When we Westerners think of Japan, vague visions of quality car building, over-worked salary men, Godzilla, crazy game shows, and strange cartoons often come to mind. But Japan and its people are much more than that. They are caring, kind, organized, and work hard to help each other out in times of need.

Dissident and I have had the pleasure of visiting Tokyo twice so far and we look forward to visiting again. We found the bulk of the people we met to be infinitely patient with us two chuckle-heads from America. On the whole, they are truly lovely people and kind of adorable too.

In fact, many Japanese idolize and romanticize America and Europe, and Japan used them as role models during its time of industrialization. However undeservedly, we are sort of role models to them.







Right now, our cute little friends in Japan are experiencing some really bad times. As most of you know, the biggest quake to ever hit Japan happened yesterday off of their North-East shore. The Earthquake caused severe damage to the North-East region, and the resulting Tsunami pummeled the entire coast. The quakes caused several nuclear power plants into emergency shutdown, and two of them have since had cooling problems as a result (one of which as of the morning of March 12th is still in danger of meltdown.)

Fortunately, Japan is a very organized and prepared nation and they are certainly no strangers to earthquakes. Tokyo survived just fine thanks to strict building codes, prepared citizens, and from luckily being a ways away from the epicenter of the quake.

Further north the situation is different. So far over 1700 are missing or dead and the number just keeps going up. Whole cities were washed away by the resulting tsunami. They are in really bad shape and I'm sure they could use a hand.

The Reckless Philosophers has donated $50 to the American Red Cross to forward to their Japanese counter-parts to supply food, water, blood, and medical supplies to the area. It would mean a lot to us, and to our Japanese friends, if you donated as well. Even the $10 minimum donation would be much appreciated. Here is the link to donate:



American Red Cross



Thanks again for your help!