I was rather impressed when the reports came through following the Japanese Quake with regard to the absence of looting. Sad to say, I cannot make the same claim about Christchurch, New Zealand. Looting took place within 24 hours of our February Quake and the burgling of abandoned homes continues to be a significant problem here.
More recently further News reports have caught my eye, most notably these two . . . .
Japanese friends send cheque for rebuild
- The Press 29/05/2011
A Canterbury woman's friendship with a Japanese pen pal has led to a donation of more than $7000 for the Christ Church Cathedral rebuild.
Susan Steele, of Rangiora, said Tokyo residents Toshio and Harue Nagashima had donated $7298 towards the cathedral's rebuild fund after seeing the devastation on television. The couple were friends of a pen pal she wrote to in the 1970s. The pen pal had visited Steele and her mother in New Zealand about five times, and visited once with the Nagashimas.
In a translated letter to Steele, the Nagashimas said they loved "the old buildings and the beautiful, beautiful scenery" and hoped Christchurch could recover.
"We said, 'Thanks for the thought', but we didn't expect them to do anything, and then they sent the cheque," Steele said.
The couple had asked Steele to donate the money to help repair heritage buildings, and she had decided to give the money to the cathedral repair fund.
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BBC News, Tokyo
Japan pensioners volunteer to tackle nuclear crisis
By Roland Buerk
A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station. The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60. They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young.
It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up. No longer could he be just an observer of the struggle to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant.
The retired engineer is reporting back for duty at the age of 72, and he is organising a team of pensioners to go with him. For weeks now Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends, sending out e-mails and even messages on Twitter.
Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical.
"I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live," he says. "Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer." .................................................................................................................... I know very little about Japan, never having been there, but it seems to me that modern Japanese culture/people have many enviable qualities. And yet theirs is not a culture founded on traditional Christian values and religions (as far as I know). Does anybody have any views on this?