In Spite Of...

It has been nearly two weeks since the big earthquake, and while life here in Takko is slowly going back to normal, the vast majority of Japan's northern east coast is still struggling to recover. I don't need to recap what has happened and what efforts have been made to help get the Tohoku region back on its feet. The entire world has had its eyes turned on Japan since March 11th, leaving many people in the international world feeling helpless. I am thankful for all the great people in my life who have offered their kind words, prayers, and well wishes to me, my friends, and the entire country. I realize how frustrating and heartbreaking it must be to watch the countless news stories being aired and printed about the devastation here, and feeling like you can't really do anything about it. But please trust me when I say that simply reaching out and offering those kind words, prayers, and well wishes is making a world of difference to the people of Japan.

Although what has happened here has been absolutely horrible, I have to take the time to tell you how truly impressed I am with the Japanese people. In my 24 years, I have never experienced or even been closely related to something so catastrophic, but I have lived through some pretty awful historical events and natural disasters (September 11th and Hurricane Katrina, for example). Unfortunately, I don't believe these to be the last.

For the sake of this entry, I want to only talk about natural disasters, because it seems as if the American people behaved much differently during 9/11 than any other time that I have seen, and for me, it will always be in a category completely of its own. In America, there seems to be a very different vibe when there is the threat of a natural disaster. The threat of the unknown truly is terrifying and for many (I am not generalizing here), it becomes an "every man for himself" situation. But in Japan, no matter how dire the situation, the community always comes first. There is no blame to be placed here, because it is simply the difference of cultural characteristics. However, I believe that America has quite a bit to learn from their across-the-Pacific neighbor.

The following is my observation over the past thirteen days of the challenges, big and small, that people living in Japan have faced and how they are handling it.

In spite of going days without power...there has been no looting, stealing, or robbery of any kind. It is simply not in the nature of the Japanese to do so. In fact, there have been several stories about the lack of a Japanese term for "looting" and that the concept has an exceptionally long dictionary entry to explain it, since it is so difficult for them to comprehend. In Takko, we were without power for a mere 40 hours, which is nothing compared to the nearly two weeks that some areas have been subjected to. But during those 40 hours, we were given reports that we may be without power for up to a week! A tormenting thought to be had as we were still being severely shaken up by aftershocks every few hours. As you may remember, I was staying with Yasuyo and her family, and we went to a nearby store to buy some non-disposable items. Since the stores were unsafe to go into, the workers had brought some of the stock outside and set up manual cash registers. There was no pushing, running, grabbing, or stealing. People talked and reassured one another as they picked out a few items and waited patiently to purchase them.

In spite of the food shortage...there hasn't been significant amounts of hoarding. I add significant because there has been a bit of hoarding, but I think that's due more to the fact that replenishing the necessary items has been difficult. Ramen, milk, formula, diapers, and bread have all been extremely difficult to find in stores now, but everything else seems to be aplenty. In places closer to the most affected areas, there have been some rules instilled such as only allowing 20 items per family to make it as fair as possible. How well do we think that would do in America? I'd be willing to bet that there'd be some minor cases of chaos throughout the supermarkets. There was another story (that I heard through the grapevine) about one guy who went into a convennie and grabbed all the ramen off of the shelves, but before he could go buy it, a group of people walked in, so the man put several of the ramen back for others to purchase. Again...what are the chances of that happening in America? As far as here in Takko, it hasn't been that extreme. We don't have the items listed above, but everything seems to be well in stock as long as the deliveries continue to come. I believe that people have enough sense and faith to know that they will be fine. The Japanese mottainai has never been more practical.

In spite of the gas and oil shortage...no one is hoarding the fuel. In fact, at many gas stations, they are only allowing 10 liters or 2,000円 per car. Since I don't have a car, I'm not 100% sure if they're only allowing you to fill up if you have a quarter tank or less, but I personally think it's on the honor system. Again, it isn't in the nature of the Japanese people to think of the individual first. Everyone needs gas, and if the individual has to slightly suffer so that there is enough for everyone, then so be it. But people are waiting hours in these lines at the stations, not even sure that they'll be able to get anything, and yet there is no yelling, no honking, no impatience. Just quiet understanding. It's truly incredible to me. I know that I've cursed the driver in front of me at the station for taking so long to screw the gas cap back on and making me wait 30 more seconds. But wow. Kudos, Japan. Also, we're pretty reliant on kerosene at the moment. The low for tonight is 23 degrees and it just snowed a whole bunch. Wonderful. Well, I was nearly out of kerosene with only half a tank left out of two tanks in the house. Luckily I have an electric blanket, but getting out of bed in the mornings is not fun with working heaters. I had just gotten out of the shower when my landlady (who hasn't once knocked on the door in the past eight months) was at the front door asking for me to bring her my red kerosene tanks. I explained they're at the Yakuba (someone was going to fill them up tomorrow). Then she asked for my tanks in the house. Thoroughly confused, I give her the empty one and she tells me to chotto matte. Three minutes later she's back with a full tank of kerosene, a box of chocolates from Tokyo, and two vending machine coffees. She instructs me to stay warm and eat the candy because it's delicious. Only in Japan, my friends.

