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In Japan, more than 270,000 cars were ruined in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. For the msnbc.com team reporting on the recovery in the Kesennuma area, the sheer number of ruined vehicles has been surprising. Multimedia producer Jim Seida captured a surround image of dozens of ruined cars neatly stacked for disposal. Explore them in the panoramic image below.
The cars will go to good use. They plan to scrap them and use the steel for rebuilding.
Nahoko Yamada who is working with the msnbc.com team reports the following:
The number of cars that were washed away by tsunami totals 270,000 units in three affected prefectures, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on April 16. That's 7 percent of total registered cars in those areas. The hardest hit areas were Fukushima and Miyagi, with over 100,000 trashed cars each.
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Cars are stacked atop one another in Saichi, outside Kesennuma, Japan, Monday, June 6, 2011.
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Most running third world vehicles look worse than this.
The vehicles, of course, are entirely useless not because they were dented and dirtied, but because the electronics were destroyed by water, and the mold now infesting every nook, cranny, and hidden place is literally life-threatening.
But Japan has far worse problems than the destruction of the vehicles, or the cleanup of ravaged structures. The country is notoriously polluted with toxic chemicals and poorly-designed waste dump sites - and so are its rivers and lakes. The earthquake itself may have caused some of those materials to spread - but the tsunami absolutely has.
For decades, there have been calls to restructructure "Japan Inc." to deal with a host of political, social and physical ills. Perhaps the devastation of these events provides a fulcrum with which to at last lever such reforms.
They won't get much steel from those cars- most of the weight is plastics, glass, rubber, cloth etc. If the Japanese need steel, I can think of 5 huge whaling ships that represent massive amounts of steel, and could provide much needed resources while saving a fortune in operating costs to an already cash strapped government. They are after all government research vessels, right? They need to turn their attention to far more pressing matters now- the rebuilding over their nation above the arrogance of a few. Scrap the whaling fleet, and rebuild your country.
The radiation contamination from the Nuclear Power plant meltdown may be the worst part.
Mr. Citizen-2520970: The area is too far from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant for radiation to be a concern.
Dear Robin Steele,
I agree saving the whales is an important thing but there is a place for everything and trying to shove your agenda down the throat of a people that need your help, not your ire. This is not the proper place, if you want to tout save the whales put up a website and do so, but right now, right here, we need to work on what we can do to help all of those fellow humans that need our help.
John Lewis,
DAMN WELL SAID!!!
Yes, the Japanese people are hurting right now, and, yes, they deserve at least our concern for their immediate problem. But Japan is a small country, and in a country that small, where most of their resources come from the entire rest of the world, Our steel, food from all the oceans, shark fins off the coast of California as another example, they as a nation need to look to their own resources to find what they already have that can help them rebuild. Now, as I stated above, Japanese cars have a fairly low ratio of steel as opposed to other countries cars. Not a bad thing, improves handling and mileage. But their whaling fleet, which has become a political and economic albatross around their necks, would probably yield some 50 - 60 thousand tons. I don't need to start a website. Paul Watson has spent his entire adult life paying dues for that, I am merely suggesting that for the Japanese, an opportunity now exists to dismantle this very unpopular and needless program, not with embarrassment, but instead with the completion of their research program, and showing the rest of the world how it can make clever uses of a resource in this moment in their history. There are plenty of folks here who have comments related only to the recovery in Japan, how many have actually posted suggestions? How many are offering ideas that will help? If you are on the side of commercial whaling, then I fear you and I will have no common ground, but 3 months on, it is time for Japan to start making some hard choices, and move into the future. A future that stops needless killing and focuses on the rebuilding of their country.
Recycle that mass of junk.
Whats done is done. Let Japan handle their road to recovery how they see fit without intervention from outside interests that have agendas, can we all say U.S.A.?. Now that we as a nation have poured out great sums of cash and sympathy to Japan and the world as a whole, let us turn our attention inwards to our own economic and social crisis that is only getting worse, not better, lets feel sorry for our selves for a change, not as individuals but as a people with a common ground.
