Photo: Balconi Coffee Co., West LA

[English Transcript courtesy of Imperial Household Agency of Japan]]

I am deeply saddened by the devastating situation in the areas hit by the Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake, an unprecedented 9.0-magnitude earthquake, which struck Japan on March 11th. The number of casualties claimed by the quake and the ensuing tsunami continues to rise by the day, and we do not yet know how many people have lost their lives. I am praying that the safety of as many people as possible will be confirmed. My other grave concern now is the serious and unpredictable condition of the affected nuclear power plant. I earnestly hope that through the all-out efforts of all those concerned, further deterioration of the situation will be averted.

Relief operations are now under way with the government mobilizing all its capabilities, but, in the bitter cold, many people who were forced to evacuate are facing extremely difficult living conditions due to shortages of food, drinking water and fuel. I can only hope that by making every effort to promptly implement relief for evacuees, their conditions will improve, even if only gradually, and that their hope for eventual reconstruction will be rekindled. I would like to let you know how deeply touched I am by the courage of those victims who have survived this catastrophe and who, by bracing themselves, are demonstrating their determination to live on.

I wish to express my appreciation to the members of the Self-Defense Forces, the police, the fire department, the Japan Coast Guard and other central and local governments and related institutions, as well as people who have come from overseas for relief operations and the members of various domestic relief organizations, for engaging in relief activity round the clock, defying the danger of recurring aftershocks. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to them.

I have been receiving, by cable, messages of sympathy from the heads of state of countries around the world, and it was mentioned in many of those messages that the thoughts of the peoples of those countries are with the victims of the disaster. These messages I would like to convey to the people in the afflicted regions.

I have been told that many overseas media are reporting that, in the midst of deep sorrow, the Japanese people are responding to the situation in a remarkably orderly manner, and helping each other without losing composure. It is my heartfelt hope that the people will continue to work hand in hand, treating each other with compassion, in order to overcome these trying times.

I believe it extremely important for us all to share with the victims as much as possible, in whatever way we can, their hardship in the coming days. It is my sincere hope that those who have been affected by the disaster will never give up hope and take good care of themselves as they live through the days ahead, and that each and every Japanese will continue to care for the afflicted areas and the people for years to come and, together with the afflicted, watch over and support their path to recovery.

Yamazaki Masayosi "Yawarakai Gatsu"

Photo by MiloPing/Flickr

This short story by Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami UFO in Kushiro is being re-published in The New Yorker as part of its special Japan Issue themed "Dark Spring." Originally published in The New Yorker a decade ago, this month's reprint is unfortunately behind the magazine's paywall. Komatta na!

Click here to download:

UFO IN KUSHIRO by HARUKI MURAKAMI.doc (146 KB)

The reactors are a-melting

They're shutting the Shinkansen down

Kids are being born with flippers

Koda Kumi cannot be found

And Amaterasu is on NHK

smiling but not saying a word

She just keeps spraying the seawater

Cause those micro-sieverts can't be ignored

And Rosemary Church on CNN

has a crazed smile on her face

"Their infrastructure and preparation are second to none

This shit couldn't have happened in a better place"

The Yokosonews dewd says this is not time

for talk of curry shortages or apocalypse

Two-thousand bloated bodies at Minamisanriku

was an unfortunate glitch

And somewhere behind the imperial moat

The Old Man awaits his cue

Like his father and his father before him

To mount a white horse is what he needs to do

babamoto

Incredible HD video footage of tsunami hitting Sendai, Miyagi-ken four days ago.