Abandon Ship! Foreigners Bail.

[CrankyBastard]

Some interesting tales.


http://flyjin.com/

[Mulboyne]

Atlantic: In Japan, Expats Divide on Whether to Stay

The disasters that devastated Japan this month quickly revealed a resilient and cohesive society coming together. People most affected waited patiently in line for small amounts of food, shopkeepers sold their last rice balls at discount prices, and ski resorts handed out clothes to those in needs.

Tokyo's expatriate community has shown less unity; many are leaving the city or country for safer ground. But while the traumas inflicted on the nation may bring the country closer, they are pulling at the expat community.

Expats are a quirky lot. I know, I am one, having lived in Japan for two years and, before that, over two years in Lithuania. Here in Japan, they are bankers, computer programmers and English teachers. They are a mix of bravado, uncertainty, and opportunism, trying to find something abroad they could not find at home -- money, adventure, love, or acceptance. Many are just short-timers, here for the job or an experience, destined to return home or to another foreign posting. Some truly begin to adopt Japan, learning the language and finding ways to stay for the long-term.

All have stories. The teacher who became a translator; the computer geek who became an IT technician; or the banker who married local and now owns a bar. Inevitably, a split develops between the old timers -- the ones who learned the language, married local, or are dead-set against leaving -- and the short-timers, who talk over sake about the Japanese idiosyncrasies they are just discovering. These are the same discussions the older expats once had, though they are unlikely now to admit it. A modest superiority builds among the old-timers, like the way Floridians thumb their noses at pasty northern coming south for winter sun.

For some in this crowd, leaving Tokyo after the quake was treasonous. They fume on websites, calling foreigners who left "flyjins" -- a pun from the Japanese word, gaijins, for foreigner. They claim those who fled inaccurately judged the limited impact of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear mishap. And they have a point.

Many fled immediately after the earthquake. Others waited, but later took off after the unclear government reports about the nuclear power plant and the vague reassurances from a utility known to falsify records. The decision -- between living in an ongoing, seismically active, potentially radiated environment versus fleeing to Singapore -- became easy. But their departure has in some cases, much to the chagrin of locals and some old-timers, disrupted businesses that relied on their work.

The foreign media has become a main scapegoat for the exodus. No doubt the overly dramatic, 24-hour new cycle contributed to the global hysteria. (One television news producer asked me to be "dramatic" for my on-camera interview.) In some cases, they overplayed fears with headlines like "Get Out of Tokyo, Now" and on occasion made gross missteps, as with a Fox News report on nuclear dangers at a concert venue in Tokyo, which the network mistook for a power plant. That is inexcusable, but some of media's inability to report was because they too had difficulty getting straight facts and sound judgments from an initially reclusive government and utility. The media was not alone in trying to make responsible decisions in the dark. Even as recently as last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency was unable to get info it sought to make its own analysis.

Expats have continued to trickle out of Japan for a myriad of reasons. Warnings of an impending large tremors; nuclear uncertainty; a lack of confidence in the government or the utility; impending food and electricity shortages; nagging relatives; and a general choice to live somewhere without inconveniences. Those who stayed ultimately did so for one reason -- they felt safe.

One expat who stuck it out commented on a website that he had proudly endured three months without water after the devastating 1995 Kobe earthquake. Like many who stayed, he had harsh words for those who fled, commenting that instead of remaining in Japan to help those in need, they vanished without word. To be fair, many expats' connections to their home country, families, and jobs might be a bigger influence on their lives than neighbors they likely have not met.

Besides, many expats, even if they stay, will be of little use in the response. An investment banker is as useless in devising strategies to bring water to Miyagi as is a relief worker trading credit default swaps. The choice of an expat to stay may use resources better left to those in need.

Camaraderie with the locals may be a feel-good reason to stay, but even aid workers have been known to leave in uncertain safety situations, as I've learned in my work running a non-profit organization that works in regions affected by disaster . I like to think I'm not prone to knee-jerk reactions regarding security, but, after considering my personal situation and access to information, I decided to leave three days after the quake for what was to be a week away. Many times, leaving is not so much about fleeing imminent danger as it is about making a decision while still leaving open a range of options.

