Made In Japan

Yep, the earthquake and resultant tsunami devastated the eastern coast of Japan, which is separated from the western coastline of the USA by miles of open ocean. There are photos of the endless tons of debris floating toward the US, debris that probably is radio-active, as well as infested with lord only knows what else, including human remains. The debris washed into the sea has been traveling across that vast expanse of ocean for the past year and is now coming ashore in Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington, as well as the islands and mainland of Alaska. The latest piece to wash ashore is a huge cement dock covered in sea creatures not indigenous to our shores.

This debris was made in Japan, so is Japanese property, but I have not heard that Japan is pro-actively engaged in either stopping the debris from washing ashore or handling it once it beaches. The US sent a ship out to scuttle the abandoned military ship that posed a huge hazard to navigation, as well as to keep it from coming ashore along the US coastline. We now have whatever was on that cement dock all along our coastline, a gift we really did not want, but will have to handle from this point forward. No telling what it's going to do to our ecosystems, as well as our economy, and the rest of the debris slowly but surely continues to make its way to landfall in the US.

Can the US afford the clean-up; if so, which agency is going to pick up the tab? I'd be on the phone to Japan's prime minister and strongly suggesting that he send some ships this way to intercept the debris before it lands -- or off-load a bunch of workers to clean it up once it does make land. This is one Japanese export we really do not need.