After the Tohoku Earthquake, many foreign media outlets spoke of the impressive order and civility of the Japanese people.  And of course, in the middle of such destructive chaos, the reality that there was no looting or other crimes is a great and impressive feat.

However, if you take a closer look, in Tokyo (far from the disaster areas) people were lining up at the grocery stores, scrambling for the last bottle of water or cup of noodles.  Irrespective of the stricken area and only thinking of oneself, this only made anxiety spread across Tokyo and beyond.

Uncertainty will do that to people.  If they would have thought clearly, they would have realized that buying many bottles of milk was useless.  However, in a situation where one can not see clearly, running out and buying up all that you can feels safe.

Until the Fukushima nuclear power plant is stable, the prospect of the disaster area’s reconstruction will definitely not improve.  Despite a situation like this, many people in Tokyo, who were unharmed or received no damage to their personal belongings, are slowly but surely started to move forward and think optimistically.   Furthermore, the government is repeatedly saying “This is safe and that is safe” however, many people up north are far from obtaining that sort of piece of mind and ridding themselves from uncertainty.  So the next time we go shopping, let’s think of them and buy wisely.