Alright, amidst this deep deep tragedy, I finally get something to laugh about:

Japan Probe publishes this article, which, to me describes exactly the relationship between France and Britain. I told you this would happen. lol. Anyone that understands anything of Europe knows that the EU didn’t change anything, for the British absolutely nothing, but the mainland keeps-a-working on it. Right now, the British are Tsatziki ♥ and Guinness ♥ happy they didn’t jump into the boat of the sinking EUR. France is of course, used to being scolded as ‘cowards’. I point out the US response to France when it didn’t join the coalition of the willing for Iraq. I wonder how many bottles of perfectly good Bordeaux were spilled on US streets? Sacriledge! It is the blood of France you’re spilling. You know it’s serious when people start pouring booze down the drain. I always wondered why at that time nobody attacked the statue of liberty, but then again, most Americans probably don’t know. Sarkozy has absolutely no problem to stand anywhere like the buttheaded mule he is and say “I ain’t doin’ that and I don’t care what you think“. I never felt comfortable when I visited France, they should be a perfect match for the Japanese if they weren’t so incredibly rude and arrogant. Specifically Parisians, that is. You should see how Parisians park their cars. They use the same courtesy. It’s called French Parking. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard walking down the street goin “Look at this one!”. So look at it this way: who can blame the French to flee that hard when they’re expecting they might be French Parked in Japan? Fancy rotating parking buildings in Tokyo? Mon dieu, what if there’s a power outage? Think ahead, they do.

It also seems the term for “pale face I wakarimasen” in Japan has changed from “gaijin” to “flyjin“. In our defense, the lack of public lynching during press conferences is enough to creep us out. Why is nobody whacking government officials? Yukio Edano should have problems breathing on the first day, the second and third day he’d probably be limping up to the microphone stand. “Too polite and too much faith”, it doesn’t matter whether an official handles it perfectly. In some countries self preservation is a virtue, specifically when there’s no parking laws. B’sides, we wouldn’t be lying if we’re saying we never have a clue what Japanese think. Anyone that hasn’t lived there for a decade, can’t possibly get it and you’re kidding yourself. That’s the difference between a culture that only makes sounds like a fish *blup blup* and one going seagul on your ass. See how confused and frustrated these birds get trying to peck at the french frie? “Ah, wakarimasen, let’s flyjin!” Maybe Kazuko Hachiya should make a cartoon about that.

That’s what I ask myself when I look at the tv. It’s been six days now. One disasterous event after the other. Have mercy. Long rows at the airport apparently. ^^ Western media sometimes accused of spreading panic and doubt. o_0 How so, only a small percentage of them people know enough English to actually be informed about foreign coverage. Exactly the reason I’d like to know English, just in case. TV says: “The usually very controlled and calm Japanese are getting more and more doubts and feel anxious”. Sjah, like I said before: if something like that happens over here I would not want to witness what would happen. I would almost say: the panic would kill more than the disaster. Also: looting and crime would skyrocket. It’s not like I don’t think it isn’t the case in Japan, I’m just saying I’m pretty sure these things would be a lot worse if it were to happen here.

The reporter who was in Koriyama a short while ago is now in Tokyo or about to leave Tokyo. She didn’t shy away again to tell the news caster “they don’t like talking to me”. Well, even if nothing happened and she’d be reporting on a business conference and would start to ask people on the street random things I think she’d still feel the same. It’s one of those things that will continue to weird you out as a foreigner. The only thing I can say is: it’s absolutely normal to feel ignored or avoided, even when nothing happened. You always have to remind yourself “it’s not you”, but it’s always a few days of culture shock – even on holiday. Sometimes it actually is you, particularly when they know up front they’ll have to speak English. Besides, Dutch people take any chance they get to start bitching about everything they can possibly think of when a microphone is shoved under their nose. Notoriously even. That alone makes it difficult for Dutch to understand Japanese people really. “Come on, here’s your chance! Spill it! Repeat yourself if need be”.

I still think it’s a pretty good idea to “calmly” get the hell out of there. No matter what anyone said or what the radiation levels supposedly are, I’d probably have left. Why take the risk?