TIME TO STAND BY JAPAN.

No music this night because I deem it inappropriate at a time when Japan has to cope with the consequences of one of the biggest ever natural disasters to befall that country. A country and a people, it should be said, which I very much admire and respect.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their relatives.

Special attention must of course go to those directly affected by the explosion at the Fukushima plant. In a country where the collective psyche of its citizens is burdened by the memory of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic explosions, the nuclear fallout and possible meltdown at the 40-year old reactor must doubtlessly touch raw nerves.





Knowing the joy that children bring, I am thinking especially of parents with young children and pregnant women. I hope the authorities will do anything in their power and beyond to get people out of the danger zone, treat them well, and neutralize the risk at the plant. All hail to the brave crews who have to move inside the stricken reactor's premises.





Courage, and good luck.



MFBB.