Casualties and Damages

Japanese abroad struggle to cope

By Martin Parry (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-18 08:26

A survivor sits with belongings he found in the debris of his destroyed house in Yamada, Iwate prefecture, on Thursday. Aly Song / Reuters

SYDNEY - The eyes of the world are on Japan's people as they struggle to cope with an unfolding disaster, but tens of thousands of Japanese expats around the globe are also deeply affected by the tragedy.

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Japanese living far from home are anxiously scanning newspapers, Twitter and Facebook for news of friends and family after last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear crisis.

Engineers are struggling to bring the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant under control, dousing overheating reactors with water to avert a meltdown in an emergency that has caused grave concern in Japan and beyond.

The disaster, the country's most serious crisis since World War II, has seen Japanese expats frantically trying to make contact with relatives, support each other and raise money to help their compatriots.

Australia has one of the world's largest Japanese expat communities, with over 70,000 registered as living in the country, according to its embassy in Canberra.

The Sydney Japanese School said that it had been a difficult time emotionally for staff, parents and children, but that they had received tremendous support from the community with fundraising activities in full swing.

"The images of the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck in Japan have been most terrifying," said Deputy Principal Allan Meadows.

"It is only made worse when we know that our school community is directly affected, with many teachers, families and friends - past and present - coming from the devastated regions of eastern Japan."

He said there were staff members whose parents' houses were swept away in the tsunami, and knew of at least one relative of a teacher who was killed.

"The uncertainty is the worst," he said.

Meiko Kobayashi, a Japanese writer living in Singapore, has spent hours on Facebook and Twitter trying to get in touch with family in her homeland.

"As far as I know, some people went back to be with the family, but most are staying put," she said of the city-state's Japanese community, comments echoed by Yosuke Tanaka.

"We are not going back home, but we watch TV and websites for news about Japan," said the marketing manager for Albirex Niigata, a Japanese soccer club based in Singapore.

Some expats have faced agonizing days of being unable to contact loved ones in the devastated region, where the number of confirmed dead from the twin disasters now stands at over 5,000 with thousands more missing.

Eri Osawa, 33, a teacher at a Japanese school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said while her family was safe, she cannot reach two of her friends in Sendai.

"I sent numerous e-mails to them, but till today I have had no response," she said through tears.

Osawa, who comes from Chichibu near Tokyo, said two other friends have left their homes in the capital due to concerns over radiation from the plant, which sent levels rising in the capital - although not to dangerous levels.

"I feel very sad, and I am worried about the radiation," Osawa said.

Naka Nakayama, who works for the Japan Team of Young Human Power, a non-governmental organization in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, expressed the frustration and helplessness of many Japanese in distant countries.

"We are all worried and just trying to figure out what we can do to help," he said.

"I'm so worried about those who are missing and have suffered because of the disaster," Nakayama added.

Agence France-Presse