To be sure, old-timer expats are not alone in criticizing those who have decided to leave. There are Japanese upset that many, including fellow compatriots, fled -- in a sense, deserting them to ride out uncertainties alone.

It's almost paradoxical that so many expats, who years ago left their home countries for the security and comfort of the Japanese lifestyle, are now criticizing those who are leaving Japan for the sake of security and comfort. But they have a point -- perhaps most significantly, those who fled did not respond in typical Japanese, community-first fashion. But ironically, as expats increasingly focus on judging, criticizing, or defending one another, they are less focused on the community that now most needs their support -- the Japanese.

[Samurai_Jerk]

What I find funny about this is the guys who on the one hand try to paint themselves as brave by sticking it out in Tokyo while on the other hand calling those who left pussies for running away from a situation that wasn't dangerous. You can't have it both ways.

[Mike in Tokyo Rogers]

I love this site. How did I ever miss it before?

[Taro Toporific]

I love this site. How did I ever miss it before?

Yeh, yeh, I have been poaching your headlines for years here on the FG.

[SIZE="3"]Japan's Attack of the Giant Jellyfish From Space![/SIZE]
FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011
POSTED BY MIKEINTOKYOROGERS AT 12:43 PM

http://gal.bijint.com/en/

[Mulboyne]

[wuchan]

Ken Worsley, who runs the Japan Economy News blog, briefly flipped out and posted "A Message to the Flyjin". he has now removed it from his blog but Captain Japan pointed me towards it in Google cache:

So, basically, "I suck at my job but I've been making money since you left. Don't kill it for me"

[omae mona]

Ken Worsley, who runs the Japan Economy News blog, briefly flipped out and posted "A Message to the Flyjin". he has now removed it from his blog but Captain Japan pointed me towards it in Google cache:

Thanks for the link Mulboyne (and by extension Captain Japan). Wow, that is rich. Who on earth stayed in Japan because they wanted to help the community? I would LOVE to hear what this guy was doing to "help".

This is one of the kookiest lines of reasoning out there. I think the foreigners who stayed in Japan mostly did so after reading up on the scientific facts and realizing their chances of dying in a plane crash on the way out of Japan were 100 times higher than their chances of getting cancer from Fukushima radiation. In other words, they stayed because there wasn't any danger. Not because they were brave in the face of danger.

I know lots of Japanese people who, like Ken Worsley, shifted into this alternate universe where apparently they were going to die if they stayed. All the ones with the economic means bolted. Why wouldn't you? This has nothing to do with being foreign.

In other words, that guy is doubly crazy. He thinks he's at risk (crazy #1) and he's staying anyway (crazy #2). Hope it makes him feel better...

[rooboy]

BlackNois, Ken Worsley and all those kinda people are fuckwits. They are at the level of the loser Uyoku member who ramraided the nuclear power plant, quick, can we get em all and their supporter McTojo to get in a mass convoy and go up there?:puke:

BlackNois - yep, go ahead and enjoy your tower burger and ceiling coke while the rest of us stay here and have no sprogs in the future. Doesn't worry me mate, children=the end of my life as far as I'm concerned. And what a fucking insult to the FGs who have been caught up in the worst in the northeast and have kept their sense of humour and have focused on the shit others are going thru rather than themselves.

Ken Worsley is a double fuckwit with more cheese in his stupid statements than the Coles supas back home. I didn't think this was a totalitarian state where people can't travel freely but this loser thinks so.

It's everybody's individual choice what they're gonna do in crises. A bit of the double standard of some J people coming out in Crawler Ken - do you honestly think Japanese people in Oz are there to help us out, no fucking way! The Japanese and other Asians who limit the presence of foreigners in their countries feel free to gallivant around in our countries and make money there. That's the purpose they come for in the first place so why the fuck do foreigners in Japan have to behave like subservient little vegemites in a crisis in Japan and stay around if we don't want to?

Sounds like the tired ol shit about gaijin running out on bills in Japan. Yeah, I've got no time for that and I don't do it but come on, you really think that Japanese people like students in Oz don't take out loans they've got no fucking intention of paying back? Some of em do this, there are Japanese who come in for a while and work piss off w/out paying bills or car loans.

