Confluence of Horrors, Global Impact Makes Japan’s Tragedy a Transcendent Event in History

As humans learn from the experience of others and make accommodations, the tsunami and nuclear accident could transform many future endeavors, explains Joji Sakurai in an essay for the Canadian Press. Japan, an advanced economy, has been the second most generous foreign aid donor in the world and now welcomes financial and technological assistance from around the globe. The internet and televisions continuously bring home details of Japan’s numerous hardships, and these set into motion fresh risk assessments, coloring expectations for government’s role in preventing and responding to such events. The crisis could be a galvanizing force in global politics, historian Francis Fukuyama is quoted as saying. Regardless of economic power or wealth, all are interconnected and vulnerable. Sakurai concludes, “Experts say this crisis could become another historical turning point that may alter mankind's perception of its relationship to the world, and societies' relationship with one another in an age of globalization.” – YaleGlobal