Really Bad Timing

So, I get into work today after seven days off (five of which were spent oblivious to world news in Thailand), and discover that our first headline for the newscast is none other than textbooks in Japan. Apparently, 12 middle school textbooks have been approved with all of them saying Dokdo belongs to Japan and four of them going as far to say that Korea is illegally occupying the islands.

Really, Japan? You're going through your worst disaster ever, and you decide to come out with this zinger? I know that this has been a huge issue for years, and it seems like it's going to be one of those issues that will probably never get solved, but I would have thought they would have at least pushed things off for a little bit before starting in on something controversial. Especially with Korea sending a bunch of rescue teams and money to help rebuild the affected area. Of course, I'm not naive enough to think this would settle the deal and all the problems between Korea and Japan would magically be solved. But I had hoped that the peace would last a bit longer and possibly lead to some sort of improvement.

But instead, Japan says the books are approved and now Koreans are pissed off and saying they won't donate to relief aid anymore. Some are calling on the Red Cross to go in and make sure the funds that have already been sent are being used appropriately because they don't trust the Japanese government.

And now, the media is focused on the bickering and name-calling when it should be focused on the victims and getting Japan back on its feet. Oi, I'm definitely rolling my eyes at this one. Mostly because I don't understand the logic behind it. Why bring this up now? Wouldn't it have been better to just keep receiving the aid and let the peace last until things were mostly settled, then go back to being at each other's throats?

AWOL

I apologize for not being around as of late. Ever since the disaster in Japan, work has been a bit overwhelming. Not to mention my new PT work is consuming a lot of my free time.

I've noticed a lot of posts on Facebook, Twitter and on the blogs about Japan. For the time being, I've refrained from commenting or re-tweeting or re-blogging. (I did, however, do up-to-date news clips on my Tumblr while I was working through the first few days of the disaster.) I don't like to sit and talk about what's going on outside of work. Some of my friends have questioned me a bit over my lack of response to the disaster.

I work in the news industry. Every day I go into work, I spend a good 8 hours looking at pictures, watching video footage, editing stories and keeping up with updates. I probably know much more about what's going on over there than most, mainly because it's my job to keep up with it. This weekend, I spent 22 hours doing this on Saturday and Sunday. My office watched in horror as the tsunami hit live on Friday.

I spend all day surrounded by what is happening in Japan, so forgive me if I don't want to talk about it when I get off work. It doesn't mean that I don't care. I do. But when you spend all day living, eating, breathing and dreaming something, you kind of don't want to spend your free time talking about it. Or posting about it on Facebook. You just want to relax and forget about the chaos going on in the world, just for a few hours.

So please don't interpret my lack of noise about Japan, both in person and online, as a lack of caring. I'd just rather spend my personal time talking about happier subjects...