tagged w/ Japan's tsunami
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Giant, nine-pound Gambian rats invading Florida Keys
Dominique Strauss-Kahn charged in French prostitution case
‘Ghost ship’ off Canada heralds arrival of tsunami debrisGiant, nine-pound Gambian rats invading Florida Keys
Dominique Strauss-Kahn charged... more
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“Machine Civilization” is the fabulously choreographed music video by World Order, the celebrated Japanese music/dance performance group led by former martial artist Genki Sudo. The video features slow-motion breakdance voguing Japanese businessmen, released along with some words of hope following the recent earthquake and tsunami devastation in Japan. Genki Sudo accompanied his video with these words of hope:
“The unprecedented disasters unfolding in Japan; earthquakes, tsunami, and nuclear explosions, will somehow change things to come. And to send my message about this, I have expressed it here with World Order. These disasters can be interpreted as a turning point for civilization. I think that we have arrived at a time of revolution, shared with all the people of the world, in today’s society, economy, and political systems.
Incidents themselves are neutral. I believe that every single one of us, wandering through this deep darkness, can overcome anything, if only we let go of our fear, and face the it all in a positive light. The world is not going to change. Each one of us will change. And if we do, then yes, the world will be changed. It is darkest right before the dawn. Let’s all rise up to welcome the morning that will be so very bright for mankind. We are all one.”
This piece includes a number of high-resolution color photographs, as well as the wonderfully choreographed music video.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/machine-civilization-we-are-all-one/“Machine Civilization” is the fabulously choreographed music video by... more
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“Little Japan” is a wonderful tilt-shift three-minute short film created by Fershad Irani, with music by Jack Johnson. The film was shot during early February 2011, in and around Kyoto and Tokyo. Irami began working on the film while watching news coverage of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, and sends his message, “To everyone in Japan, stay strong, thoughts are with you.”
This piece includes a number of color photographs, as well as the short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/little-japan-a-wonderful-tiny-tokyo/“Little Japan” is a wonderful tilt-shift three-minute short film created... more
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Quake-hit Japanese city in danger of dying
By Kyung Lah, CNN
March 25, 2011 4:43 p.m. EDT
Click picture to play video
Japan town struggles with leaders gone
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Town of Otsuchi, population 15,590, devastated by Japan quake
Half of town's leaders are dead or missing, including Mayor Kohki Kato
Young residents remaining considering leaving to build future elsewhere
Number of dead, missing likely to rise because disaster wiped out whole families
Otsuchi, Japan (CNN) -- You can see the survivors making the choice as they walk through the debris-strewn main street of Otsuchi in Japan -- stay or go?
Some ramble as they walk, as if in a daze, trying to comprehend the present and match it with an uncertain future. Others look like tourists, coolly trying to place a cousin's house or a grandmother's garden.
But the dilemma is the same for them all: do you stay and rebuild in a devastated small town, struggling economically even before the tsunami, or pull up stakes and start anew in a big city?
Twenty-one-year-old Ayano Okuba doesn't hesitate with her answer. "Even though I like Otsuchi, I can't come back here." The tsunami flattened Okuba's childhood home and killed the matriarch of her family, her grandmother.
There's nothing left of her childhood to rebuild, she says.
Akita Sasaki, a life-long resident of Otsuchi, also doesn't pause with his response. "I won't leave," he says. "I have a lot of friends afraid to stay in Otsuchi. But I won't leave."
Sasaki lost his parents, his house, his job and nearly every part of his beloved town. But it remains his home, he says emphatically.
As of October 2009, 15,590 called Otsuchi home, according to the city. The Iwate prefectural police say, so far, the death toll stands at 504 people, with 1,048 missing. The police caution that the numbers are likely not accurate, because the tsunami wiped out entire families in Otsuchi, so there's no one to report missing or dead people. Almost 6,000 people are homeless.
The choice to stay or go is complicated by the loss of the city's leaders.
