Japanese workers are so desperate for work that many are travelling to devastated areas of the country to find employment in the risky field of radiation cleanup.
Laborers are travelling from all over Japan to rebuild the Tsunami devastated region of Fukushima. They are driven here by a poor economy, not national pride. Many workers accept low-paying jobs as general labourers because jobs in this devastated area are secure and abundant. Others join the clean-up because they lost everything in the tsunami and have nowhere else to go.
The work conditions are deplorable. Many workers are exposed to high-levels of radiation. They work for 12 hours at a time and some sleep 500 wide in school gymnasiums. Despite the hash conditions, the workers keep flooding in. They are happy to have steady work, enjoy the friendship and look forward to free food. Think about that the next time you start to gripe about your job while sitting inside your air-conditioned office building. [NYT]