Radiation,"Flyjin," and Other Matters

I guess I should continue the updates as family members have been asking about the conditions on the ground here recently. I suppose there's been a lot of fuss about traces of radiation found in the water and foods like spinach and milk. The amount is not enough to cause significant damage. They have been cautioning the consumption with small children and pregnant women because children's cell divide faster. Here's a link to the WHO explanation of the situation.

Things continue to be touch and go at the nuclear reactors in Fukushima, but largely under control. The evacuation zone suggested by the Japanese government was not as large as suggested by the U.S. government and they have recently extended it, but it remains very far from Tokyo. I feel no danger.

There's a new term being bandied about the fleeing foreigners (known as gaijin in Japanese) in Japan "flyjin." When the earthquake happened and the ensuing problems with nuclear reactors in Fukushima many foreigners fled to south or out of the country to their home countries or places like Singapore. A lot of Japanese people have mentioned that they were disappointed by this. I heard the buzz on discussion sites like 2-Channel and Twitter question the validity of giving foreigners voting rights if this is how they react in a crisis. The German and French embassies suggested that their nationals evacuate Tokyo. So they were among the first to go. Wealthy expats in industries like banking were among the first wave to leave as well. Most of the people I know stayed, but some left and some went south to places like Osaka and Kyoto. Many "flyjin" seem to be returning this week.

I work at several universities and many have cancelled or scaled down graduation ceremonies and postponed opening ceremonies, guidance and orientation. Meiji University has cancelled all ceremonies and will start two weeks late, Chuo university will proceed as planned, and Musashi University has delayed the opening of classes for 10 days. I'm still waiting to hear from another. But with all the free time I might try to sneak away for a few days in April using mileage accumulated over the year.

Comments

[Prasad]

Japan is suffering with radiation now which is the worlds biggest issue. All over the World is now watching how Japan will recover from the earthquake and tsunami & terror of nuclear power plants. Now this the situation all of us (World Countries and its leaders) should help Japan as quickly as possible. We all need to generate the power with the other resources like thermal, solar energy so we need to forget to build Nuclear Power Plants. They are very dangerous.

[Peter M]

Interesting that Japanese would bring up the voting rights. The fact that Japanese treat foreigners with little respect does not exactly encourage loyalty to Japan.

There are people who were born and bread in Japan but do not have the right to vote, or would have to give up the right to their parents nationality in order to do so.

I personally know people who have lived in Japan virtually all their lives, speak and read Japanese fluently who still feel no loyalty to Japan and only stayed because they couldn't afford to leave, and people with children (having lost their jobs as the foreigners where the first to be fired in the crisis) who are on state benefits and couldn't leave the areas near the disaster zone as they were told they would loose those benefits, permanently.

My guess is that as a result of Flygin the Japanese will be more hostile to towards foreigners and just when they need all that migrant labour to help re-build their country they will (again) turn inwards on them selves and move into another dark era for Japan. I Hope they dont, I hope they reduce the prohibitive visa system and encourage labour migration, as encourage employers to reduce discrimination in their companies (including against different Japanese racial groups).

[MC]

Peter M, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. My overall impression is that many Japanese people are upset about the mass exodus. However, they are very reluctant to open up the country for immigration for jobs like nursing and nursing home care among several occupations which are dwindling. We'll see how it washes out in the end.

[Hans Brinckmann]

Could someone tell me whether the term 'Flygin' was actually used in the Japanese media, and if so where? According to my well-read Japanese friends, they haven't come across the term in the newspapers or on TV.
In any case it is not only 'foreigners' who moved away from Tokyo. Many Japanese did too, if they had the money and could afford to leave their job at least temporarily. Conversely, most of my foreign friends stayed put, even people who had a choice.
Hans B.

[MC]

As far as I know Hans, it wasn't used in the Japanese media. This blog post and comments section discusses the origins and Japanese use:

http://www.mutantfrog.com/2011/03/24/the-fly-jin-hype-or-%E3%80%8C%E3%83%95%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3%E3%80%8D%E3%81%AB%E8%A9%B2%E5%BD%93%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%81%8C%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8B/