Crisis in Japan - Page 169

MEDIA AND COMMENTARTORS CAUSING A ‘PR’ NIGHTMARE FOR FOREGNERS IN JAPAN

16 March 2011 – Tokyo, Japan – I guess if people hear something often enough they will start to believe it. The international media community are causing a public relations nightmare for foreigners living in quake hit Japan. It would seem that the most exciting images and stories of the quake and devastation which struck the nation last Friday are on a continuous loop. After all, normal people doing normal things doesn’t sell papers!

This is causing major headaches for foreigners in Japan having to dedicate time to calming friends and family back home. It would seem that the images and messages being broadcast by the media are contradictory to what we are telling our friends and family.

It is disappointing to see that the media have given up in some cases on dedicating their air time to the ‘actual’ and have focused their attention to filling any information vacuums with the ‘potential’. This specifically applies to the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. A huge list of ‘experts’ have been contacted and are offering academic and theory based opinions on the subject. In times like this it is difficult for anxious people the world over to filter information and often mistake opinion for fact.

Moreover, in many corners of the world the issue of nuclear energy is controversial. I note the nuclear debate in New Zealand has taken on a new lease of life. My question is whether it is important that this debate is needed to be had right at the moment? Is it possible for it to be postponed until say the week after next? For a lot of people again it is difficult to filter this commentary and debate from the facts of the actual situation here in Japan.

I noted in the Christchurch earthquake and similarly with this Japan situation that these crises pose a prime platform for many debates to be returned to the forefront. The urgency to try and have robust discussion about such issues and for commentators to gather mileage on the subject is concerning. This to me often suggests an element of parochialism and a disrespect and/or misunderstanding for the actual situation unfolding.

It needs to be made clear that the quake and tsunami damage is localised largely to the east coast of the northern part of Honshu Island around the city of Sendai. Most of the rest of Japan is in a state of “business as usual.” The whole nation is not crumbling as some media outlets would lead their audience to believe. My advice for people with friends and family in Japan is to take the word of their loved one in Japan as the most accurate. If the advice is not to panic or worry, then that is most probably the truth.

Many Japanese people are perplexed as to why the rest of the world is panicking so much? Some are beginning to second guess the information sources locally and are wondering whether the rest of the world knows something we don’t.

Many of the foreign community are uploading and encouraging others to change their Facebook profile pictures to the poster used by the British Ministry of Information during the Second World War. It simply says “keep calm and carry on.”