I'm sitting on the 26th floor of a friend's place in Tokyo, dogsitting, watching the news, trying to gain some calm.
I'm looking at lots of both community and official news, I'll share links in English that may help to round things out for Kossack readers:
PrayforJapan: English translations of Japanese tweets about the crisis. I'm agnostic, so it's not the prayer I'm into, it's the chance to read what my fellow citizens are saying. here's a sample:
"walked for 4 hours just to get home. Everyone was walking home silently, diligently. People working at the shops were doing their job. The Internet managed to hold, despite of the enormous overflow. Emergency shelters were opened and trains were quickly restored and ran all night. What a tough county. It doesn't matter what GDP we have."
and another:
"So busy traffic. Only one car can go across the traffic light per one blue light, but I was moved to see people drive gently with giving their way. Some intersecions has been completly stopped for more than 5 min., but I've neber heard any horn sounds except the sounds said "Thank you" for 10 hours. I was sceard, but also I've had warming time, and came to like Japan more."
and another:
"I received an email from my Korean friend: "The only country to have experienced nuclear attacks. The country that lost the WWII. The country that suffers from typhoons every year and the earthquakes. However, isn't Japan the country that always stood up and overcame such difficulties? Gambare. Gambare." FYI, I am crying right now."
so am I.
our TokyoHackerSpace effort to create lanterns and cookers for folks in Tohoku was boing boinged and brought our server down - should be up tonight. in the meantime, the information is in my diary here:
Help the hackers make useful tech for Tohoku