The disaster was "divine retribution (tembatsu)," proclaimed Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara just days after the Tohoku earthquake. "The Japanese have become a selfish (gayoku) people. We need to use the tsunami to wash away this egoism."
There is not a little irony in a wealthy 12-year governor — one who has recently begun his fourth term, despite early indications he would step down — lecturing others on egoism. Writing in these pages at the time, Philip Brasor put down the tembatsu outburst to his being shut out of the news cycle.
Whatever Ishihara's motivation, his words do at first glance bear passing similarities to those uttered by U.S. religious conservatives in the wake of natural disasters. For example, in 2005 Pat Robertson and others portrayed Hurricane Katrina as God's punishment for America's sins.