I don't have a clue about any of the things you brought up initially OP, but I myself did find myself asking the exact same question last week about the bodies. I mentioned it to my friend and she said the Japanese probably are just more respectful. I'm sure that's true but the rest of the world's media are not necessarily that way.

I don't want to see bodies but I have found it odd that there was no sign of them.

What was strangest of all is that through all the video I watched of the tsunami and such I never saw one person getting sucked under. It was like everything was a ghost town. Empty cars empty houses. For a few days I had just assumed everyone had been evacuated... but then I learned that the tsunami hit in only 7 minutes, so obviously there was no time to evacuate. In Sumatra and New Orleans there were so many dead that it was evident all over the place, as you would expect it would be for such a major disaster.

It felt like watching the nuclear tests from the 50's where they set up the fake towns with nobody really there and then blew them away.

The more I think about it I guess I don't even know why it came into my head to ask where all the bodies are, but clearly I am not the only one who has felt like something was very strange about it.