Biden meets with Japanese tsunami survivors - USA Today

Vice President Biden spent Tuesday in Sendai, Japan, where he told survivors of the March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that Americans "admire their character" for having persevered against adversity.

Biden, on a nine-day Asia trip that has taken him to China and Mongolia, toured largely vacant areas where entire neighborhoods once stood and met with survivors living in temporary housing nearby.

The vice president talked about how much Americans admire the "stamina and resolve" of the survivors. "We're here as long as you need us to help you rebuild," he said, according to press pooler Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times. "The way you came together was the envy of the world."

Traveling from Tokyo, Biden delivered a speech in Sendai to an audience composed of U.S. and Japanese military, Japanese teachers and students, first responders and displaced families.

"I came to express not only my commitment to say we will do whatever we can to help, [but also] to tell you how much the president, how much I, how much the American people admire your character," he said.

Biden met in Tokyo with Prime Minister Naoto Kan, telling him that no one should bet against Japan's ability to recover from disaster or America's ability to recover from recession.

"There are voices in the world who are counting us out," he said. "They are making a very bad bet."

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