Baikin, so glad you checked in and that things are okay (relatively speaking). About M1GO, if my mapping is correct, they're about 45 miles (70 km) from the power plant so I don't know if they're in any immediate danger. So scary, though, I hope they figure out what to do with it soon.

Eiji from Marusan checked in, he said all of his employees are okay.

Also, the Gundam photo was a hoax:

http://gizmodo.com/#!5781092/giant-gund ... earthquake

If any of you use Twitter, Matt Alt's feed (@Matt_Alt) has been a good source of man-on-the-street updates.

Just woke up to emails from Dennis and Shig - I hope that the M1GO Toy Museum is okay!

For what it's worth, NHK got unblocked since yesterday, so there's lots of fascinating tid bits available to be seen, even though I don't understand Japanese. It's ch 330 on my cable system in the Bay Area. Their feed's also available on Ustream, just look for NHK, I think..

They are streaming in English here: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html

Glad everyone is safe. Finally managed to reach my in-laws (in Nagoya) after 12 hours. Their reply: "Why are you calling?" "Of course we're fine. When are you coming over?"

that's great.

Glad to hear from you Dennis!
You had us going there for a minute.

I'm not too worried about the reactor now.
Apparently it's under control and radiation levels are no worse than your average X-ray,
and of course I trust the government.

Just feel so sad though.
Can't stop watching TV.
"Whole towns gone--no cars or people seen":
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110312004789.htm

So, now there's a site about karmajapan on tumblr (and I'm not linking it on purpose, btw..) that is just plain nauseating. I cant imagine a person running around with that much hatred in them to spew this kinda nonsense at a time like this..

On a separate note, the situation with the reactors has become critical (no pun intended). Not just domestically for Japan, but regionally, if not internationally. Consider a radioactive cloud drifting from Japan to the Koreas or China.. Horribly historic and epic events are taking place there.

I bet all those people have Japanese products in their homes.

This piece on Boing Boing is very enlightening, and sounds a somewhat calming note at the end regarding the reactor situation:
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/12/nuclear-energy-insid.html

From the article:

How To Win This

This is a serious emergency, but there are some good reasons to be hopeful. According to World Nuclear News and Reuters, there were seven reactors in Fukushima that were affected by the earthquake. Of those, four have access to outside power to run their water pumps and are stable. Three lost their power. Out of those three, one has steady levels of water. Only two have decreasing water levels. But, in recent hours, workers have started pumping in seawater to one of those. Hopefully, both can be stabilized. But it's hard to say right now.

And then what happens? Remember, this is really just an emergency shutdown gone awry. The control rods are still in place. The Jenga columns are still separated. So, over time, the fission reactions will still slow down and stop. As they do, heat levels will drop, and so will levels of radiation.

Really, what we have here is a waiting game. The goal is to keep the reactors stabilized long enough that the shutdown can completely shut down.

Okay, well, never mind, then... it's now an "assumption" that meltdowns are underway within two of the reactors.... and a third reactor has lost its cooling functions.
Fuck.

Extremely worrying now. News has it that partial meltdown underway. In situation like this, news usually downplay the situation. I am expecting the worst and can only hope for the best.

My thoughts go out to all affected by the current situation.
Keep well, my friends.

scary...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan ... eafter.htm

Those are the most heartbreaking pictures I have seen yet. Holy smokes, so bad.

Wow not to be morbid but I was looking for something like this online just the other day. After seeing that heart wrenching tsunami wave destroy everything in it's path I was curious if it actually changed the geography. Yep. I got mad at a coworker this morning when bringing up the subject of how horrific it was, she just replied "Well there were only a few hundred deaths and the Japanese should be use to earthquakes by now?" Ignorance is bliss, but I could not let her just go away thinking it was insignificant and explained in detail how they've yet to get to some towns and that whole villages were swept out to sea. My heart really goes out to the japanese people, this is so sad.

I don't have the words...

I contacted friends in Japan to make sure they were okay, and everyone is well. I can second that Joe (maxaltoman) is good, too. Hadn't occurred to me to post.

One friend, a university dean, was in downtown Tokyo attending a conference when the earthquake struck. He was on the 22nd floor of a building, and described the journey out of the building and out of the area as terrible. He said the government provided vehicles to get them out of downtown to safer areas, but this was a bad idea as it took them 3 hours to go three miles.

His wife was downtown as well on other business. She was between two skyscrapers when the earthquake struck and described them as 'waving like snakes'.

Things are pretty damn bad, but I can't help thinking that it's a testament to Japanese architectural engineering and emergency preparedness that it wasn't a whole lot worse.

--
jJ

I feel you on this.... I've been seeing more and more negative and ignorant responses about Japan all over the internet. Things about Pearl Harbor and all that gibberish, I can't believe there's still people that think like this....

What a relief! M1Go has posted on their website. They're ok!

Seeing the aftermath has just been heartbreaking. Really, an event like this makes you re-evaluate everything.

^^it really does. It's got me thinking more about what I'm doing with myself and my time here. Things like this make you realize just how powerful the earth is too.

Not to be a NAG, but send some dough to the Red Cross, if you haven't already.

Edit. Donate directly to Japan Red Cross here.

I think Japan will come through this much like they recovered from WWII. There is this article in the Telegraph asking the pointed question why there's no looting in the aftermath. Well, wherever that comes from, it will provide the background for their recovery. Which will be a very serious drag on their economy, already suffering from an ongoing recession.
But they'll get it done, mostly because they have to. Rebuilding and rethinking their way out of this epic disaster.
I was watching NHK last night and saw old man being helped along by rescuers. At one point, he looked up and one could see the grin on his face: "I made it motherfucker!" Of course, he probably would never use an expression like that neither..

nice...

Microsoft committed $2M to support relief efforts including a cash donation of $250k to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

we're also providing free support, temporary software licenses and online services to help impacted organizations get back up and running.