VOX POPULI, VOX DEI: Mother Nature cares not if one is rich or poor

During the Edo Period (1603-1867), there existed temples known as nagekomi-dera or "dumping temples."

When a woman who was a prostitute died, for instance, rarely would she have received a proper burial. Her remains would most likely have been wrapped in a straw mat and unceremoniously dumped on a temple's grounds.

This happened frequently near redlight districts, and people eventually came to refer to such temples as nagekomi-dera.

Jokanji temple in Tokyo's Minami-Senju district was one. When a killer earthquake struck Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1855, many bodies were dumped there. According to the temple's current chief priest, a huge mass grave was dug to bury the unidentified human remains. Today, a memorial on the temple premises reminds visitors of the tragedy.

The series of earthquakes that jolted the Caribbean nation of Haiti earlier this month are equally heart wrenching.

My heart ached as I read stories filed from Haiti by an Asahi Shimbun reporter. Near the capital, Port-au-Prince, which has been almost completely destroyed, innumerable bodies are apparently being dumped in ditches that will become mass graves.

The reports say the bodies are being "disposed of" with no record made of age or sex. I know this cannot be helped under the circumstances, but it pains me greatly that none of these poor souls are being treated as individuals.

The people who have managed to survive are caught in what the United Nations described as one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades. Human traffickers are reportedly preying on orphaned children.

Mother Nature is known for indiscriminately rewarding or punishing humans. Such fairness is fine, but the problem is that neither fortune nor misfortune strikes all people equally.

The temblors that struck Haiti, one of the world's poorest nations, has victimized both the living and the dead with a cruelty that would be felt less in a wealthy nation.

In the aftermath of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, compositions written by elementary schoolchildren in Kobe's Nagata Ward--one of the heaviest-hit districts--were compiled into a book. Its title is "Kamisama no Ijiwaru," which could be translated as "God is mean."

Haiti is predominantly Catholic. I don't know if the nation's devout Catholics are blaming God for their ordeal, but one thing is certain: They desperately need more help from people around the world.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 25

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.