Typhoon Haiyan

And that time I was pleasantly surprised how open the Philippine government was on new ideas and how to coordinate because it was an overwhelming disaster.

And actually it was after the typhoon Haiyan experience that the Philippines has been really championing and New York with our teams, they have been working, the Bangladesh And I think there are a few other, for example, the Pacific countries, the island countries have also been very active in supporting this type of initiative.

I was recently in Africa, I visited some governments and they also thought that, oh, this makes sense.

So I do feel there is quite a positive support.

And so I, you know, oftentimes after college, I would... volunteer for this rescue and relief operations.

And so one of them was when Typhoon Haiyan hit, which was, I think, one of the largest, you know, the strongest recorded typhoon that made landfall in history.

So it hit the Philippines.

I helped with a, was a volunteer for the relief operation there.

So they're able to provide that psychological support.

So then that person is able to calm down and then participate in the activities.

I remember in that same time, emergency and same response that I was talking about in response to Typhoon Haiyan there was one person who when he came down from the when he came down from the military plane you know we were offering him food we were offering him some warm clothing and but he was just in distress he was essentially saying no I'm looking for my family looking for my family and he wasn't listening to any of us and so what it took in that moment was for us to be able to say okay this you know he distress is the primary concern he has now and so helping him didn't look like giving him food helping him was okay let's let me take you to this corner i'm we and estrada you are now in manila we just brought you here uh we're going to help you i understand that you're looking for a family member we're going to help you but for now can you please take some diff you know some deep breaths with me And then we can talk about it.

And as we're talking about it here, here's some food you can eat and let's tell me what you need.

We are in the Philippines because I've gone to Haiti now like 25 or 30 times.

The Red Cross knows our name saying, can you come help with relief efforts? And Typhoon Yolanda had hit the Philippines and taken out like two-thirds of the population.

They had a Red Cross building on the island filled with stuff, but no providers that knew what to do with it.

And so they called and said, would you please, please, please come to the Philippines and serve? Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You know, there was one time, if I might share, after Typhoon Yolanda, I remember flying to Leyte and ano palang, nasa aeroplano palang kami, napansin ko halos lahat ng mga bahay may tarpaulin.

It looked neat kasi puro bagong tarpaulin, all in blue.

And I'll never forget the one sign that I saw carried by a young student on the street.

So sending some prayers up to her.

Also, this might be an opportunity for Haiyan, I think.

Yeah.

Put Haiyan in some of those spots.

Let's see what Haiyan can do.

She's been very impressive.

I think if she gets that...

When, when it comes back to Sydney or wherever you are, and I hope it does, you will hear my mom at the very start of the show.

She's one of the, uh, radio announcers talking about Typhoon Haiyan, one of the biggest typhoons of the century that really de- ravished Tacloban City.

So, you know, and she's there.

She's, uh...

Now, I'm not going to walk through the entire history of Japan in detail, but just to get us to the beginning of our story, it is worth noting a few things.

By the 9th century, the emperor had moved the capital to Haiyan, beginning the 300-ish year Haiyan period.

Haiyan, or Haiyan-kyo, means peaceful capital, but eventually it was just called Capital City, and is still known by that name today, Kyoto.

As the high-end period progressed, Chinese influence slowed, and Japanese culture flourished.

But the emperors did not, as one clan, the Fujiwara, pushed their way into power.