Following the Japanese earthquake, tsunami on 9 March, 2011, a generous friend took out $50,000 as seed money and suggested I organize a Charity bicycle ride to rally HPA members and Singaporeans to support the Japanese people. We took on an ambitious target of $200,000 with less than a month to organize.
A day before the ride, I was despondent, stuck at $130,000 collection for over a week. At 2pm, one fairy godmother, who wished to remain anonymous, came along and cheered me with a $50,000 cheque. This was then broadcasted and an hour later, one godfather underwrote to top up to $200,000. Eventually, we overshot slightly.
Several parties came forward to chip in, be it ambulance, logistical support, private companies and manpower from NParks. We did not spend a dime on anything. Even the banners were re-cycled stuff. Every dollar raised went to the Japanese Disaster 2011 fund through the Singapore Red Cross Society. We had about 40 cyclists and 20 odd walkers.
Through my Japanese friend, we thought it would be befitting to invite the Japanese ambassador to grace this event. We also contacted a local Japanese radio channel and some Japanese related advertising agencies. The idea was to attract Japanese in Singapore to step forward, participate alongside us.
Unfortunately, this was not to be. The reply from the Japanese embassy was totally alien to me. We invited, waited with bated breath and then this:
“Thank you for your heartfelt concerns of the recent earthquake in Japan. I am sorry for this rather late reply. We deeply appreciate your generous intentions and enthusiasm in organizing the Charity Bicycle Ride to raise money to help those affected by the disaster.
After much consideration and discussion, it is with great regret that we have to decline your kind invitation, as it would not be suitable for the Embassy of Japan to make association with charity events due to the fact that Japan is the country that receives the donations and relief support”.
I was bemused. Later on, I found out that the word ‘charity’ caused lots of discomfort. We had always used this word in our previous charity drives. Apparently, it became awkward for a rich nation to accept charity!
About his time, a BBC commentator had this to say about wealthy Japan. He said: “If Japan gets knocked down by a vehicle, it is likely to reject any ambulance that comes along. It will instead call for it’s own ambulance”.
So I asked my Japanese friend his interpretation on this matter. He had this to say:
“It is very difficult to say anything about Japanese embassy but I give you some example for you to grasp Japanese embassy way of thinking.
When I was introduce Secretary of Japanese Association to Japanese ambassador (
last one), I was requested to submit resume before I visited. When I was invited my senior Japanese friend to have lunch with Singapore Ambassador to Japan
in Tokyo, I was not requested anything before hand.
So my personal opinion is Japanese ambassador is behave like tycoon while Singapore ambassador is like sales director of Singapore. You can find who is more working for the nation and citizens. I am very sorry about Japanese embassy reaction”.
My Japanese friend felt sheepish. Then again, Meira Chand wrote a very good piece following disaster in Straits Times and had this to say: “Japanese society is structured, among other things, upon the element of shame. Loss of face is a dishonour that is hard to bear on any level”. She went on to say: “Shikata ga nai, it cannot be helped…”
I wish all Japanese to be more upbeat with the word Gambatte. It’s more uplifting, positive and rousing. In Google translate, Shikata ga nai is roughly translated as “NO CHOICE”.
Oh yes, my generous friend who gave $50,000 from his own pocket had a choice, moved by the repeated scenes on TV of that catastrophic tsunami that hit Japan. May the souls of 15,000 victims rest in peace and may our Singapore ambassadors around the world continue to be sales directors of our little red dot.
P/S: In all, the Singapore Red Cross collected about $34 million. Most of this money will be spent in building/reconstruction of infrastructure which have more meaningful values.
