Ishihara Attacks Kansai

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Ishihara's quake jibe stirs Hyogo ire
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara's offhand criticism about the "poor handling" of rescue operations during the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake has infuriated top officials in Hyogo Prefecture. Speaking Sunday after he had cruised to a third term in the gubernatorial election, Ishihara said: "An additional 2,000 people had to die in the Kobe quake because the heads of local governments were late in deciding (to request the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces)." Hyogo Governor Toshizo Ido on Monday called Ishihara's remarks "rude"..."Most of the victims died when they were crushed soon after the strong, vertical jolt that struck suddenly at dawn," Ido told a news conference..."I am somewhat concerned that the leader of Tokyo, which is expected to be struck by a 'Great Kanto Earthquake' someday, holds such ideas...I am afraid that Tokyo residents may become too worried to sleep at night"...Junzo Baba, who was mayor of Nishinomiya when it was the second-hardest hit after Kobe, said, "Ishihara made that comment because he has never himself gone through a huge disaster"...more...

Tokyo's crisis response here

[Doctor Stop]

"I, for one, welcome back our blinking overlord."

[Sensei]

Considering that Ishihara is the guy who warned a Self-Defense Forces audience that foreigners would run amok after a major disaster and would have to be rounded up (with overtones of the racist panic where mobs of vigilantes killed thousands of Koreans after the '23 Kanto quake), I hate to think what would have happened after the '95 quake had Ishihara been in charge....

[dimwit]

Nonetheless what he said was true. Kobe did a shit-piss job of emergency response and possiblity as many 2000 people were burn alive or died of exposure due to poor management. Nevertheless, the national government in Tokyo is equally to blame for not having a clue as to the magnitute of the problem.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Nonetheless what he said was true. Kobe did a shit-piss job of emergency response and possiblity as many 2000 people were burn alive or died of exposure due to poor management. Nevertheless, the national government in Tokyo is equally to blame for not having a clue as to the magnitute of the problem.

Yes, love him or hate him, he's right. I read an academic report on how it was handled when I was in school and it was a total mess. The SDF where in the air immediately surveying the damage by helo and requestiong permission to help. But their commanders made them wait till they went through all the layers of bureaucracy needed to give them the go ahead. I'm sure it involved about 15 hanko stamped forms in triplicate.


BTW, Junzo Baba is a great name. Sounds like a "Star Wars" character.

[TFG]

Why doesn't Ishiatama criticize the Jietai for fucking up during the rescue operation of the crashed JAL plane in Gunma?

The Americans, had landed a helicopter and were starting to get survivors who were quite a few it seems, the ministry of something contacted them and told them to leave them because the jietai would rescue them.
The fucking jietai went to the wrong fucking mountain, it got dark and they packed up and left to return the next day when, I think only 1 survivor was found who reported that she heard many people crying and moaning all night.
Of course this wasn't reported by the J media..As usual.

That is who Ishihara should criticize. Fucking idiot.

[Jack]

Why doesn't Ishiatama criticize the Jietai for fucking up during the rescue operation of the crashed JAL plane in Gunma?

The Americans, had landed a helicopter and were starting to get survivors who were quite a few it seems, the ministry of something contacted them and told them to leave them because the jietai would rescue them.
The fucking jietai went to the wrong fucking mountain, it got dark and they packed up and left to return the next day when, I think only 1 survivor was found who reported that she heard many people crying and moaning all night.
Of course this wasn't reported by the J media..As usual.

That is who Ishihara should criticize. Fucking idiot.

Don't worry, he will criticise that as well in due course. One target at a time.

I remember that rescued female was an off-duty flight attendant. It's a sad story about how Boeing mechanics had screwed up on the repair of the rear cone and the plane lost half its tail on the explosion of the rear cone. The stupid rescue people had actually taken the night off and camped while the plane was burning in the mountain.

[Greji]

Why doesn't Ishiatama criticize the Jietai for fucking up during the rescue operation of the crashed JAL plane in Gunma?

The Americans, had landed a helicopter and were starting to get survivors who were quite a few it seems, the ministry of something contacted them and told them to leave them because the jietai would rescue them.
The fucking jietai went to the wrong fucking mountain, it got dark and they packed up and left to return the next day when, I think only 1 survivor was found who reported that she heard many people crying and moaning all night.
Of course this wasn't reported by the J media..As usual.

That is who Ishihara should criticize. Fucking idiot.

The helicopter was from Yokota AB. It didn't land, but it identified the flight's crash location. The USAF crew were essentially told (after the Jeitai HQ was able to locate the appropriate bureaucrats, who were probably off for the night's drinking) that Japan would not require assistance. That flight had also been given permission to make an emergency landing a Yokota by the US Forces. The pilot rejected it for some reason, possibly control problems, which was very possible, since he was missing a very large portion (read most) of his vertical stabilizer. This makes it very difficult to drive a 747.

Ishihara was probably pretty well on about the Kansai reaction to the quake, but the national government's reaction wasn't much better. They refused assistance from the US military's emergency relief teams. They initially barred foreign assistance and also medical doctors who wanted to volunteer, initially stating that they were not licensed to practice medicine in Japan. Altogether, it was an outstanding goat fuck (did I say that?).

It goes back to the old beliefs that only Japanese should and will look out for Japanese in difficult situations. Where Ishihara was probably spot on in his statements, it was another typical example of him performing his famous "open mouth insert foot" routine. There was no merit, political or otherwise, for him to make those comments.

[Mulboyne]

The Japanese Wiki entry on the crash has a whole paragraph about the American offer of assistance. In particular, it notes that the offer was initially reported by the media but not the following day when the Self-Defence force went to collect the passengers' goodbye notes. One of the weeklies reported the whole story. The Wiki entry also says that Sophia university used the American C-130 pilot's transcript as a text in one of their entrance examinations.

There certainly is a "face" issue about accepting foreign help but people ought to be ready to assess a situation, say yes and not let a senior guy who will be several steps removed from the crisis, have an opportunity to say no. Sadly, though, a major part of the thought process is "If I let them get involved and something goes wrong, I'll be in the shit so I'll pass it up the chain".

[blackcat]

Tokyo needs a fucking good quake does'nt it! Lets hope soon with that cunt under ALL of Shinjuku.

[American Oyaji]

dont wish for evil

[Samurai_Jerk]

Tokyo needs a fucking good quake does'nt it! Lets hope soon with that cunt under ALL of Shinjuku.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. I'm not sure why but it could be because I live in Tokyo.