If you have read this and still you cannot fathom what i have writ upon this page then ponder no further. You catch my meaning i presume?. Thanks, and for the honor to be an AMERICAN.
I take great solace knowing that there are sages like yourself who can articulate what it means to be a great American.
Really? What great sums of cash are you talking about?
Should we not have sent our sympathies to Japan?
That is beyond pathetic. I have absolutely no common ground with you or your selfishness.
Ryan2:
Really? What great sums of cash are you talking about? Should we not have sent our sympathies to Japan?
and
That is beyond pathetic. I have absolutely no common ground with you or your selfishness.
Ryan2 are you serious? You appear to be a person that has no concept of the "TRILLIONS" of dollars in debt (and growing rapidly) this country is in. I don't think it is "selfishness" to quit spending (or giving away) money we do not have. Granted Japan needed and still needs assistance but the U.S. has been giving them assistance since the end of WW2 and, continues to do so today. Have you maxed out your credit cards, emptied out your savings and checking accounts, sold all of your possessions and sent the money to Japan? Don't be a hypocrite sir especially when it is not your money. By the way, where are the other countries (especially China, Saudia Arabia, S. Korea, et al) in helping out?
I can only state that the only ones I know that do not know the "great sums of cash" we have given Japan, and damn near every other country in the world, are liberal politicians and Americans who pay little or no taxes. When this country (U.S.) goes bankrupt, the only country that would probably try and help is Japan, and now they can't. I am sympathetic to Japan as I lived in their beautiful country for three years and hope to God they recover. I also hope to God America recovers but it doesn't seem likely that we will even start until possibly Jan 20, 2013.
I'll ask you one thing sir: How many countries (including Japan) sent financial assistance to America for say, 9/11, Katrina, Joplin, etc., etc. Sympathy is great but spending money you don't have is called stupid or an ex-spouse.
carl444
alot of countries have offered aid to the US after katrina. the US just didnt accept the aid.
for instance Venezuela offered to send planeloads of aid, including 2,000 soldiers, firefighters, volunteers and other disaster specialists. Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, also pledged $1 million in aid through its Citgo Petroleum Corp., plus fuel to help in hard-hit areas. Bush refused this aid. Afghanistan donated $100, 000 to the hurricane victims, albania, argentina australia, many others.Cuba was one of the first countries to offer aid, Cuba offered to send 1,586 doctors and 26 tons of medicine. This aid was rejected by the State Department. Also, before the 2006 world baseball classic, Cuba said they would donate their share of the winnings to Katrina victims to ensure the united states embargo against cuba was not violated. However, after the tournament, the U.S. government refused to allow the donation.
An article in the April 29, 2007 Washington Post claimed that of the $854 million offered by foreign countries, whom the article dubs "allies," to the US Government, only $40 million of the funds had been spent "for disaster victims or reconstruction" as of the date of publication (less than 5%).Additionally, a large portion of the $854 million in aid offered went uncollected, including over $400 million in oil (almost 50%)
Japans disaster affects us all. just this week Tepco confirmed 3 FULL nuclear meltdowns that happened hours after the initial earthquake. As the Japan Timesreports today, the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has "more than doubled its estimate of the radioactive material ejected into the air in the early days of the Fukushima nuclear crisis". Nuclear reactions are still ongoing. Radiation danger should be in the news. There is no safe level of radiation
"For radioactive nuclear waste, there is no safe or secure storage anywhere on this planet. There are 1,623 hazardous Superfund sites all over the US (such as Hanford Nuclear Reservation, built in 1942, near Richland, WA, and the now highly polluted Columbia River) leaking radioactive poisons on a daily basis for decades. There is another working nuclear facility, San Onofre, located between San Diego and Los Angeles along the beach right on the Pacific Ocean. This facility was built on the San Andreas fault, an active earthquake zone. The nuclear contamination is enormous and, every day, this puts us all at risk. Dr. Rosalie Bertell, one of the world’s leading authorities who has written extensively about the spectacular flaws and true costs of nuclear energy, notes: “The problem of secure storage of nuclear waste…remains dangerous for millennia.”
