Welcome to my Homepage！
I am Tom Gill, professor of social anthropology at the Faculty of International Studies, Meiji Gakuin University. Japanese social issues, especially casual labor, poverty, homelessness and minority issues. You can read some of my papers here, and find materials relating to the courses I teach.
DISASTER IN JAPAN: A CALL FOR “DUNKIRK SPIRIT”
As everybody knows, Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. It caused tremendous damage to the Tohoku district of Northeastern Japan, and there remains a serious risk of radioactive fall-out from the stricken nuclear power station in Fukushima.
As a foreign resident of Japan I want to express my deepest sympathy for the victims of this terrible disaster. I am working as hard as I can to encourage Meiji Gakuin University to open up vacant dormitories and other sheltered spaces for use by evacuees. If you are a student, parent or other person connected with Meiji Gakuin and have any suggestions for me as to other kinds of action we can take, please e-mail me at tpgill@yahoo.com
To be honest, it is very difficult for me to understand the situation in Tohoku. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in very dangerous and uncomfortable situations, yet there seems to be surprisingly little effort to get people away from the danger area. Many foreign governments are sending buses to bring out their nationals, so why is there not a similar effort to get out Japanese nationals?
In Britain we have an expression: "Dunkirk Spirit." It dates from Word War 2. When the British army was trapped by the Nazi army at Dunkirk in northern France, hundreds of ordinary boats (fishing boats, pleasure boats, etc) went across the channel and rescued soldiers.
Why is there no Dunkirk Spirit in Japan? Is that a very naive question? It seems that it is not totally impossible to get to the affected areas by road. If people can get enough gasoline, they could go and collect people and take them away, no? Would it just cause more chaos and trouble? Could it not be organized so that it did not do that?
The instinct of most people is to leave it to the government and big charities. Have those bodies done enough to deserve our trust? Would there not be a case for some kind of Dunkirk-style citizens' action, not relying on big bureaucracies? Everybody in Japan says they want to help, feel helpless etc. Might this not be a possible solution?
I am putting up material about the quake from time to time on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hp#!/tpgill
For now, here are some links to English-language stories that seem important.
Weeping n-plant boss admits risk of radiation deaths
Elderly patients abandoned to die
Mayor of disaster-hit town condemns authorities
Ishihara apologizes for “divine wrath” comment
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78168.html
Opposition leader refuses to join grand coalition
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20110320p2g00m0dm022000c.html
