[Brian]

I received a letter from Mr. Kataoka today telling me that he and the family were alright, and apologized for making everyone worry about them. True class to the core.

An update on the situation in Yamakoshi, etc. There are about 5 or 6 natural dams that were created due to landslides caused by the quake which are beginning to flood surrounding areas, and there is great concern that the situation will be exacerbated by rainfall. Areas of Higashi-Takezawa (around where the Nagashima store is) are completely submerged, and water is being pumped down into an adjoining valley. One house shown on the news tonight had gone completely underwater in a period of 3 days.

The government is offering 4 million yen's assistance for houses that were completely destroyed, and a mere 500,000 yen for houses only partially damaged. Out of that, only 1 million can be used to replace the house and the other 3 million will probably need to be used for basic living expenses. 1 million yen is roughly the equivalent of $9,400 US. I can tell you that in Japan that won't even pay for a bathroom. 40 million is a better figure for building a halfway decent house.

634 temporary residences are currently being constructed in a field in Nagaoka to relocate people from Yamakoshi into for the interim. These are the same type of pre-fab shelters that I saw people living in in Kobe a good year after the big earthquake there back in '95.

Let's all hope for the best. I think rather than rebuilding landmarks that perhaps we should start a fund for breeders to draw on to setup temporary facilities to get them through the upcoming year.