I wasn't debating whether former Japanese POW's should feel sympathy for Japan, that's entirely their business, I wouldn't presume to second guess their feelings either way. What I was debating was your assertation that people should not treat the Japanese with any more sympathy than those who suffered in New Zealand.
Both were tragedies, undoubtedly, however the scale of the earthquake & the damage it caused in Japan was much greater. Japan has THE most sophisticated warning systems in the world, but that's all it is, a warning system. The Tohoku region had a population of 9.7m impossible to evacuate, you can't outrun an earthquake. It is probably only down to Japan's technolgy that AS FEW as the estimated 29,000 died. The earthquake itself was 9.0 in magnitude (Christchurch was 6.3) - one of the 5 most powerful in recorded history (it moved Honsho 2.4m east, and shifted the earth 10cm it's axis), it then caused a 10m Tsunami (again warnings were issued) which hit about 20mins-30mins after the quake and travelled up to 10km inland (again, try outrunning that).
Maybe I'm banging my head against a brick wall, maybe I'm mistaken and you are sympathetic to the people in Japan's plight, you're perfectly entitled to feel as equally sorry for New Zealanders if you want but your assertion that those of us who feel Japan's tragedy was worse feel nothing for Christchurch is utterly wrong and in my opinion the media is correct to give greater coverage to Japan than NZ (incidentally I do have relatives in NZ).
To be fair they should both, in my opinion, be treated with equal sympathy. In both cases people have been killed, and family groups destroyed.
Looking at the % angle that OBL raised, the death toll in NZ was, I believe, 0.004% of the poopulation. In Japan it is currently 0.00786%, possibly rising to 0.018%, so by that standing the Japanese tragedy has had currently almost twice the national impact, possibly up to four times as much.
Incidentally, were we to take this idea as a global standard, we would have to have the same level of grief for a car crash in Vatican City. (4 people dead would be 0.005% of the population)
So, on a national, or global scale, the Japanese tragedy is far greater than the NZ one. However, on a human level both are deserving of our full sympathy (and you can't have one fuller than the other in that case). To borrow the words of John Donne...
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
