Imperial couple's words comfort quake survivors
The Emperor and Empress, who have been visiting evacuees from areas hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake, visited quake-hit Miyagi Prefecture on Wednesday.
It was the Imperial couple's first visit the Tohoku region since the March 11 quake. They are also scheduled to visit Iwate and Fukushima prefectures shortly.
Their words must be a great encouragement to people in or from the quake-hit areas, especially those staying at evacuation centers.
On Wednesday, the Emperor and Empress visited evacuation centers in Minami-Sanrikucho and Sendai, which suffered great damage in the tsunami caused by the earthquake.
===
Support for the suffering
Kneeling on the floors of gymnasiums used as evacuation shelters, they talked to many of the evacuees, saying "Any problems with your health?" or "Take care, please."
According to the Imperial Household Agency, the Imperial couple hoped to visit the quake-hit areas as early as possible, but the visits started more than a month after the quake due to various circumstances.
They visited Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, on April 14 and Kita-Ibaraki, Ibaraki Prefecture, on April 22. Both visits included stops at evacuation centers.
Ever since the great earthquake took place, the Imperial couple have been following the news from the quake- and tsunami-hit areas, and their wish to support the people and share in their sorrow has grown stronger, according to the agency.
On March 16, five days after the quake, the Emperor took the unprecedented step of releasing a public video message for the nation.
"I can only hope that by making every effort to promptly implement relief for evacuees, their conditions will improve, even if gradually, and that their hope for eventual reconstruction will be rekindled," the Emperor said.
"I believe it extremely important for us all to share with the victims as much as possible, in whatever way we can, their hardship in the coming days."
We believe that these words, reflecting the Emperor's feelings about the situation, and his soothing manner of speaking must have encouraged the nation's people greatly.
When Tokyo Electric Power Co. carried out a schedule of rolling blackouts, the Imperial Palace was not the subject to it. However, to coincide with the nighttime power outage schedule, the couple reduced their electricity use voluntarily, taking simple meals such as onigiri rice balls by candlelight.
The Imperial couple also showed tender solicitude to evacuated people. They donated produce from an Imperial livestock farm in Tochigi Prefecture, such as chicken eggs, to evacuees through their farm employees. The hot spring bath for employees at the Nasu Imperial villa in Nasumachi in the prefecture was opened for evacuees.
===
Sharing the people's feelings
"They feel the people's happiness and misfortune as if they were their own, think about them and act on them," Grand Steward Shingo Haketa said. In the agency head's comment we can sense how the Imperial couple feel about the current situation.
Since the Imperial couple visited an area hit by eruptions of Fugendake peak in the Unzen mountain range in 1991 in Nagasaki Prefecture, they have never neglected to visit areas hit by major disasters, including the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and the 2004 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake. Each time, they listened to the thoughts and feelings of the disaster-hit people and offered them encouragement.
The Emperor is 77 years old and the Empress 76. It may be a quite burden for them to visit the quake-hit areas, transferring en route from a small Self-Defense Forces plane to an SDF helicopter. Sufficient consideration must also be given to the couple's physical health.
Holidays can help relieve built-up stress of crises
Friday marks the start of Golden Week, but this year's holiday-studded week will likely be somewhat different than usual in terms of people's activities due to the impact from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
In many disaster-hit areas, restoration work and counseling services will not be interrupted during the holiday period. Some schools have yet to resume classes as their classrooms are still being used by evacuees.
Many people probably feel they have to exercise restraint in what they do during the holidays in consideration of disaster sufferers.
According to an estimate on Golden Week travel published recently by a private travel agency, holidaymakers taking an overnight or longer trip will number 16.09 million, a hefty 27.6 percent drop from the same period last year.
===
Self-restraint can be excessive
If such self-restraint among the people becomes so excessive that it dampens consumption, the Japanese economy will inevitably lose its vigor. Perhaps, it is advisable for people to think about spending the week in ways they can contribute to restore Japan's vitality.
The gloom of self-restraint gripped the nation for some time after the March 11 massive earthquake and tsunami, but during the coming week many events such as Hakata Dontaku Port Festival in Fukuoka and Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival in Aomori Prefecture will be held as scheduled.
There are some tourist spots among the disaster-hit prefectures that escaped the disaster almost unscathed. People in such tourist areas are determined to use Golden Week to attract tourists to the region. Some of them are planning to donate a portion of tourism revenues to charity.
It might be a good idea to support the disaster-stricken areas by taking a trip or participating in charity events. Healing fatigue accumulated since the earthquake at a nearby hot spring may be another good way to spend the holidays.
Volunteers are being sought by disaster-struck areas. It is, however, essential for those thinking about volunteering their services to check beforehand if those areas are well equipped to accept volunteers. Also, people should refrain from visiting the disaster-hit region by car as it will cause traffic jams.
===
Holiday changes proposed
In March last year, the Japan Tourism Agency proposed setting two major holiday periods--one in spring and another in autumn--and staggering them by region as part of its proposals to change Japanese holidays.
A special panel of the tourism agency that is studying reform of the holiday system was discussing the proposal, but discussion has been suspended since the quake.
Staggering major holiday periods by region is aimed at easing congestion and promoting tourism. But doing so could hamper the activities of companies operating nationwide. We believe the workplace environment should first be changed so as to make it easier for workers to take paid holidays.
The tourism agency is also pushing a project to allow workers to spend more time with their family, which involves setting some school holidays by region and urging business operators to allow workers to take paid holidays in line with their school-age children's holidays.
The city of Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, set May 2 as a school holiday to allow seven consecutive days off as part of the tourism agency's project. It is the second year that the city has participated in the project. Parents were largely in favor of the project last year as many of them felt they had more time to talk to their families.
Spreading such a project merits consideration.
0 comments:
Post a Comment