Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The last few weeks...

The last few weeks have been an absolute roller coaster, as many of you might imagine. March 11th, Eastern Japan was rocked by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake - the 4th strongest quake recorded since 1900. The tsunami that struck North Eastern Japan following the quake has wiped several towns and cities off the map. All that's left is pile after pile of rubble. The death toll is over 10,000 and there are still many thousands of people missing.

Add that to the nuclear reactor that was damaged only after the 4th largest earthquake recorded and a tsunami took a swing at it and we've had an interesting few weeks. For the record, I'm safe. I took a long weekend a week or so ago to visit my fiancees family (far away from the center of the action!) and came back to Yokohama and Tokyo a bit refreshed. The exaggerated reports of evacuations and huge levels of contamination are simply not true. If they were I probably would not have returned to the Tokyo area.

Then add all that to the fact that I still have a wedding to plan! July is not getting any further away and I have decisions to make, presents to buy and cakes to approve. Needless to say I've been feeling a distinct lack of motivation. Planning a wedding seems so frivolous when faced with daily reports and videos of the devastation up north.

I have made a few decisions... I have a cake! :-) Yeah, I guess a few was exaggerating... I made one big decision since the earthquake!

I'm hoping to find my wedding mojo soon... there's still a lot to plan and I'm pretty integral to most of it. 

On a different note... if people reading this feel like donating to the recovery effort in Japan there are a lot of places you can do that. If you have the money, I would strongly encourage you to donate. The recovery is going to be a long uphill process.

Thanks!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

What's happening now?

I'm sure everyone has heard all about the nuclear reactors in Fukushima. I'm also fairly certain that a lot of the information you are hearing may be inaccurate. If you want the full scoop, I would work backwards (by date) on MIT website and find out the scoop. There's a lot of reading, but it might be worth it to ease your mind a bit. I read it and felt better.

Yes, there are some big problems at the reactor in Fukushima. Some of the containment is working very well (reactors 1 and 3). There's still some work to be done (reactors 2 and 4), but overall the information that we are getting in Japan is less hysterical in feeling and more informed. There are some delays in information, but in the end I feel like the government and TEPCO are doing their best to get people safe and keep people informed.

That being said, it doesn't mean that people are listening. The US Embassy given the information available is not asking citizens to evacuate. The French and Germans are. Overall the population of Eastern Japan is doing a great job of dealing with scheduled blackouts and all of that without much problem at all. There were some runs on instant foods (ramen in particular) when the blackouts began, but things are back to normal.

To ease some fears at home and here (Shimon), I'm heading out tomorrow for where Shimon's mom lives. That puts a lot of miles between me and Fukushima (which is already about 300km away) and maybe gives people some peace of mind. To be fair, I could use a rest from the stress that has accompanied the situation. I am not really complaining because I have very little to complain about, but it will let me have a bit of a break and give people at home a little peace of mind as well.

I'll keep everyone updated as I know things. I'd make one more plug for the website I linked to... there's a lot of up to date information from the science guys who know this stuff best. I know CNN is a new leader, but I'm pretty sure they don't have access to nuclear physicists the caliber of those at MIT.

Be safe.

Monday, March 14, 2011

48 hours parte two

I left off my story yesterday with the fact that the cafe we'd camped out in served everyone up some breakfast. By this time I was getting quite worried about my kitty and Shimon about getting home and making sure things were alright. At around 8 o'clock we decided it might be prudent to see what the trains were like and if we could get home.

First, Michelle and I went to check her train line home, while Shimon went to check ours. Turned out that all trains were running and we could all get home. This is where we parted ways. Michelle made it home in about the time it took us to get to Yokohama. This doesn't sound so bad if you don't know that her distance from where she started to where she ended was much shorter than our trip from Tokyo to Yokohama. She should have been home in around 30 minutes... it took around an hour.

Shimon had us aiming for an 8:40am train. We arrived on the platform to find people crammed so full into the trains that they were literally spilling out the doors. Kind of like the classic videos of Japan from the 1980s with people being shoved unceremoniously into trains. Only this time people were shoving themselves into trains just to get home. Trains were only running about every 30 minutes (which is a huge change from every 5 to every 15 depending on the train line).

We walked along the platform trying to find a train car that appeared to have enough space to shove ourselves in. Finally, somewhere near the front we found a car that would do. We waited until the last moment before we had to cram ourselves in (and cram we did). There was a fairly constant stream of announcements telling us that due to the earthquake and the amount of people there were likely to be many stoppages along the way and to please be patient.

