Pre note: One of the character from my favorite game Soul Calibur, Sophitia is having her birthday today. Geeky happiness aside, let's put her name into this article and aspects of our lives, Divine Wisdom. :)
Singapore, 12 March 2011
My heart is in Japan... ;A;
Well, it's been in Japan before this happened by after all the earthquake and tsunami, I'm getting worried about Japan even more. Not only Japan. The whole world in general.
At first, when I received the news at my Theater Aesthetic class (which totally distracted me when I was in full focus of the class) I thought that, "Oh, it's been a long time since Japan hit by a huge earthquake. They should be ready." Not so long after that, I read Japan's warning issue to several other countries like Hawaii, Philippines, and Indonesia. Then I thought, "That must be bad." I went home, I started looking for news. The very first footage was released by Aljazeera's YouTube account and I swear I started to tremble.
More footage and photos posted on news sites from all over the world. It was the worst since 2004 earthquake and tsunami that hit Aceh. At the time, Aceh was almost drowned from the map literally, and it affected surrounding towns on Northern Sumatra and it almost reached Aceh and Medan's border. This time. Almost the whole Japan is affected and all the Eastern coast are swept away.
I can't even think of "this is the country of my idols and fun are" anymore.
It's downright devastating. The thing is I can count similar "annual" disasters that had been occurred in this past 5-6 years. Aceh tsunami, Katrina (though it caused by the tropical cyclone cycle rather than moving earth plate, still it was the worst in past few years), Haiti, Chile... and I can count several others more in my own home country. Perhaps because Indonesia got too much disasters, I empathize to Japan. It's frightening.
My best friend has a Japanese friend in college. She said that he was just arrived at Jakarta from Japan earlier than planned in order to surprise his friends in Indonesia. The next day, tsunami happened. He is in the difficulty of contacting home right now. I even actually planned a trip to Japan this summer with my classmate. A homestay like program while learning Japanese. I even intended to visit Disneyland and I've been missing that place so much for the whole month.
I suddenly felt very lonely. I don't know. Perhaps, I was being a human for a moment. I seriously can't think of anything and simply thought, "We had too much like this already, and this is one of the worst". I guess what all people say about "Whatever on earth is temporary. When God wishes them away and away they'll be."
I was lonely when the Aceh earthquake occurred too. This time figuratively and literally. Warnings were all over the country. My brother was at a camp, my parents are on pilgrimage and Mecca was flooded on the very Eid'al Adha day. I was with my Grandma at our home on Bandung. Bandung is a high terrain and on the centre of Java so logically it saves us from tsunami. But still...
Some of the US fellows are also haunted by this creepiness since they went through Katrina. And from what I read in the news at the time, Katrina's post-disaster wasn't a very good one either. It's like a little drawings of "what will happen on the apocalypse". That might sounds sort of hyperbolic, but that's the closest term I can find about it.
Yet, Japanese people don't loose their faith. I follow some Japanese musicians on twitter. They spread help. They communicate to one another. They support their victims. They also spread comfort messages about how "don't forget to smile", "please help those in stress/trauma" and all things similar. According to an Indonesian who live in Japan. Japan is also came prepared. They have known their country is vulnerable to disasters since a very, very long time. They worry, they are frightened, but they are not panic. It's touching to see my twitter timeline filled with compassion.
Though damage and victims are still inevitable. It's horrifying to read "hundreds unreported bodies are found along the coast".
Then comes the debate of "Japan deserves it" and such. Hold your horses there. I know Japan did horrible things like guro, hentai, lolicon, AVs, junior idols, Nanking Massacre and Unit 731. But hey... Every country did some shit. It's not just Japan. Maybe the shit were exposed all over the world, maybe only the citizens of the country know about this shit, or maybe the shit is covered as good deed with good publication. But either way, we are humans. At some point we do bad things. Country is a massive land with massive human population. A massive shit will be done.
Then we should remember again that; this is a natural disaster. It can happen to anyone, anywhere. Just think of HIV/AIDS. But in larger scale. We need no prejudice here. We need support.
So... It's not just about Japan. It's about us, humanity. At least we express our concern, even if we can't do anything to help. But if you're willing to, there will always a way to help. Hasn't Mother Earth warn us enough this past few years?
And a note for you fangirls and fanboys, you Japanophiles, especially we know there's the "holy ground" of our entertainment. It's not because "my otaku business is safe or not". It's not the time to think certain ground's safety only.
I think that's for tonight. Let us give our hearts to Japan, to the world.
こんな時もがんばりますよ、日本。ここから自活して。世界の皆さんもこの当事考えてありがとう。
おやすみ～
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