In Oz the Japanese found large houses in a climate that has no real snow in most of the states and where there is it's in the mountains and many Aussies have never seen it at home or been near it. They found their savings go much further in Oz esp with all the govt benefits they can get after citizenship or a few yrs of residency. If J people are staying after the floods its cause they know they're not gonna get the benefits they enjoy in Oz back in Japan. And if they fled thats their fucking choice.

[Catoneinutica]

Some nimrod was driving down the street in a sound-truck blaring a recorded loop about "gaikokujin hanzai." Guess he knows there are still a few of us around.

[GomiGirl]

This pretty much sums up how my family think too. We don't feel brave but we never felt the need to flee. But still I think everybody needs to do what feels right to them. Some friends left as they were honestly quite unnerved by everything.

Why we chose to stay put in Japan The Australian April 2011

This awful situation has created a most unhelpful, pointless rift between some of those who have stayed and the "flygins" who hit the escape button in the days after March 11. To those who think I have done the wrong thing by staying: I trust the official advice regarding risks in Tokyo. No one is being a hero here, we simply want to get on with the fantastic lives we have built in Tokyo over the past six years.

And to those who have left: I respect your decision as the right thing for your personal circumstances.

full story...

[Mulboyne]

Here's a series of tweets (still being added to as I write) by "Timothy J. Phelan, editor of thejapanobserver.com & Prof. of Japanese Studies @ Miyagi University"

Don't expect me to be forgiving of foreigners who left Japan out of fear, because their family told them to, or because "they could.

...These actions have permanently damaged the brand called "foreigner.

Half of embassies return from jump-to-conclusion flight from never-in-danger Tokyo. The other 1/2 can stay away!

Wonder why J govt didn't ditch Tokyo just as so many Foreign Embassies did. Oh, I get it. They were stupid to stay. Yeah, right.

American Players Flee Country, Abandoning Japanese Pro Baseball Teams. I say never let the whimpy cowards back!

Foreigners who consciously decided to stay in Japan after 3/11 & not escape are NOT heroes. But they were sensible & should be noticed.

Thanks to the foreigners who 'took off' after 3/11, the average Japanese now trusts foreigners less. Thks for role modeling cowardliness.

I know I'm slamming foreigners who jumped ship. For some (a minuscule number) it WAS the right thing to do. I'm talking about the OTHERS.

These OTHERS damn well know who they are. You are no friend of Japan. Stay home with Mommy & Daddy. UR not strong enough for life in Japan.

See my rants led to 3 folks de-following me. Hey, I have my opinions and you have yours.

Don't know if I'm saying what a lot of others are thinking but are just too polite 2 say. I really don't know. I could be a 1 man circus.

[damn name]

There seems to be a lot of condemnation within the nuclear industry of US NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko's decision to advise a 50 mile evacuation area for Americans in Japan. The only place a 50 mile zone is even mentioned in US evacuation planning is for radiation monitoring out to 50 miles. There is no 50 mile evacuation zone in any evacuation planning in the US, but it's now being quoted and used as a precedent.

Apparently he overrode the entire staff.

[omae mona]

Here's a series of tweets (still being added to as I write) by "Timothy J. Phelan, editor of thejapanobserver.com & Prof. of Japanese Studies @ Miyagi University"

I still don't grasp the line of reasoning that anybody's decision to leave has anything to do with loyalty to Japan. I know just as many Japanese people who have fled the Tokyo area (including leaving the country) as foreigners. The people who left are in a semi-psychotic, delusional state, and have whipped themselves into believing there is a health risk, and a major one to boot.

Once you've convinced yourself it's dangerous to be here, why would you stay, regardless of whether you're foreigner or Japanese? It's not as if anybody is needed for the war effort. If these foreigners faced the same situation in their home countries, they would have fled, the same as they are doing here.

I don't understand what this professor is expecting. People are in this delusional state, basically thinking Godzilla is coming to kill them. Suddenly their conscience is supposed to kick in and make them think "gosh, this could have a poor impact on the image of foreigners. Maybe I should let Godzilla bite my head off"?

