I remember back when the earthquake hit we were in the engineering lab at university and we were gathered around one of the workstations watching YouTube video's of the even half way around the world. We were shocked but we were fairly confident that their government had a handle on the situation. They are an earthquake prone country after all, they surely planned for this. My roommate was a transfer studying English and had a few friends from South Korea and Japan. They were going to a pub and I came along for the ride. I will never forget that night.

1. One of his friends got a phone call telling him his best friend was missing. He left and I never saw the guy again, I don't know what happened to his friend. This made the situation really feel real to me. Not just something just happening on TV.

2. While talking to a Japanese guy there (who I knew well and had a history of being BRUTALLY honest about his own country) said straight up: "This is worse than the government is admitting". Even before problems with Fukushima were announced he said this. I was dumbstruck by how the people could truly not believe their own government in any of the slightest and how despite this the Government perpetually wants to pretend everything is fine to keep the populous calm. As time has gone on I only further believe him on this fact. And I believe that it is still worse than they are currently admitting.