The half-life of many radioactive elements is thousands of years. There is no safe level of exposure! It’s all Orwellian media hype and corporate lies. The plutonium fuel used at Fukushima Unit 3 reactor uses MOX [mixed oxide], a plutonium-uranium fuel mixture. A single milligram of MOX is 2-million times more deadly that enriched uranium. NOTE: Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years; and Uranium-235 has a half-life of 700-million years.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic bomb survivors are still being monitored. Birth defects, cancers, and miscarriages are high, just as these continue to be so at Chernobyl. This April 25, it will be 25 years since Chernobyl’s nuclear catastrophe. Sterility figures (for human and all other life) continue to increase. Nothing is healed. Nothing is fixed for millions of people. The children are most vulnerable, and suffer enormously.. The horrific on-going crisis in Iraq [an ancient culture was illegally invaded and destroyed!] is also greatly exacerbated due to US bombings of Depleted (Radioactive) Uranium, poisoning the entire population. Now, illness and birth defects are common throughout the entire Iraqi population. It is all for control of their oil. Afghanis were also illegally bombed with DU. Libya is next with yet another illegal invasion and DU bombings. None of the real and tragic stories are ever reported by the mainstream corporate-controlled media. This is in violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions. This is heinous! However, it all is irrelevant how much harm is perpetrated on innocent civilian populations when criminals are in charge. War is big business, while the rest of our economy is in a state of deliberately orchestrated collapse" -Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri
Carl444: "By the way, where are the other countries (especially China, Saudia Arabia, S. Korea, et al) in helping out?" All of the countries you list (as well as scores of others) have given (and are giving) material, human, and financial aid to Japan. The largest amounts of money came from Australia and Brunei.
"How many countries (including Japan) sent financial assistance to America for say, 9/11, Katrina, Joplin, etc., etc." Japan sent financial and material assistance to the United States after the 11 September incidents and after Hurricaine Katrina; I'm not sure about after the recent outbreak of tornados.
Carl,
I am aware of the trillions of dollars of debt. (I'm not sure why you used quotations - are you trying to save we aren't in debt by trillions?) I also know we had a surplus after Clinton and one of the first things Bush did was enact his sweeping tax breaks and the next year the government was borrowing money again. However that is an entirely different argument.
Do me a favor and give me one legitimate source stating the amount of money we sent to Japan for the Tsunami. From what I can tell, its around $12.5 million. Now $12.5 million might sound like a decent sum to one person. But to the U.S. its less than pocket change.
And there it is... You don't want to hear any other viewpoints. You already have your preconceived notions of the entire Liberal base. It wouldn't matter what the current president does. You still wouldn't be happy. You blame only Liberals for the state of the country and you and your "Conservatives" can do no wrong.
As I said before, we have no common ground and this argument is futile. Your facts are skewed and your preconceived notions have clouded your ability to be unbiased.
@ Ryan2. People miss-use the term "surplus" all the time when it comes to Clinton. The claim is generally made that Clinton had a surplus of $69 billion in FY1998, $123 billion in FY1999 and $230 billion in FY2000 . In that same link, Clinton claimed that the national debt had been reduced by $360 billion in the last three years, presumably FY1998, FY1999, and FY2000--though, interestingly, $360 billion is not the sum of the alleged surpluses of the three years in question ($69B + $123B + $230B = $422B, not $360B).
While not defending the increase of the federal debt under President Bush, it's curious to see Clinton's record promoted as having generated a surplus. It never happened. There was never a surplus and the facts support that position. In fact, far from a $360 billion reduction in the national debt in FY1998-FY2000, there was an increase of $281 billion.
