Silenced by gamanThe world has admired Japan’s stoic spirit. But there is a worrying side to it IN A nation of stoics, the most patient sufferers—by common consent—are those from Tohoku, the poor north-eastern area struck by earthquake and tsunami on March 11th. The best-known poem by the region's most beloved poet, Kenji Miyazawa (born in 1896), starts “Be not defeated by the rain”. It extols the