This nuclear disaster reminds me of the movie "The Green Slime.'" Everything it touches turns to slime too.
I think the Japanese government and sepco are trying not to induce panic in their population. Hoping people don't go through post traumatic stress disorder. They seem to give information but then downplay fears people may have. I'm not sure how well it's working on Japans population. Some people could react very strongly if they thought they were going to die. I'd imagine it's taking a psychological toll on their population but I don't hear of any reports of people panicking.
I wonder what the Japanese peoples belief system is on life and death. I've heard they prefer cremation as it release the soul. I've also heard many Japanese live by the Samurai belief system. Always moving forward...
The traditional religion of the Japanese is Shinto, an animist belief system that sees a spirit in everything, but Japanese beliefs are very diverse and it isn't uncommon for one individual to have a Buddhist wedding, but a Shinto funeral (without feeling he has switched from one religion to another). A lot of Japanese people are Buddhists (and many of the rest share some Buddhist beliefs) and do believe the soul survives the body. (There are also thousands of Christians.)
But the samurai belief system, or
bushido, while very influential in Japanese thinking, was specific to the samurai, or warrior, class. Although it survived to a later date, it is basically as old-fashioned as "chivalry" (i.e., feudal codes) in European nations.
I've never heard "always moving forward" particularly associated with
bushido; it was the samurai class that kept the islands closed to the outside world and essentially unchanging for hundreds of years.
But certainly Japan's great move from isolationist, feudal society in the 1860s to world-class industrial power 50 years later remains a miracle of adaptability. The same may be said of their recovery from the devastation of WWII to again become an industrial giant by the 1980s.
I think the moral is never count out the Japanese.