[omae mona]

There seems to be a lot of condemnation within the nuclear industry of US NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko's decision to advise a 50 mile evacuation area for Americans in Japan. The only place a 50 mile zone is even mentioned in US evacuation planning is for radiation monitoring out to 50 miles. There is no 50 mile evacuation zone in any evacuation planning in the US, but it's now being quoted and used as a precedent.

Apparently he overrode the entire staff.

Unfortunately I can't find the source right now, but I believe I read a story that the NRC (or maybe just Jaczko) suddenly decided to put into place a brand new, untested model for forecasting the spread of radiation. Apparently it overestimated the actual amount of radiation released to the area by a factor of 10,000, but in the meantime they used it as their basis for declaring the 50 mile evacuation zone. Or something like that.. Does anybody have any information about this?

[FG Lurker]

I still don't grasp the line of reasoning that anybody's decision to leave has anything to do with loyalty to Japan. I know just as many Japanese people who have fled the Tokyo area (including leaving the country) as foreigners. The people who left are in a semi-psychotic, delusional state, and have whipped themselves into believing there is a health risk, and a major one to boot.

Once you've convinced yourself it's dangerous to be here, why would you stay, regardless of whether you're foreigner or Japanese? It's not as if anybody is needed for the war effort. If these foreigners faced the same situation in their home countries, they would have fled, the same as they are doing here.

I don't understand what this professor is expecting. People are in this delusional state, basically thinking Godzilla is coming to kill them. Suddenly their conscience is supposed to kick in and make them think "gosh, this could have a poor impact on the image of foreigners. Maybe I should let Godzilla bite my head off"?

I think there are two issues here that annoy people:

1) Residents who ran from Tokyo (or even worse, Osaka) due to fears of radiation have shown themselves to be unreliable and to have poor judgement. Many who ran will contest this but the fact remains that lots of people are going to view them this way.

2) It is unfortunate human nature to group people together and this is no different (maybe even worse) in Japan. Unfortunately the large number of gaijin who ran does reflect badly on all foreigners as a group. We all end up looking less reliable and more likely to run off if the shit hits the fan. (Obviously not all Japanese will group all gaijin together like this but realistically there will be a lot who will.)

[omae mona]

I think there are two issues here that annoy people:

1) Residents who ran from Tokyo (or even worse, Osaka) due to fears of radiation have shown themselves to be unreliable and to have poor judgement.

I can't contest that line of reasoning much. But I thought this blogger, and others who have been referenced here, were making a different point. When they write things like "You are no friend of Japan", it seems as if they are implying the fears of radiation are valid, but the foreigners should stay anyway out of a sense of loyalty. Maybe I am misinterpreting.

2) It is unfortunate human nature to group people together and this is no different (maybe even worse) in Japan. Unfortunately the large number of gaijin who ran does reflect badly on all foreigners as a group. We all end up looking less reliable and more likely to run off if the shit hits the fan. (Obviously not all Japanese will group all gaijin together like this but realistically there will be a lot who will.)

What makes things worse is that the shit has NOT hit the fan. It was a baseless shit-fan-collision panic. But I agree some people will think this way about foreigners. I wish the media would give a little balance by pointing out stories of Japanese people who freaked out. There's a lot more of them than there are of us.

[Mulboyne]

...The people who left are in a semi-psychotic, delusional state, and have whipped themselves into believing there is a health risk, and a major one to boot...

I don't think that's a good description either. Radiation may be all over the news right now but there are quite a few foreigners who bugged out primarily because of the earthquakes. I saw the same thing happen after Kobe.

Unlike radiation threats, there really is nothing you can realistically say to someone who fears an imminent Tokyo earthquake. You can't say they are delusional and you can't say their fears are unfounded. You can suggest that a devastating quake might be unlikely but there doesn't seem to be any firmer science for that claim than there is for the idea that the risk has risen.

The radiation doesn't worry me because I think I'll always have plenty of time to do something about the minor threat it seems to present to Tokyo residents. I do worry about the earthquake but I always have done, in one way or another, since I first came to Japan. I doubt if there is any long-term resident who will say they have never been bothered at all by the risk.