Verifying this is as simple as accessing the U.S. Treasury website where the national debt is updated daily and a history of the debt since January 1993 can be obtained. Considering the government's fiscal year ends on the last day of September each year, and considering Clinton's budget proposal in 1993 took effect in October 1993 and concluded September 1994 (FY1994), here's the national debt at the end of each year of Clinton Budgets:
Fiscal
Year
Year
Ending
National Debt
Deficit
FY1993
09/30/1993
$4.411488 trillion
FY1994
09/30/1994
$4.692749 trillion
$281.26 billion
FY1995
09/29/1995
$4.973982 trillion
$281.23 billion
FY1996
09/30/1996
$5.224810 trillion
$250.83 billion
FY1997
09/30/1997
$5.413146 trillion
$188.34 billion
FY1998
09/30/1998
$5.526193 trillion
$113.05 billion
FY1999
09/30/1999
$5.656270 trillion
$130.08 billion
FY2000
09/29/2000
$5.674178 trillion
$17.91 billion
FY2001
09/28/2001
$5.807463 trillion
$133.29 billion
As can clearly be seen, in no year did the national debt go down, nor did Clinton leave President Bush with a surplus that Bush subsequently turned into a deficit.
Brian,
Thanks for the response. Although as stated before, this is an entirely different beast and probably shouldn't be argued in this forum.
However I will respond. While you are absolutely correct in your figures for the national debt. It did slowly increase during Clinton's presidency. You are wrong in your claim that Clinton did not create a surplus. He did in fact create a surplus. He and the government at the time chose not to pay off the debt with it. Instead they spent it elsewhere.
The National Debt and the yearly surplus/deficit are related but its not a seesaw as many people believe. If one goes up the other doesn't necessarily go down.
And yes, Bush did turn a rising surplus into a deficit within a year of being in office.
Lol @ "He did in fact create a surplus. He and the government at the time chose not to pay off the debt with it. Instead they spent it elsewhere."
Are you serious right now? Do you understand what a surplus means? It means extra money left over, unspent. If he chose to spend the "surplus" to a point where 123B was still added to deficit, then he did not have a surplus, he had a yearly deficit. Do you understand economics?
And for the sake of arguing, It has taken Obama a year and a half to add 4 Trillion to the deficit. In comparison, it took Bush 7 years to accomplish the same deficit, so please answer this question. Who is more economically responsible? Bush spent Trillions on the war. I can't argue that, and a lot of people do not agree with that money spent, even though it was spent defending this great Nation. Where has Obama spent the 4 Trillion in the last 2 years? What has been accomplished? Unemployment still up, no jobs on the horizon, housing market still in the dumps... Obamanomics is nothing but wasting our money, our children's money, and so on.
Brian,
They didn't use the surplus to pay off the national debt. It doesn't mean there wasn't a surplus. The surplus usually goes to the next years budget on various programs... Eventually it is spent. You clearly don't understand the difference between the national debt and a deficit/surplus.
Now you want to argue about something else because you were wrong about your original post?
Maybe the two wars that were created to defend this great nation?
I don't agree with Obama's aggressive spending. Although the majority of the money he has spent on the bailouts has been returned. However the economy was already crippled when Obama took office.
It seems as though your emotions have clouded your ability to see the bigger picture. Like the previous commenter, you have already made up your mind. If you aren't open for a reasonable debate, discontinue posting and join a rally.
I wasn't wrong about the original post. You need to understand economics before you can argue them. Go take a class on government spending and then you might be educated enough to understand the distinction between a surplus/deficit. You are still mixing them up. If I were to use your logic, I could say that Bush had a 2 trillion dollar surplus in his 8 years as president, but instead of paying down the national debt, he chose to spend 6 trillion dollars on the war. How does that sound?
I'm sorry Brian. You're wrong. Go do a little research. Check out factcheck.org or the CBO.gov and read up on the Clinton Surplus.
Lol, no better argument than "I'm sorry.... you're wrong." Your lack of knowledge proves your inability to do research yourself. I love how you tell me to go to a website (factcheck.org) that is run by left wing facists. I'd rather take my facts from unbiased sources. Go to the US Treasury website and look at the deficit change from year to year, that's all I need to say. Have a great life.
Brian,
Stop cherry picking my comments. Did you gloss over the CBO.gov site I also referenced - which incidentally is a source used by factcheck.org for the Clinton Surplus.
Do you know what the Congressional Budget Office is? Is that also a left wing fascist site?
Your one argument is to check the US Treasury site - which I already explained has nothing to do with a budget surplus. The last three years of the Clinton administration have been deemed a surplus. That's a simple fact. I'm not sure which part of that you don't understand.
