What is GAMAN?

Gaman
(Kanji: 我慢)
(Hiragana: がまん)

Gaman is a Japanese way of life.

It is what all Japanese are taught ever since they are born – that if you persevere and endure, you’ll make it through eventually.

Unfortunately, the year 2011 has proven to be a trying one for the Japanese; a true test of their gaman.

11th March 2011, 1500hours: People all over the world were going about their daily routines or just enjoying the afternoon. But inhabitants of the Tōhoku region were watching their floors and walls ripple and move. Buildings were collapsing; structures that used to provide the Japanese with warmth and security turned against them, transforming into massive rubble tombs. A colossal earthquake of magnitude 9.0, the fourth largest earthquake ever recorded worldwide, wrecked eighteen prefectures in the north-eastern coast of Japan. Ever wondered how it must have felt for them? Imagine the initial sound of a car crash and a train wreck combined together with a thunderstorm. Then magnify that by a thousand times.

11th March 2011, 1555hours: A 10metre high wall of water crashes over the north-eastern Japanese coast, engulfing anything and everything in its way –buildings, bridges, roads, homes, vehicles, people. The tsunami that hit Sanrikuchō-ryōri, Ōfunato was reported to be at least 23metres (75 ft) high. Some of us already fear swimming in the deep end of a swimming pool. If that mere 1.9metres already seem daunting to us, what more a 23metre-deep “pool” with fierce undercurrents and whirlpool effects threatening to drag us under the surface? Even buildings and vehicles all gave way to the furious waves; human beings didn’t stand a chance at all. Within minutes, thousands of innocent people were swept away into their watery graves. Remember the 3metre deep flash floods in Singapore a while back? Now compare that to the 23metes in Japan. You do the math.

11th – 15th March 2011: Within the short span of five days, 4 nuclear reactors in Fukushima overheated and exploded, further increasing the death toll and also resulting in highly dangerous radiation levels in the vicinity of the facilities. Numerous Japanese had to be evacuated, and 5 million homes were left without electricity.

The entire fiasco has left 8649 dead, 2702 injured, 15 000 missing, 550 000 evacuated, 150 000 buildings destroyed, 5 million homes without electricity, 1.5 million individuals without clean drinking water, and the numbers are still rising steadily.

Even so, the Japanese still form orderly queues daily to receive food rations, and nobody steals from shops even though they are deserted. Even those badly affected by the disaster are willing to share with each other; but how about those of us who are sitting hundreds of miles away in safety listening to horrifying statistics and tales? Do we just shudder and comment about it then brush it off, or do we do our part to help?

It is at times like these when the Japanese have to rely on their gaman way of life to pull them through.

With gaman, their endurance and perseverance will help them to pull through and emerge from the crisis stronger than ever.