... no place to hide! I came back to Tsukuba yesterday to find a town returning to calm, neighbors helping neighbors, and a great spirit of volunteerism and service. People are staying out of the rain, trying to avoid drinking the water, and the ground still shakes now and then ... but, otherwise, pretty ordinary March day.

These are images and newsreports of the 1896! tsunami in Japan which is said to have killed 27,000! people, rivaling the current disaster. 30,000 may have died earlier the same year in a separate tsunami.



Nor is that the only such case, with dozens of earthquakes, tsunami, vo
past century in Japan ... with hundreds of thousands dead or displaced.

And, in great part, this is also a source of strength in Japanese national character, as people pull together at such times and overcome. Sure, this recent disaster has a couple of twists ... the nuclear things and such ... but countless Japanese folks (and non-Japanese too) are doing so in this case too. Something like how Americans needed the hardship of "crossing the great frontier" to make American Character ... Japanese may thrive from nature's hardship and challenge.

I am sitting in near-normal safety in Tsukuba, while folks are truly suffering 100 miles northeast of here. The highways are filled with relief trucks moving supplies that way, local community groups are pitching in too in my town and 1000 others. I sent Mina and Leon to be with relatives in Osaka, the "safe" part of Japan (although they also have had a killer tsunami or two down there in centuries past), because the radiation levels here in the air, rain and water are not advisable for growing children. For an old guy like me, however, little concern or threat.

The subject of today's sit-a-long ... no where to run to, baby ... no where we need or can run, baby ... just be still, baby, even as we run for the hills!

Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.

Visit the forum thread here!