I'm sorry Brian. You are still wrong. Clinton ran a surplus.
Remember, that as we prize our(USA) individuality - so do they follow closely the concept of only the Team . Socially, individuals are second to society as a whole. I lived in Nagano for a year teaching english- language of business.As much as they love our music,society,and our personalities, they are still an alien concept to the western mind. No insult intended. JT
Jerry SThierheimer: With respect, I would differ with your assessment. With more than 20 years' living in both the United States and in Japan, I can testify that I have seen far more different personalities and far more individualism in Japan than I ever did in the United States.
I'm pretty sure that'll buff right out.
Japan was always notorious for spending piles of cash on infrastructure projects which were then funneled to favored contractors. I imagine with massive reconstruction in the works, everyone is set to gain. Perhaps the construction industry will gain a much-needed boost. Tragically Japan has plenty of decent construction heavy industry companies, so it won't mean additional work for Caterpillar. Alternatively, if those factories are down, it might be a boon for the construction supply industries in Korea and the United States...?
you write this like japan is the only country that awards kickbacks to friendly contractors?
USA leads the free world in rewarding those who pay at the ballot box!!!
We lost over 140 lives during the storms to hit the US in the last month. My heart goes to those families who have to rebuild their homes and their lives as well and I can feel their pain. The usual comments I see here reflect a callousness and lack of compassion for the Japanese people who lost no only their cars, but their health, their livelihood and over ten thousand people dead and missing. What is the matter with you people? Don't you feel anything anymore? As Americans we are perhaps the luckiest people on Earth and should be more compassionate and empathic to people who are suffereing accross the World. Shame on you all.
Bill,
Well-put. But I'm afraid your remarks will be read by those whose minds have been dulled by life-long insensitivity and lack of empathy. It is a sad day when three hundred million sheep willingly allow themselves to be led down a path of total ruin due to their complete lack of understanding what's happening in the world around them.
Each and every AMERICAN is 534 thousand in the hole with our obligations . That makes us the pourest nation on the PLANET!Even a Broke dick ILLEGAL MEXICAN is better off becouse they dont have repay this vast sum .SO ASK THEM TO SEND SOME CASH
People can we not just help another human, without either breaking our arm patting ourselves on the back or crying what a hardship we have put our self in. people you help others because it is the right thing to do, and it doesn’t mater what you think of their government, we need to help people, not a government.
Although devastating, this situation is somewhat the least of the problems now and in the future. It's great
to hear the cars will be recycled into buildings. I agree with the comment that we need to start helping our own people, our own problems. Japan, I feel for ya but I can't reach ya
Looks like plenty of good wheels and tires. . .
Me like that "Homy GT Cruise"mobile...it could go either way if they tried to sell those in the US.
I concur with the proposal to scrap the cars and use the metal for construction. That would be a great idea. Save on the monetary costs which come with having to acquire alot of metal (granted alot of the metal from those cars is probably no good but every little bit helps) and take care of a waste problem all at once. I just hope they can recover quickly. This won't be the end of the Japanese but it may be the beginning of them returning to a sense of community and forgoing the obsession with Western 'Culture' they developed within the last 20 years, give or take. I pray for a swift reconstruction period, and not just for the homes they've lost.
What else is new? America will foot the bill once again. And still not get repaid!
An honest question: What bill are they footing, and what do you mean by again?
Also the Chinese are giving us quite a loan. It seems that the US doesn't pay for everything.
Imagine the gas we could save here if more cars of this size would just be accepted by U.S. drivers!
Al Fonso- You must not get out much. "Cars of this size" are everywhere.
Bring back the '61 Continental!
I feel sorry for the people who lost personal items in all those vehicles: money, rings, wallets, cd/dvd collections, clothes, etc. How much of that stuff that might even be salvageable valuables and heirlooms (like jewelry) will simply go into the furnaces will be a tragedy. Of course it is worth mentioning the most vaulable commodity, life, will never be recovered.
Insurance company's are footing the bill and the Asian new car manufacturers will benefit from 300,000 scraped cars.
