Abstract
Official initiatives to help the stricken population were not so timely. It took two full days before 13,000 troops from the Self Defence Forces could be deployed to the disaster area as bureaucrats and politicians bickered over the precise wording of the official request for assistance. There was a shortage of water in the area yet it took several days before neighbouring provinces decided to help by sending in supplies.1 Several weeks after the earthquake there were still people camping out in parks without shelter even though the temperature was near freezing point. Help from American doctors and a Swiss rescue team of dog handlers that could have arrived within hours was delayed for days due to bureaucratic red tape. When Japan finally accepted help offered from countries such as the Philippines and South Korea, the government legitimized it by stating that acceptance would ease these countries’ ability to accept future aid from Japan. It took a number of days before the Japanese Prime Minister visited the area. He was shown on television meeting the victims, urging them to struggle on (gambatte kudasai). Hospitals were overcrowded and influenza epidemics raged among the survivors.