So, what's the hardest thing about being on a crowded train?? First, lack of fresh air. Or even the fans blowing. Being in winter clothes with that many people made things unbearably hot. Then there was the fact that because there were so many legs and other things (luggage, bags, etc.) it was hard to get your legs situated in a way that you were stable.

Due to the crowds and the lack of air and other factors there were a few times when I was near panicking. At every station we stopped at it took at least 5 minutes to close the train's door and another few minutes the train started moving again. Finally we made it to Yokohama where Shimon was on the ball and got us a taxi rather quickly.

In the taxi on the way back home, Shimon received a number of phone calls from friends and colleagues checking that things were alright with him. As we passed through the streets of Yokohama we noticed a number of stores that seemed to have small "trenches" in front of them. Shimon wondered aloud if it was from construction, but we quickly realized that these gaps in front of buildings and storefronts was from the earthquake.

On our way home Shimon asked if I'd shut off the gas before I left home. I couldn't remember. That got me really worried. What if the gas had started to leak and Suzu (kitty) was dead from the fumes? Shimon was panicking about his TV. The ride home in the taxi took too long!!

We arrived and Shimon went to check on his scooter and I ran to the front door to get in. Surprisingly, things were ok. No gas leak. The kitty was hungry, but very happy to see us. The TV was intact. One of the first things we did was turn on the TV...

At this point, we began to realize the devastation that this earthquake and tsunami had caused. Entire coastal towns washed away in minutes. Repeated footage of the tsunami coming in from the open sea and just wreaking havoc on the northern coast of Japan. The initial footage, before rescue efforts began, was shocking enough.

Yesterday, the tsunami footage was joined by footage of the rescue efforts. There were many interviews with people waiting to find family members. I'll share the two most poignant and heartbreaking stories (out of many) that made me break down in tears last night.

One woman had been caught fleeing the tsunami in a car with her mother and her daughter. The daughter, who'd only had a license a year, was driving and doing the best she could. The car was rolled many times before it became lodged to the side of the building. All three had climbed from the back of the broken car window using the daughter's belt onto the roof of a house and were subsequently rescued. The lady was saying that they waited and there was an older man on another rooftop saying, "We can do this!" and shouting encouragement. One of the men nearby said, "He died." And the women was inconsolable. He'd made it through so much and managed to climb to safety. But the night was so cold and he was old... The reporter was able to interview the son of the man who had died as well. The raw emotion in both people just flowed through the television images.

The second story was of a woman in Fukushima. She had been at work when the quake hit. She had tried to call her family who were all at home; her husband and two daughters. She couldn't get through and couldn't get through. They were buried in a landslide. During the short interview, the woman describe the situation and events. And slowly lost composure... saying, "I just want them to come out safe. My husband, my daughters... I'll be left all alone. I just want them to come out."

Sadly as the reality of the situation unfolds, there will be many stories from the area that will break your heart. But there will be others that uplift.

For my last short story, there was a woman waiting near rescue vehicles for her elderly parents. Her parents and her dog had been rescued. I can't accurately describe how she must have felt, but I think that the actions of her dog speak loudest. The dog jumped right into her arms and showered her face with kisses and couldn't stop moving for his excitement in being reunited with his "mom."

The hardest part of the ordeal is yet to come I'm sure. The temperatures in the quake hit areas has been dipping down to freezing at night. Without power and heat, even the people in evacuation centers are having a pretty hard time. Supplies of food, water and baby supplies are also down. Even us in Japan are trying to figure out what the best way to help is.

Keep Japan in your thoughts an prayers as the true impact of the quake and tsunami begins to sink in.

48 hours part one

Friday I set out to help a friend find an apartment. By the evening, a huge (9.0 magnitude; 4th largest on record since 1900) earthquake had struck northeastern Japan and I was sleeping in a cafe in Tokyo. I'll try to remember what all of it was like in this post...

Sitting in the realtor's in the early afternoon on Friday afternoon, I noticed the lights moving a slight bit. As Japan is a country of earthquakes, I didn't think much of it. I said to my friend, Michelle, "hey, an earthquake." I was calm. Until the lights began swaying more violently and the shaking didn't end readily. Michelle and I moved out from under the swaying lights as across the street the high schoolers began pouring out of the karaoke shop. At about the same time, tiles began falling off the buildings outside and falling, breaking on the sidewalks. That's one of the reasons we didn't rush out of the building. After the shaking stopped, we went back to our seats, had a bit of tea (trying to settle stomachs after the long duration of the quake), and renewed the search for apartments.