On the day of the disaster, Otsuchi's city hall turned into a rapid command post. The mayor, 69-year-old Kohki Kato, led the charge to set up the command center outside the city hall, minutes after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck.
The mayor and his government had warning the tsunami was coming and evacuated to the second floor of the city hall, believing they were safe. The tsunami swallowed nearly the entire building except for the rooftop, where some of the city workers stood.
More than half of the city's leaders are dead or missing. Among those killed was Mayor Kato.
After the tsunami, a gas explosion erupted and a fire swept through the town, reducing the rubble to charred metal.
The cruelty of nature is etched into the faces of the survivors of this town's government, who work around the clock at the main evacuation center, trying to make up the manpower of their dead colleagues. Occasionally, they cry through paperwork, trying to help residents register the dead.
Next to the registration table, a pile of pictures sits, charred and muddy. Evacuees finger through the yellowing pictures, looking to salvage some part of their personal history.
Beyond the pictures, a stunned group of city workers meets to stage the next phase of the city's recovery.
The deputy mayor is now in charge and college students, who were set to begin work on the first day of the new fiscal year, April 1, started early on March 11.
The government is barely there, leaving one victim to clutch the arm of Japan's vice minister of the cabinet office as he made a visit to the evacuation center. The elderly woman pleads for help, saying her town needed more supplies, food, and steady heat and electricity.
The minister, Shozo Azuma, in a rare display of public affection, touches the woman's arm. His answer to her isn't audible, but she bows deeply and cries.
"I believe that the people who are living in this prefecture, who are in this miserable situation, they will recover. I believe it," says Azuma.
That is easier said than done, say many, who have seen young people leaving this town for a generation. All along Japan's northern coastline, the population is grey and dwindling each year. The economic might in Japan remains in its large cities, not in its small coastal communities.
Akita Saski says losing the young now will kill the rest of the survivors of his town. More of us need to stay, he says. But even as he emphatically says that, he knows it will be as large a challenge as clearing the massive debris from his hometown.Quake-hit Japanese city in danger of dying
By Kyung Lah, CNN
March 25, 2011 4:43... more
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“The Taxi Lights of Tokyo” is a wonderful collection of color photographs by New York City street photographer Joseph O. Holmes. It’s an incredible series of images, which captures the spirit of a city that glitters and shines much like Times Square. The photographs reflect a nighttime urban mood that seems always the same, with scenes that are enhanced by the colorful out-of-focus background of other lighted signs.
This piece presents a number of high-resolution color photographs, a slide show and three documentary short films.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/photos-of-the-day-the-taxi-lights-of-tokyo/“The Taxi Lights of Tokyo” is a wonderful collection of color photographs... more
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A massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a tsunami that damaged much of the country's coastline. The tsunami waves that followed reached upwards of 30 feet high and devastated Japan's northeastern shoreline. Waves pushed over ships, carried smaller vessels inland, knocked buildings off their foundation and tossed cars about like toys.
In addition, the quake resulted in a nuclear crisis unfolding at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, unlike any seen in history: multiple failures, fires and radiation leaks from at least four separate reactors. While damage from the earthquake and tsunami was instantly visible, the nuclear impact has taken days to unfold and could affect far larger areas of Japan and neighboring countries.
What the sea so violently ripped away, it has now begun to return. On Monday, various reports from police officials and news agencies said that as many as 2,000 bodies had now washed ashore along the coastline, overwhelming the capacity of local officials. About 350,000 people have reportedly been left homeless and are staying in shelters, awaiting news of friends and relatives among the many thousands who remain unaccounted for. The national police said early Tuesday that more than 15,000 were missing, though just 2,475 deaths had been confirmed since the quake.
This piece includes a number of high-resolution color photographs, a slide show and a video.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/japan-the-devastation-of-the-massive-earthquake-and-tsunami/A massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a tsunami that... more
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