http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ami ... story.html
Amid catastrophe, Japan fights mayhem with order
By Chico Harlan, Monday, March 14, 10:36 AM
TOKYO — With its coastal areas pulverized and its nationwide energy supply running low, Japan in recent days has lost much of its infrastructure and refined lifestyle, and far too many of its people.
But so far, the country has retained its decorum.
The island nation has responded to a pileup of catastrophes in a way that reflects both its peculiarities and strengths. There’s a ferryboat sitting atop a house in the tsunami-ravaged town of Otsuchi. But at shelters across the country, shoes are neatly removed at the entrance and the trash is sorted by recycling type.
In the 72 hours since an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and a resulting tsunami killed thousands, relief workers and a global television audience are marveling at Japan’s stoicism, its ability to fight once-in-a-century mayhem with order.
The country’s calm has been tested by a barrage of bad news. In the mostly washed-out town of Minamisanriku, where more than half the population of 17,000 was reported missing, authorities said Monday that they had discovered 1,000 more dead bodies.
Amid continued efforts to control a nuclear emergency, the Unit 3 building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant sustained another explosion — though officials asserted that the blast did not damage the unit’s nuclear reactor. The fuel rods and another of the plant’s reactors became partially exposed when water levels fell temporarily, raising the risk of overheating and meltdown.
As the energy supply dwindled, the government mandated a series of rolling blackouts, three hours at a time. Farther north, ongoing relief efforts fell far short of meeting the demand for food, clean water and fuel.
Outside the devastation zone, much of the nation followed the nonstop news coverage on public broadcast channel NHK, where the measured tone acts as a reflection of its viewers.
Twitter users retold stories of where the stranded and homeless shared rice balls. Travelers heading north reported 10-hour car rides — with no honking. At a convenience store in one battered coastal prefecture, a store manager turned to a private electrical generator. When the generator stopped working and the cash register could no longer open, customers who had been waiting in line quietly returned their items to the shelves.
Japan has one of the world’s most rigid social contracts. Consensus drives decision-making and provides the foundation of a peaceful, homogenous society. In recent years this has also meant that tough political decisions on debt-curbing measures and trade liberalization get made too slowly, or not at all. Japan’s youth sometimes complain that the system prevents self-expression, and even most bloggers and social media users maintain anonymous handles.
Be that as it may, these days of disaster have illustrated, once again, the power of Japan’s unique approach to adversity — and to life.
“We value harmony over individualism,� said Minoru Morita, a well-known Tokyo-based political commentator. “We grow up being taught that we shouldn’t do anything we are ashamed of. It is these ideas that make us.�
So, in addition to the rolling blackouts, many Japanese companies and residential complexes took further steps to cut energy usage. At the iconic crosswalk in front of Tokyo’s Shibuya train station — usually a riot of lights and noise — massive video screens were turned off, and pedestrians moved in silence. Many stores reduced their hours. Trains ran on limited schedules.
At a school in Sendai being used as a shelter for the homeless or stranded, hundreds waited for water at an outdoor playground by forming a double-file queue — one that followed the winding chalk lines drawn up by shelter workers.
One Fukushima City supermarket was set to open on Monday at 10 a.m. The first customers showed up at 7. Soon, several hundred were waiting to buy rice, instant noodles and other goods. The store manager, Hidenori Chonan, said the store didn’t have many supplies left — and electricity had already cut out.
“We don’t know when the next supply would come,� Chonan said. “We are selling all products at [discounted prices] and losing money. But at a time like this we help each other.�
“We have security to avoid confusion, but there is no sign of people trying to break into our store, or anything like that,� Chonan said. “Of course some complain about lining up or having limits on how much they can buy, but we all know what the situation is and we all feel each other’s pain.�
Staff writer Rick Maese and special correspondent Erin Cox, in Fukushima, contributed to this report.