What generally happens is that your concerns go up and down in tandem with how you are feeling about life in general and how recently you have experienced a big quake. This has been a hell of a series of tremors so it isn't easy to push it to the back of your mind immediately. I'm not going to accuse anyone of being in a "semi-psychotic, delusional state" if they've decided to be somewhere where they don't have that concern. I've got quite a few years invested in Japan but there are plenty of people who come for less than three so it's no great sacrifice for them to cut their time in Japan short.

N.B. Full disclosure: when my recent business trip finished, I came back to Europe instead of staying on for hanami as I'd originally planned. I don't welcome the idea of a big quake but I'm not going to change the focus of my life to accommodate such an unknown so I'll likely be back in Japan in a few weeks for another trip.

[Iraira]

I'm sure a lot of people got freaked by the deluge of gloom and doom news. Many people also view the Japanese as unable to make a hard and difficult decision as to what to do in the situation that's been going on at Fukushima Daiichi (not that I have any bright ideas on what to do either).
Last week, I came out of the gym in Shinjuku around 8pm, and it really hit me. The streets in front of Shinjuku Tipness are pretty damn dark and quiet now. It doesn't feel like Tokyo. The streets and stations have some 1950's & 60's noir feeling, albeit only from the visual perspective of noir, that is a major departure from the neon sonic blast that is Tokyo. Maybe having become used to that, and to have it taken away is also unnerving.
Friends in the US told me that after the 911 attacks, when all flights were grounded, they really noticed the silence, which made them feel that life had changed and not for the better.

[omae mona]

I don't think that's a good description either. Radiation may be all over the news right now but there are quite a few foreigners who bugged out primarily because of the earthquakes. I saw the same thing happen after Kobe.

Unlike radiation threats, there really is nothing you can realistically say to someone who fears an imminent Tokyo earthquake. You can't say they are delusional and you can't say their fears are unfounded. You can suggest that a devastating quake might be unlikely but there doesn't seem to be any firmer science for that claim than there is for the idea that the risk has risen.

Mulboyne, that's a very fair point. I was basing my commentary on first- and second-hand communication with people who were focused purely on radiation, not earthquakes or aftershocks. Personally I was, and actually still am a bit, concerned about possible seismic activity closer to Tokyo. But I literally have encountered only one person since March 11 (my dentist) who seemed more concerned about earthquakes than radiation. Maybe my population sample is very skewed. Have you really seen people more bugged out about the earthquakes?

There is far less known scientifically about earthquakes than there is about radiation. I don't think it's even comparable. People in the earthquake field seem to be quite up front in admitting their ability to predict is very poor. I don't recall seeing any scientific information, anywhere, saying "there's no reason to worry about earthquakes in Tokyo". There's far more uncertainty around the risk. So I don't think those fears are delusional.

P.S. Blinky cancelled our hanami so you didn't miss anything.

[FG Lurker]

I don't think that's a good description either. Radiation may be all over the news right now but there are quite a few foreigners who bugged out primarily because of the earthquakes. I saw the same thing happen after Kobe.

Heh, I moved back to Japan just after the Kobe quake. I had plans in place to do so and it never crossed my mind to change them. Perhaps I'm just nuts.

[legion]

The streets in front of Shinjuku Tipness are pretty damn dark and quiet now. It doesn't feel like Tokyo. The streets and stations have some 1950's & 60's noir feeling, albeit only from the visual perspective of noir, that is a major departure from the neon sonic blast that is Tokyo.

I prefer it this way, night should be dark. I like not having the lights on in the trains in daylight too. It used to bug the hell out of me at work the way people would draw down the blinds in the day and use artificial light instead, I far prefer natural light.

Even when they get all this sorted I hope people will not go back to bright lights with everything, although the pessimist in me says we will go back to it with avengeance.

oh, and the flygin debate? storm in a post rationalizing teacup.

[Mulboyne]

...I literally have encountered only one person since March 11 (my dentist) who seemed more concerned about earthquakes than radiation.

