Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to all our Japanese friends today. A magnitude 8.9 earthquake occurred off the coast of Sendai a few hours ago, shaking buildings as far away as Tokyo. Even worse, the quake triggered a tsunami that has washed, by some accounts, 1.5 kilometers inland in coastal cities across northeast Japan, flooding homes and sweeping cars away like they were toys. Phone lines were downed/jammed for hours, and train and expressway operation have been suspended. Thankfully JNC‘s friends and occasional contributors are okay, but say it’s the worst they’ve ever experienced in their lifetimes. Sources are now saying it is the worst quake since the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. That was the one which famously demonstrated a need for automobiles while Japan’s railways were downed by the disaster. We wish all the people of Japan Godspeed. UPDATE: DONATE TO THE RED CROSS TO HELP JAPAN HERE.
Tsunami hits Miyagi Prefecture.
New Vehicles awaiting shipping. (courtesy of AFP/Getty via Autoblog.)
Helpful Links
Google 2011 Japan Quake Information Center
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
Google Japanese Person Finder
Al Jazeera’s Earthquake Live Blog
(courtesy of WhatMonstersDo)
hope no one is hurt, a lot of j-tins will be buried in the ocean 🙁 sad
This is not the Friday video we wanted to see.
Big and scary, hope the people are ok !
A beautiful country and a beautiful people. We here in Australia are hurting with you guys and hope things improve soon.
The old style rising sun flag on the back of my civic is now a sign of hope for Japan.
Well the CNN app woke me up at 6am with news and I thought of JNC right away, sure enough you guys dedicated a spot to that situation, as I expected, you guys are great, prayers and thoughts to the Japanese.
I was in Japan exactly one year ago. The devastation I’m seeing on the news is heartbreaking. I hope all our JNC friends in Japan are safe and well.
wow, first time watching the videos after my gf told me about them.
it looks like something out of a movie, rip to those gone.
and everyone should continue praying for help for those in need.
sad sight to see.
Some people just have no compasion!!! Some of my dealers were wining about how there would be a shortage of Prius’s because of this! They spent the day calling Prius owners to see if they would sell there cars so the dealers could make a buck or two! Some people were rejoicing cause the gas prices were going down, now that 800,000 people in Japan couldn’t drive! Yesterday I heard a lot of bad jokes and cruel remarks about what’s happening in Japan! Thousands of lives were lost, and all most seem to care about is the money that could be lost!!!!
Ugh, that is sad to hear…
So sad to see the death and destruction wrought by the quake and tsunami together. I think having visited Japan, and because it is such a tidy place usually, seeing Japanese towns and villages wrecked and covered with sludge is all the more sad.
When the Prime Minister described this as “the most severe crisis since World War II”, I felt that not only was he emphasizing the size of the disaster, but also perhaps hoped to rekindle the spirit of reconstruction that emerged so strongly after the war, the spirit of determination and invention that, within a short period, gave the world cars like the Crown, Fairlady, Cosmo etc. Here’s hoping.