At Meetings in Japan, Dean Offers Nashville’s Condolences, Concern, and Desire to Help

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean is going forward with some meetings in Japan, but he says Tokyo feels strangely empty. Dean’s trip to the crisis-racked country had been scheduled before last week’s deadly earthquake and tsunami, and Japanese officials encouraged him to come in spite of the disaster.

Dean says some of his meetings have been cancelled, while others are pressing forward, like one with Gibson Japan. He says the hotel he’s staying in is less than half full, restaurants nearly empty, and many places just closed.

Dean says the trip wasn’t meant to bring back any big economic announcement, and in meetings he expresses Nashville’s condolences, concern, and desire to help.

“People are a little bit more open and want to talk and are reaching out to friends. And that’s what we are; Nashville is a great friend to the country of Japan, and Japan has been a great friend of Nashville. And so in that sense I think it’s been positive.”

Dean says the main thing people in Tennessee can do to help right now is try to raise money. He’ll be hosting an event to do exactly that when he gets back in the next few days.

EXTRAS:

A string of explosions at a nuclear complex and radioactive material leaking from reactors have raised health concerns in Japan, but Dean says “my sense is it is not a danger here in Tokyo.”

“People here are very calm. There’s no sense of panic at all,” the mayor says, despite periodic blackouts. “When we were in Kamakura yesterday, the blackouts occurred – people were in the road directing traffic because the street lights were off. People were pitching in. Everyone’s spirit is just remarkably high.

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In meetings “we spend time obviously talking about what’s going on in the country, and I express the condolences that Nashville, Tennessee, the United States would have for the Japanese people, and our concern and our desire to help. Since I’ve been here I’ve talked to Counselor General (Hiroshi) Sato about the Cherry Blossom festival – that’s going to be dedicated to raising funds for relief for this country of Japan, and I tell them that. And they always express gratitude to the United States for being here immediately,” Dean says.

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“I’m here as a guest of the Japanese government. I was encouraged to go forward with the trip by the Japanese government on Friday morning when I talked to them. I felt that it was the appropriate thing to do and when I got here I certainly didn’t feel compelled to leave. In terms of my family members who are here, that’s something that we’re paying for completely ourselves. There’s absolutely no cost to the Metropolitan government for this trip.”

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