After Kobe, I knew a fair number of old hands who decided to go. I suspect some had been thinking of leaving in any case because post-bubble Japan was proving to be a more challenging proposition for anyone who had ridden the boom from the beginning. Similarly, last year already saw a wave of expats moving out of Japan and I wouldn't be surprised if this disaster made up the minds of a few who were wavering anyway.

I personally know two families who have permanently relocated to Hong Kong because they don't want quake risk. That's only anecdotal evidence but it's an anecdote I'm pleased to know, since I plan on using their amazing expat Tokyo apartments which still have some months to run on their contracts.

For me, the question isn't about who is using radiation as the reason to leave and more about who would have left anyway even if radiation had never been an issue. If radiation is your concern, then you you'll soon find grounds, if you haven't already, to return. If quakes underpin your worries, then you are probably out for good.

[Iraira]

I'm pleased to know, since I plan on using their amazing expat Tokyo apartments and having you all over for a few raging parties which still have some months to run on their contracts.

FTFY

[omae mona]

For me, the question isn't about who is using radiation as the reason to leave and more about who would have left anyway even if radiation had never been an issue. If radiation is your concern, then you you'll soon find grounds, if you haven't already, to return. If quakes underpin your worries, then you are probably out for good.

I think that's a pretty good rough guideline for estimating what people will do, though I know at least one person who has made permanent, major, and irreversible life decisions based on radiation fear in Tokyo.

FYI, the JT has a commentary today called 'Fly-jin' face fallout from decision to go. The entire piece discusses fear of radiation in Tokyo, with nary a mention of earthquakes. This is just one data point, but I really do get the sense this is the concern affecting the vast majority of people who left. And like some of the blogs and twitter feeds quoted earlier in this thread, the author ends with this line of thought that still baffles me:

If anything, this experience should make non-Japanese residents re-examine our loyalties: Where is our home? How much do we feel a part of Japanese society, and should we too take up the responsibilities of contributing to it and living within its norms?

To me, this reads as if the author's point is that the radiation fears are rational, but "loyalty" should keep us in Japan anyway. I have no idea what "responsibilities of contributing to [society]" he is referring to, or which "norms" we are supposed to live in (the norm of exposing yourself to risk of cancer?).

Again, I think personally the radiation fear is a delusion. But if you're going to accept it as legitimate, this discussion of "stay anyway because of loyalty" seems insane.

[Mulboyne]

...I know at least one person who has made permanent, major, and irreversible life decisions based on radiation fear in Tokyo.

A sex change?

[Coligny]

To me, this reads as if the author's point is that the radiation fears are rational, but "loyalty" should keep us in Japan anyway. I have no idea what "responsibilities of contributing to [society]" he is referring to, or which "norms" we are supposed to live in (the norm of exposing yourself to risk of cancer?).

I was reading sort of the opposite... Something like, 'do you really want to be treated like shit and have to pay for a bus tour driven by drunk incompetent morons'

[dimwit]

A sex change?

Either that or a shooting rampage. Not sure which. Crime stories do get underreported during times of legitimate crisises.

[canman]

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and we were thinking that some of the people leaving, had wanted to leave before, but were looking for an excuse. The earthquake, tsunami, radiation post apocalyptic prognostications were just the kick in the pants they needed.
A few people that I know here, were completely freaked out by the earthquakes, and now that they have settled down, and things are returning to normal here in Hachinohe, they too have settled down.
On a side note, I was very depressed to see that as of April 1st most of the stores that were practicing "safe electricity" minimal lighting and heating, have things back too 100% now.
Still no yogurt, natto, and very limited amounts of tofu and eggs.

[dimwit]

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and we were thinking that some of the people leaving, had wanted to leave before, but were looking for an excuse. The earthquake, tsunami, radiation post apocalyptic prognostications were just the kick in the pants they needed.
A few people that I know here, were completely freaked out by the earthquakes, and now that they have settled down, and things are returning to normal here in Hachinohe, they too have settled down.
On a side note, I was very depressed to see that as of April 1st most of the stores that were practicing "safe electricity" minimal lighting and heating, have things back too 100% now.
Still no yogurt, natto, and very limited amounts of tofu and eggs.

The tofu and especially the natto, I could probably do without. Now if they could find some way to have a shortage of dried squid....