Benevolence of Confucius and Philia of Aristotle Through the difficulties of the huge earthquake and tsunami in Japan Nakatomi Kiyokazu, Teacher of the Chiba Prefectural Togane Commercial High School, Chiba, Japan, k-nakatomi@proof.ocn.ne.jp Online published on 16 January, 2012. Abstract The huge earthquake and Tsunami assaulted Japan on March 11, 2011. The Great East Japan Earthquake, at it is known today, destroyed several cities immediately and devastated a quarter of the Japanese land. The damage in Japan is similar to the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) and the destruction of World War II. Still more, nuclear plants lost their cooling equipment systems and as a result hydrogen explosions occurred. These are triple catastrophes. We the Japanese people are facing a desperate crisis. But many countries supported us, Japan. The rescue-teams and assistance from over 130 countries gave us a big encouragement and hope. How highly the civilization and sciences may develop, they are powerless against the might of nature. Some of the strongest embankments in the world that were 10 meters high were immediately wiped out by a tsunami tidal wave of up to 40 meters high. We have the emotion of fear for nature and we recognize the powerlessness and nothingness of human beings. But we helped and supported each other in these times of hardship. Rescue and encouragement are hope and light in the darkness. We learn that though the sciences develop highly, we need benevolence and philia (friendship). Top Keywords earthquake, Tsunami, Judo, Bushido, benevolence, philia, mean. Top |