone else right here.  I don't remember the last time the world has ever experienced a disaster of this kind.  This is just like 9/11 all over again.

I do - 2004.

Very interesting usage of satellite imagery to show the before-and-after water damage.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan … eafter.htm

Did a quick scrape of the Twitter API for status updates from VGM artists (both doujin and mainstream) following the earthquake.

http://vgmdb.net/twitter

(not real-time, due to API rate limits)

Apparently Hiromi Sato is still searching for her father's whereabouts.

That's true, that was something horrible. By the way, is this picture real?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2004-tsunami.jpg

The reason I ask is that the people seem to care little about the fact that they are about to be hit by a big wall of fast moving (ie very dangerous) water.

Agreed. Saw news footage, I couldn't believe it...

I'd say more along the lines of Hurricane Katrina. I'm pretty sure Katrina was a lot more destructive than 9/11, and this quake/tsunami in Japan was even more destructive...

Saw an overhead of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, city looked like it was in the middle of the lake, if not just sticking out of the ocean; reminded me a lot of those apocalyptic flood scenes you see in sci-fi and anime, like Evangelion...

The thing that sickens me most is the general reaction I've seen from quite a few people. I've heard people saying that this whole scenario in Japan is "payback" for Pearl Harbor. Like, what the f---, man? Anyone else been hearing that?

In any event, my prayers and condolences go out to those in Japan who were caught up in it. Glad to hear our fellow STCers out there are doing as fine as can be expected.

Such ignorant, racist people forget about the A-bomb attacks the U.S. waged on Nagasaki and Hiroshima that ended WWII...which, if you ask me, were damn well excessive, but that's another discussion for another time.

I've never had an Asian person be an asshole to me before, but I've never been over to their native countries before, either...but I've had plenty of white people be assholes to me before, no matter where I go, and I AM white, too...

firebombing Michael Bay's house would be payback for pearl harbor...

But then we wouldn't get another oh-so-wonderful Transformers movie.

It's very sad -

Anyone pick up on the fact that unlike New Orleans flood, there's been no reports of looting?

It does not surprise me some ignorant @sshole said something to the effect of 'payback' - what a doosh...I feel really bad about Japan, I've always wanted to go visit and haven't made it yet...so many good artists, musicians, technology, etc, things that I love are created there.  My heart goes out to the people of the Country. 

I can't say the local government weren't warned however - the very word "Tsunami" is Japanese (which apparently means Harbor Wave).  Talk about watching the real life version of something from a disaster movie.  It was oddly calming, yet, obviously incredibly destructive.

Actually, I was talking about the exact same subject with my wife yesterday.
There was a picture in a newspaper showing people properly lining up to buy food, and even restricting themselves in their purchases so that the next person in line would have something to buy, and we both said to each other "only in Japan".

That's a very interesting sociological difference between the U.S. and Japan. Of course, Japan is full of Japanese people, which are defined by ethnicity, and America is full of American people, which are defined by politics. In other words, Japanese people are defined by biology (DNA) and American people are defined by political boundaries. There really is no such thing as an American, in the biological sense, since all humans originated in Africa and Asia and subsequently migrated to Europe and other continents. (I consider myself to be a European, despite the fact I live in the U.S. My family originated in France and Germany.)

My point is there must be some reason why one would witness less looting or no looting in Japan than one would witness in the U.S. The salient difference between the U.S. and Japan is biology (Edit: more precisely - phenotypical). Americans are not one ethnicity; they are from everywhere. (This can be tested. Do other countries consisting primarily of one ethnicity have less looting?)

Even without much looting, groceries, toilet paper, sanitary items and gasoline are generally sold out everywhere, but people currently rush to buy *especially* instant noodles and sweet bakeries, which I think is incredibly retarded, because
neither of which would be useful during the crisis. How could one get how water after an earthquake destroy the gas supply. It's okay or wiser to have some stockpiles, but the current situation is akin to being in panic.

