Where Have All the Sunflowers Gone?

I received a phone call this morning from someone who had been watching the news in the US.  Based on that news, this person had determined that there was a good chance Chad and I were washed away in a typhoony mudslide.  I am happy to report that we were not, and that here the only lasting effect of the weekend of rain and wind is that all our neighbors have cut down their gigantic sunflowers.  Fortunately I managed to get a photo a couple of weeks ago.

note that I was clearly shooting up,
as they were dangling down over my head

I believe the mudslides and such were farther north, unfortunately in the same general area as the March earthquake.  I imagine the destruction lent itself to further destruction.  The only thing I've seen lately about what's going on up north is this article about a man who refuses to leave the evacuation area.  A few things in the interview stood out to me, namely that he believes the rest of the country has moved on (I would tend to perhaps agree), that his relative wouldn't take him in (I was shocked), and that he is made out to be a rebel in a country of strict rule-followers. That's a popular view of the culture here and I'm not totally down with it and I'm totally an expert.  I have seen plenty of minor rule-breaking since we've been here and a healthy amount of I'll-do-whatever-I-want-to-do attitude.  Not as much as other nationalities maybe, but Japanese people are definitely not sheep and do not walk around looking over their shoulder for the government.  That kind of stuff is more for our big red neighbor.  ;D