Iwakuni Update 3/31 Thurs PM

We're still fine here & still watching NHK World, which last week added streaming live video on their website. Check it out - especially at the top of each hour when updated news begins live. News stories you can read are also frequently updated, so info is fresh & factual. I mostly enjoy the human interest stories - helps to balance the tragedy.

The crisis continues at the Daiichi Nuclear plant, but work also continues 24/7 to avert disaster. More foreign assistance has arrived: President Sarkozy of France arrived today, as well as a group of US Marine nuclear emergency specialists. As a reminder - please do not take seriously the "panic" headlines that abound everywhere. This situation changes hour-by-hour, but I believe it will be resolved.

Today NHK showed how people inside evacuation shelters are coping after nearly 3 weeks. Evacuees are recycling cardboard boxes in which supplies have arrived, and are using them to create low "privacy walls" around their family spaces. Whatever little they have with them is organized neat & tidy inside their own little space. Temporary housing units are being built and assignments being made for those who have lost their homes. Evacuees are excited about being able to leave the centers and have more privacy and perhaps, normalcy.

Of course you may have seen that the Emperor and Empress visited an evacuation shelter in Tokyo yesterday. This was unprecedented. This honored royal couple seldom leave the palace, except for rare, formal and/or special occasions. It was heartwarming to see them dressed so casually - like any other elderly couple, kneeling down on the floor to offer words of encouragement to evacuees.

One of the jobs of the 107,000 Japanese self-defense forces (Japan's military) is to recover bodies. They showed a small group working around the ruins of a destroyed school when they discovered the body of a young girl. All the men took off their hats, bowed their heads, and put their hands together for a moment of prayer. I assume they are doing this for each person found. And there are more and more every day.

On a brighter note, I saw my first 2011 cherry blossoms this morning! There's one tree on base that's always the first one to bloom. It's along the golf course in a whole line of trees, but this one apparently is situated to receive the fullest amount of Spring sunlight. Reminds me that there is always hope - and life begins anew. Check out this Cherry Blossom Forecast that the weather will feature on each night's news from now until cherry blossom season ends.

As always, thanks for continuing to read and for letting me know!