Thoughts on Japan

I feel the need to say something in reference to the recent disasters, tragedies, and chaos in Japan in the wake of the major earthquake and tsunami last week.

First, I should confirm that all of my friends in Japan are okay, and, as far as I can tell, so are all of their friends and family. They are all quite shook-up though. Even in the areas not directly effected by the quake, it seems that everyone is nervous or even scared. The scare at the Fukishima reactors, and the spectacular job the media is doing in fueling people's fear of it all. As far as I can tell, things are calming down a bit. The aftershocks are weakening (you can check out up-to-date details on recent earthquakes here). For a saner and more academic perspective on the Fukishima plants, I suggest reading the articles here. Up here in Himalayan India, I find myself glued to the news every morning and evening. I must read ten or fifteen articles about it every day.

My heart aches and goes out to all the people affected by the disaster, from the people stuck in elevators caught during black-out rotations in elevators to the people who watched their grandma get washed away by the tsunami because she couldn't run fast enough.

I had been planning to visit northern Honshu and Hokkaido for about a week on my way home from India in May, but these recent events have altered my perspective. I still want to go to Japan, provided it is stabilized and safe, but I want to spent at least a part of my time there doing relief work.

In the mean time, I am working to fold 1000 paper cranes. As the Japanese legend goes, if someone folds a thousand cranes, their wish will come true. My wish is that Japan will completely recover and that its people will find comfort in the wake of this disaster. As I have shared this wish and ambition with my friends, co-workers, and even students, many of them have jumped at the idea of folding cranes to show their support for Japan. It's a small gesture, but it is a gesture that they can make right here from Kangra District. With me working on our team in Shahpur and Vandana working with the team in Khaniyara, we collected 82 cranes yesterday alone. Through this project, we are also able to educate local people on another foreign culture and encourage sensitivity to events happening in the world outside local people's immediate sphere of influence.



With everyone's help, we have collected 188 paper cranes so far. While I had brought some origami paper back from Japan with me from my trip last spring, it is nowhere near enough to make a thousand. So, I've been collecting pretty paper from whatever sources I can and cutting it into squares. The Tibetans have a recycled paper factory that makes lovely papers, and Norbulingka, a Tibetan arts institute, makes beautiful printed wrapping papers that we can cut up as well. My students and colleagues have cut up old reports and homework to make cranes with as well. When I have a thousand, I will string them up in garlands of a hundred and attach our wish in three languages: Hindi, English, and Japanese. I am hoping to get anyone who folds for the project to sign their name as well.

I do want to assure anyone who is reading this that I do plan to be smart about going to help in Japan. I am watching the news very carefully and I do not plan to go unless it does look safe. If I can't go, I will find some other way to get all the cranes to Japan as a show of support from people living in rural India.