Hats off to the Japanese

[The Hen]

The Japanese road repaired SIX days after it was destroyed by quake



The picture of gaping chasms in a Japanese highway demonstrated the power of the March 11 earthquake.

Now the astonishing speed of reconstruction is being used to highlight the nation’s ability to get back on its feet.

Work began on March 17 and six days later the cratered section of the Great Kanto Highway in Naka was as good as new. It was ready to re-open to traffic last night.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... royed.html

I'm impressed. Extremely impressed.

[Timster]

Dang! Wow...

[rubato]

Wow, phenomenal. It took me a while to find evidence in the lower picture that it was an 'after' picture not a 'before'.

yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

That's nothing. This is what a South African road looks like 6 days after a repair. The guy's job is to find a place for the sign "Potholes!"

[BoSoxGal]

That is pretty amazing, indeed.

I am pretty much convinced that once I've finished paying my dues to my current profession (i.e., have paid off my student loans and vested in my pension plan) I'm going to Japan to teach English.

The response to the earthquake shows it's a pretty remarkable society. By the time I get there, I'll be old enough that radiation exposure won't really matter.

[Sue U]

TBy the time I get there, I'll be old enough that radiation exposure won't really matter.

I dunno, look what it did for Gojira.

[Crackpot]

they're saying that the vast majority of the radiation released (thusfar) has been a variety that has a halflife of 8 days and should be gone in 2 months.

[The Hen]

Good for you bsg.

[rubato]

People who complain about the US educational system should try conversation with a Japanese student who has been studying English for 6 years ... or even better one of their teachers!

For several years we had a group of Japanese middle-school students from Daiichi Niigata come to UCSC for summer session. Even a group of 12 could barely compose a phrase in english and pronounce it and almost never understand the response. Their teachers (all Japanese) were barely able to manage conversational english and that only with great difficulty. I flew from S. Cal to Billings Montana seated next to a Japanese (national) who taught english as well, with similar results.

yrs,
rubato

[dales]

That is why South Korea and Japan search for NATIVE English speakers rather than those who have studied English as a second language.