I hope this momentary supply shortage will end soon (although, in the longer term, people will suffer far more from the electricity shortage, though).

If all humans originated in Africa and Asia and then migrated (which they did), then how is it that the Japanese are any different from Americans!? Unless you mean to imply that the Japanese just magically originated on their very own in Japan.

True, there is not nearly as large a variety of ethnicity as in the US, but the Japanese come from the same mainland roots as everyone else, they've just been a much more closed off society.
The reason why Japanese don't go an a rampage probably has more to do with their upbringing and social climate (not just in recent times, but going back hundreds of years) than with biology.

The only "biology" difference is the fact people look different. All humans are the same -- there's no such thing as "race" in the biological sense.

And ALL humans came from Africa. Not "Africa and Asia".

Tweets from Japan.
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id … yZ3w&pli=1

Instant noodles are cheap, will keep indefinitely without refrigeration, and, in a pinch, can be eaten without any further preparation.

Not exactly. Although the oldest remains have been found in Africa, some anthropologists think humans could have originated in Asia. I do not support this theory, but, I wasn't there. So I really don't know.

And...that's why I clarified my post and added the word "phenotypical", which implies the difference is purely visual. (I am aware there is no such thing as race in the biological sense. I once read that to group people based on skin color is akin to grouping tigers and zebras because they both have stripes.)

I am not implying there is anything special about the biology of the Japanese. I am wondering if a monoethnic group will have less looting than a polyethnic group. People tend to have a greater concern for those of their own race (what they can see - the phenotype). Not all people are aware that race is an illusion. We are all one species, which is extremely different from other animals. Imagine if there were just one kind of ant or one kind of fish. They can tolerate each other, but we can't. We have a very low tolerance for people that look slightly different. A different species of human wouldn't stand a chance. And they didn't.

There's plenty countries in the world with little ethnic variety where crime still runs as rampant as it can.
I see your point (ooh-err!) but I don't think it's the reason that Japan is more...docile (?) than other countries.

Of course, a lot of their outward aggression has been stifled during WWII, but that still doesn't explain why there's such a relative lack of domestic dispute as well.

Such interesting discussions...
First, as Amazing pointed out, there are many places where the ethnicity is homogeneous or close, and crime is rampant. Second, I wouldn't call the Japanese historically docile (not sure that any society has ever been completely "docile", people are sadly very warlike). They certainly were not during WWII, as has been pointed out.  Also today we live in a global market and power is more economic than military. As for lack of domestic disputes, violence, etc. I imagine much of that has to do with their society, rather than genetics (although I am not sure, genetics do play a large role in a person's personality). Lastly, this notion that homo sapiens went on genocidal rampages and just killed all the Neanderthals they saw is unlikely. Possible, but seems very doubtful. In fact, this notion "We have a very low tolerance for people that look slightly different." is not true. Biologically as well as socially speaking it can be a great advantage (though not always). As a simple example, a mole can be seen as a sex symbol (Marilyn) but some superstitions say that a mole on a woman can show that she is unfaithful. So it depends. Also, many people are often attracted to things that are different. They find it enticing...

True, but according to the TV interview, most of women rushed into shops and swept out shelves just because "everybody else was doing so".

Also, things like this happens.
http://bbs0.meiwasuisan.com/bbs/toriaez … 860008.jpg

I never said they were historically docile. They're most definitely not.
But they are docile now, and I do think that part of that is because of WWII, but there has to be more.

Society is indeed another important factor, but I have a hard time pinpointing what it IS exactly about Japanese society that is keeping crime rates relatively low.

I'm not sure where this is coming from and what this is supposed to refer to.

Not only that but Japan already surrendered before they were dropped.

That's entirely false. Japan only surrendered after Nagasaki. This is a historical fact, not up for debate.

Oh, that was referring to one of Jodo's interesting, but incorrect statements