Radiation is at its highest levels worldwide and the Media is worried about several scrapped cars.
Big H-2601230
"Radiation is at its highest levels worldwide and the Media is worried about several scrapped cars."
HUH? Where did you get that idea?
Stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupid. Could they have picked a worse place to do a 360 degree view? There is nothing to look at.
Those photos look like anywhere in West Santa Maria, CA. between Cook and Main
Yes, an aerial view would have given us an idea of just how many cars are involved.
270,000 cars in one spot? I'm having trouble visualizing a junkyard of that size.
Too bad there isn't a strong used car market in Japan, they could make a fortune in the used car parts market where you go in and pay for what you pull.
There's your chance, Joe. I can see the sign now, "Tiger Auto Parts".
A pretty poor 360 deg view: it is taken from low down and you can only really see a few dozen cars at most. Would have been better if taken at an altitude that could at least give an impression of how many cars there are.
The photos were taken by the photographer in a four-person team from MSNBC driving around Japan and writing "human interest" stories. The two direct MSNBC employees (a writer and the photographer) do not speak Japanese; the writer, at least, had never been in Japan before. They seem to be driving around in a rented car with a non-Japanese driver who seems to speak at least a little Japanese and an interpreter with a Japanese name who seems to be doing some of the actual hard reporting (this consisting of translating extant reports from the Japanese media). The reports from the team cannot be expected to be professional, and I don't think they're aiming at being particularly informative.
Big H: we have thousands of nuclear weapons in the US with the soul intent of destroying the planet many times over, and yet we complain about the potential of a single peaceful nuclear power plant...
Peaceful nuclear power plant? OK!
According to the media...
I thought this article is about education, something America sucks! I am sensing a lot of jealousy here...
The Chinese know that your future depends on your education and not the amount of video games your child plays. We have raised a generation of entitlement where the parents have failed for their own convenience while Chinese students study every night. A parents responsibility is to prepare your children as good as possible for life and that is hard work. Eventually they get what they deserve.
Gee.....No American made cars. I guess that's because the government doesn't allow imprortin them. Just another example of "free trade". Free for them to import only to the US!
Paul In Pitt
They have Amnerican cars there it's just that they are considered a luxury item.
Your right Paul--Our government subsidizes Toyota and Honda and every other Japanese carmaker. We are not allowed to sell American cars to Japan.
That's true but don't blame them, they are just doing business, selling cars whether it's to U.S. buyers or Japanese buyers. Blame our dumb government, and our dumb automakers, back in the 80's remember the junk cars they were making? I do, I grew up in Detroit and drove a Vega, remember those pieces of junk? Aluminum engine block and all. I remember once when the locks froze, I was working downtown, it was late, and I couldn't get into my car, the wind made the temps about -50 degrees, thought I was going to freeze to death right there and they would find me the next morning. And remember the exploding Pinto? Can't forget those, either. Thank God things are different now, I think the U.S. automakers have fallen from their high horse and are building cars a lot better now. But I sure never blamed the Japanese for just building decent cars, I respect them for it.
You guys are soooooo ignorant!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.itochu.co.jp/en/business/interview/201003/
Look at the bottom of this webpage THEY ARE SELLING CADILLACS in JAPAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys are killing me............ LOLFOF
Paul In Pitt: In my neighborhood in Tokyo, you can see American cars once in a while and there are a couple of dealerships for Ford (long the most internationally directed of the US car companies), but most of the non-Japanese cars (and there are a lot of them) are German, British, and Italian.
true true but hey you guys export weapons , ammunition etc etc so there lol
I love reading reactions. People get so serious. Its an article on scrap cars and there are conversations about whale boats, education for children and other ridiculousness.
Also because Japanese cars are cheaper in Japan for obvious reasons. Also it would make sense that it's socially acceptable to be have some sort of national pride like Americans buying Chrysler and Ford. But yeah, governments suck.
Michael1234: Except in supporting sports teams, it's actually not particularly socially acceptable to have national pride. It's actively discouraged in some parts of the education system (particularly the national curriculum) here, while being promoted (albeit not overtly) by others.
Sh*t happens.