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Photo by k&k

“Ganbare!” is one of the Japanese words that are used the most right now. It means “bear up,” “hang in there,” “do your best,” “try hard,” “go for it,” or “good luck.” (It translates to an appropriate word for the situations.) Since the earthquake hit Japan, we often exchange and hear this word.

“Nintai (patience/perseverance),” “shinbou (endurance),” “gaman (self-control)” are also Japanese people’s favorite words. You can see that even when the country is experiencing a great disaster, and it seems to surprise people in other countries.
It is interesting how foreign media and internet users highly praise Japanese people for being perseverant and polite under the circumstance.
A Chinese person who lives in Japan posted message on a microblog saying that when hundreds of people took refuge in an open space, no one smoked there. They were given blankets, hot water, and crackers. Men were helping women. Three hours later, they broke up and there was no rubbish on the ground, not even one.
This exchange student in Japan mentioned how people patiently wait for busses and payphones in long lines after the quake, and he praised “everyone acted orderly and calmly.”
In fact, no looting or cutting-into-line have been seen in the struck areas. But in the metropolitan area, there are people who are buying up of food or gas out of fear, so that government announced that because there is enough food, concern others and do not buy up.

Meanwhile at the refuges, the victims work together and try to make their life orderly and comfortable as much as possible. The people who lost their families, friends, and houses voluntarily find job in the refuges such as cooking, serving food, organizing evacuees’ lists, dividing donated clothes, and so on. The teenagers there also work hard taking care of the elderly and making cheer-up message boards to put in the refuges. They even share meager food; some put sign outside of their house saying “we give you rice balls,” and a restaurant was serving free meal to the neighbors.

Because Japan has had many natural disasters such as earthquake, tsunami, volcanic activity, it has been very natural for us to learn to be patient and keep self-control in the country’s long history. If we don’t cooperate, we can’t survive through the disasters.

“Ganbare, Japan!” Saying it to ourselves, we lift our spirits, and will overcome the crisis.

Source: MSN Sankei News
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/world/news/110313/asi11031322300003-n1.htm
Yahoo! Japan News
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20110313-00000002-rcdc-cn