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Why is Japan so special?

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Reply 40

Shippy

economy, nuclear stuff thats going down, technology. it's a pretty important place.

Reply 41

Steph90

Original post by spongle

I didn't want to be accused of being a terrible person by quoting the other ones! :colondollar:

Yeah, I actually thought that might be the case.

Some of them are very funny. But one or two are a bit harsh, even by my standards.

Reply 42

TobeTheHero

Maybe because they're incredibly important to the global economy.

Reply 43

sucess

Original post by rylit91

Because aside from Western Europe, Japan is the only 'race' I deem to be civilised.

Reply 44

Sushidelight

Because of my childhood memories...

I love you Japan! :cry2:

Reply 45

Aj12

Original post by Nayred

Bangladeshi Cyclones exceeded 100,000.

And this may to. When you have 10k people missing from one town

Reply 46

mikeylfc1989

Queer folk who live their lives as such. Lovely people.

Reply 47

Cynthi007

Japan is important???? really? maybe for economic reasons and publicity but not for me. :smile:

Reply 48

Martyn*

Japan is the third biggest economy. Not good for the U.S. in a time when nations are competing for resources.

Solution: create an earthquake over Japan.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 49

loz957

Japan isn't special to me. Japanese are generally very rude people, with a sick and twisted sense of humour. They are also a pro-whaling nation, and have a shocking class system which segregates their society.

Reply 50

Architecture-er

Because Japan is an MEDC - and it's buildings are designed to resist such disasters. The fact that such widespread damage was experienced despite all of this is why it's so widely covered. Bangladesh floods every year, and the buildings aren't developed to cope with the issue, so it's a case of same old, same old (which unfortunately doesn't interest the media).

Reply 51

Abbadon27

Because there are a powerful/important country.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 52

Ben Butler

Japan is 'so special' as you put it because it is an MEDC, one of the most advanced nations in the world and undoubtedly what happens to them will have an effect on us. The British Media do tend to jump at anything that happens to nations like us and in Western Europe and America but will ignore coverage in other countries. You do have a point but Japan deserves all the mention it's getting at the moment because it's really distressing what is happening over there.

Reply 53

Joinedup

I think largely cos there were a lot of western news crews already there when it happened - they were already there because it's an economically and culturally important country.

also it helps keep you on top of the rolling news if your natural disaster looks like a special effects disaster movie.

Reply 54

Teveth

Original post by flying plum

We were talking about this at work today, actually, because someone pointed out that 90,000 people died in the Sichuan earthquake and it barely made the 10 O'Clock news after the initial quake. The floods in Pakistan are generally considered to be the worst natural disaster of our generation, but had no where near the coverage of the 2004 Tsunami.

Our thoughts were that people have a particular fear about tsunami, maybe from horror movies. The almost anthropomorphism of the tsunami wave chasing us, and that horrible feeling of impending doom (the clip from 2004 of the person on the beach frozen solid in the face of the oncoming wave still haunts me a little). And perhaps there's also that bit of 'Western centricism'...we identify more with Japanese culture, being affluent, and can 'understand' it better, perhaps? There's also the element of 'sudden' and quick devastation - I think the death toll for the Pakistan floods was in the region of 1500, but over 14 million people were affected...but perhaps this isn't as 'shocking' as dramatic Tsunami footage, which has killed tens of thousands instantly?

By who?

The death toll didn't even come close to that of the 2004 Tsunami.

Reply 55

akash11

Japan is a much grater signifent contibuter to the world econemy we care about them so much more

Reply 56

KissMyArtichoke

I think the abundance of footage probably helped a bit, we tend to get a lot less frightening videos of disasters in 3rd world countries, which spark the media hype.
It is pretty serious though, a nuclear disaster in such a small and relatively densely populated country could have a far more serious impact than Chernobyl. It doesn't sound like it'll come to that with Japan's much better designed reactors.

Reply 57

mrt23498

Original post by Nayred

There have been so many recent disasters - Bangladesh Cyclones, Mexico Floods, Indonesian Mud Volcano, North Korea Floods, etc - that had far more casualties than Japan, yet the media keeps stressing as if this disaster is more important than any other. Prominent celebrities are even holding concerts to raise money for the victims. This is totally fine and the Japanese disaster is tragic but why is Japan so important?

You are using North Korea as an argument. Very few journalists can get into North Korea. It would be a very short news report and thats if reuters were ever to be told about it.

Reply 58

Fusilero

Because it's recent and relatively more devastating. The Christchurch Earthquake and the Chilean Landslides got great coverage during their time as well.

Reply 59

bonana567

Globalisation has made traditional tiger economies such as Japan become increasingly important to us in the west. A prime example can be found when reviewing the UK's balance of payments deficit which currently stands at around £9.5bn, this is exponentially large, and a reason for this is due to the high number of consumer electronics produced and exported from Japan. Although the Japanese economy has been slowing recently, it still plays a major role in the world economy, and with this latest disaster we can expect to see consumer confidence fall in Japan, hoarding of food, inflation rising and falling production of exported goods which will increase prices for UK consumers and increase inflationary pressures for the UK as a whole.

EDIT; why neg rep? What I am saying is correct - Honda have announced closures of 4 main factories in Japan and they have also announced that UK factories may have to downsize whilst they find new suppliers due to the earthquake