Tohoku Wisdom...Un-Marketing in Japan

It's hard to believe it's been one year since the earthquake/tsunami in the Tohoku area.  You wouldn't know anything disastrous had happened by looking at my downtown Nagoya neighborhood.  There has been a boom in housing construction, and the nearby highway-in-the-sky construction continues full-speed.  The economy is gradually getting stronger, not to mention that the yen has remained too strong.  This is the wonder of Japan.  Though many sent supplies and volunteered, the Japanese primarily responded to this disaster by getting up the next day and going to work, working hard, and doing the same thing everyday. We love being a part of this great economy that enables Japan to overcome hardship and help other countries, too.  


But we don't want to miss what the survivors in Tohoku can teach us.  A friend of mine knows a man who lost everything in the tsunami.  When he was interviewed on Japan public television, he said something quite amazing, "...Even though this huge tsunami washed away all of my past and all my financial basis, I felt rather refreshed...Before the tsunami, I was thinking so much about my company and its finances.  But on the following morning, I saw beautiful sunshine and even a hint of early spring (which I had never noticed before the tsunami).  In my own backyard I found small flowers about to bloom.  I was surprised by such a joy in those things...I do not despair of what I lost, but thank God for what I have in my hands. And for hope."  (It seems that when we think we must have something, it usually has us.)


Other friends who have spent time in Tohoku have talked about how thankful the people have been for every act of kindness by volunteers to the point of believing their lives have been enriched because of the disaster.  


Tohoku has shown the world how to keep going, living and hoping even when all their "stuff" has been washed away.  They've answered the age-old question, "What if the worst happens?" with the response, "View your situation with a thankful heart and find the good in it."  (When I think of it, this response works well even when the worst hasn't happened.)  

Let's buy and sell as people have since the beginning of civilization since commerce makes civilization possible, but let's not forget the un-marketing truth of the matter...that life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions.  That's something we here in Japan understand a lot better today thanks to Tohoku.   www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/