The Smoke Signal

On Monday, March 21, 2011, approximately 12 MSJ students gathered along Palm Avenue to hold a rally to raise awareness about the recent tragedies in Japan. Japan suffered a magnitude 9.0 earthquake at 5:46 AM local time and a tsunami on Friday, March 11, 2011. Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant lost its ability to cool its reactors with its emergency core cooling system when the power was cut off after the earthquake and tsunami.  Reactor units 1, 2, 3, and 4 exploded shortly on March 11, 13, 12, and 14, respectively.   Juniors Keith Lewis, Sean Wang, and Patrick Yang began organizing the event. The rally was announced to students at the benefit concert held by the Japanese classes on Friday, March 18, 2011. When asked why he participated in the rally, Junior Matthew Ramos said, “We just wanted to support Japan because they’re going through a huge crisis.”

The students arrived at 6:30 AM and bore signs with messages such as “Pray for Japan” and “Honk for Japan” in order to garner support from pedestrians and cars passing through the area. A large amount of encouragement was evident after 6:50 AM and came in the form of honks, waves, and thumbs-up. Brief rain showers did not deter students, who continued to rally beneath umbrellas.

Yang said, “Japan needs our support, and on the news it only talks about radioactive fallout. The death count is expected to be over 18,000. As human beings, we should bond together and help them.”

The student organizers believed that the rally was overall, a success. “I just wanted to help Japan in any way possible. Since we can’t go over there ourselves, we just wanted to get [some] support from the people here,” summed up participant Junior Allan Yao.