After a few aftershocks, there came another very large quake. This time we ran out into the middle of the street (to avoid falling tiles) and watched as the buildings around us swayed back and forth. Having two large quakes back to back like that was crazy, but at this point we had no idea how bad the quake really had been.

We even headed out to look at one apartment before calling it a day and making an appointment for Michelle to go back the next day (she went back today, two days after the quake).

Since the trains were all stopped we started walking in the direction of the Palace (near Tokyo Station) to where Shimon and I had agreed to meet should an earthquake strike and we're stranded. However, we still had no idea how bad things were. We thought that after walking a little while we'd be able to hop on a train to get to our final destination. Boy were we wrong....

We walked to Kagurazaka, where I stopped into a convenience store to check a map and make sure we were setting a course that wouldn't get us lost. But we failed to realize that we should probably buy some food too. We walked on, hoping at some point that we could flag down an empty taxi... but there were none. By this time we'd been walking for over an hour.

We stopped to wait for a bus for about 10 minutes. When it hadn't come after waiting 5 minutes past it's arrival time, we kept walking.

We finally reached Yasukuni Dori (street) and there was a wave of people walking away from downtown Tokyo (the business district is near where we were headed). Some people wearing crash helmets and other carrying them. The road was positively brimming with cars and other vehicles... lots of rescue vehicles and taxis!

As we we walking close to the Palace (at last!), the Mainichi Shinbun was handing out short 4-page leaflets on the earthquake. After more than 3 hours of no outside information we were both shocked to see the pictures... our "inconvenience" was a major disaster!

At long last, after 3 hours+ of walking, we reached the cafe where Shimon was waiting. It turned out he had tried to call me all afternoon... my phone never rang once. Phone connections were down. We did manage a few texts, but they were delayed and they only arrived when I searched for new mails.

He had bought some sustenance, however after listening to the radio updates (trains and subways down, etc.) he went out to get more food. He got enough for the people around us who were sharing in the "adventure."

Two ladies were originally sketching in Hibiya Park when the quake hit. Another two were a mother and son. The son had been job hunting and had met up with his mom after. We sat around listening to Shimon give us reports from the radio for most of the evening.

Originally the cafe said that the heating would be shut off, but that people were allowed to stay inside for shelter. As the evening enfolded, the heating was not turned off. The staff (who were also stuck there) provided us with tea and later coffee and snacks. There was an open area set up for a wedding, but we were told to put 3-4 chairs together and try to get some sleep if we wanted to. We ended up going to bed at around 11... I actually slept quite well. That's what walking 3 hours straight will do!

In the morning, the main manager of the cafe announced that they would be making us all breakfast. We had toast, eggs, coffee, and orange juice. It's in times of distress that humanity seems to be redeemed... and I was able to experience that firsthand Friday night/Saturday morning.

This turned into a very long post, so I've decided to write it in two parts.

Tomorrow we have rolling blackouts. I have no idea when mine begins, but we all have to do our part to save energy. I'll just take a nap! :-)

Please keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers right now... there's a lot going on and it's pretty overwhelming for everyone here.

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Shoes and Rings!

So... after all of the struggles with dress sizes, I've been somewhat silent on the wedding prep front.

The main reason for the silence is a combination of laziness and just too much going on!

Things that have been going on include: deciding on a dress color for bridesmaids, choosing flowers I like (red gerbera daisies), to have a DJ or a band (DJ won out), catering decisions, etc... Other things going on include: freaking out about trying to find a job for next year (one of my current schools decided to use a different company to supply its teachers next year), help a friend also find a job (kind of), and other miscellaneous things that go along with the end of the Japanese school year.

Last weekend, Shimon and I ended up going into the shop to choose and buy our wedding bands. In Japan a lot of women do not wear their engagement rings after they get married (such a waste if you ask me). So most wedding bands are not meant to go along with an engagement ring. That being the case and the fact that I want to wear my engagement ring along with my wedding band our choices of rings were fairly limited. Luckily we found a nice pairing (if not exactly a pair) of rings. To top it all off, they had a sale going on (part of why we wandered into the shop in the first place!). Our rings will be ready for pick up on April 2nd.

Also in big(gish) news, I found shoes!! I think they will be comfortable for the wedding and wearable after. AND they were a steal!! (Roughly $60!) I was feeling so happy over finding wedding shoes that I was inspired to by a second pair of shoes at the same shop. :-)

I will try to keep updated on wedding things from now on.., I'm sure I'll have lots to post coming up and I may even ask for opinions!!