In spite of the nuclear scare...there is no massive flee from the country, hoarding of iodine pills or panic whatsoever. This has most certainly been, for me, the most controversial aspect of this entire experience. I'll be upfront and say that yes, it's probably true that the Japanese media is downplaying the Fukushima situation just a bit. But they are most certainly not omitting information. If you go to NHK's English news, they give the good and the bad of the situation. American news is reporting the facts, but they are also sensationalizing the situation. Takko is about 200 miles from the Daichi plant, and although we are keeping track of what's going on down there, no one is rushing to the pharmacy trying to find a cure-all for radiation poisoning. I can't imagine the thousands of people who actually live there are doing it either and yet, people in California who are over 5,000 miles away are raiding the vitamin sections of stores. And no, Nancy Grace, California did not declare a state of emergency because they were afraid of becoming radioactive. I'm not going to deny that there is a bit of concern about Fukushima since the situation is not under control at the moment, but the point is that the people of Japan have complete faith in the experts and that they are doing everything in their power to ensure our safety. And believe it or not, Daichi is not the number one concern for us. Rather, it's the thousands upon thousands of people who have died, are still missing or are living in horrid conditions because of the Tohoku Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami.

In spite of an 8.9 earthquake...we were all back to work on Monday. Those of you familiar with Japanese lifestyle shouldn't be surprised. The earthquake occurred on Friday at about 2:50pm and we were all back at work on Monday at 8:15am. No lost time. Granted, my division at Yakuba is heading the earthquake operations here in Takko and several city employees worked all weekend, but we were all back to business the next week. In all seriousness though, I would've preferred to be at work anyway. The week following the earthquake was nerve-racking, what with the continued reports of more large earthquakes to come and the threat of rolling blackouts. Sitting at home and waiting for that haunting earthquake alarm to go off again was not going to calm me down by any means. So I spent the week fielding phone calls, emails and facebook messages from concerned family and friends. Still a bit nerve-racking when you consider how many times I answered the same questions and calmed the same concerns, but better than the alternative.


And such is my report. There is so much more I can tell you about, but I believe that it will be locked away in my memory for years to come, and will come out in stories that I tell my grandchild. And of course, this is all far from over. Relief from all over the world has been coming to Japan's aid, but the numbers of the deceased continue to rise towards the estimated 20,000. I remember hearing the first reports on the day of telling us that 600 people had died and I was shocked at that number. 20,000. It's simply beyond me.

In the past few days, the JET community was hit with their first reported loss. Taylor Anderson, a JET living in a coastal city in Miyagi Prefecture, was found after having been missing for days. I didn't know Taylor, but I saw her name come up on my Facebook newsfeed several times asking for any information about her. It is such a tragedy that has deeply affected not only the JET community, but all foreigners living here. There are still several thousand people missing, so in Taylor's honor and in the hopes of finding those who are still missing, a movement has started to make origami cranes. The crane is a sign for peace and hope in the Japanese culture, and it is believed that if you make 1,000 paper cranes, whatever you're wishing or hoping for will come true. All you need is a square sheet of paper. Click here for instructions on how to make one.


Coming up... This weekend, I'm hoping to flee the Nanbu area for a couple of days and go to Ululani's aunt and uncle's house in Misawa. We've signed up to volunteer through the Red Cross in Hachinohe, the nearest city to us to have been affected by the tsunami. I'm looking forward to finally being able to help, if only for a few hours.

An example of our keitai earthquake alarms

The 8.9 Earthquake Heard 'Round the World

On Friday, March 11th at approximately 2:50pm, an 8.9 earthquake shook our world here in Japan. The epicenter was near Sendai in the Miyagi prefecture located in the northeast part of Japan, but the entire country was affected, especially the Tohoku region. The following is my account of events from Takko-Machi in the Aomori prefecture.


As with most Friday afternoons, I was sitting at my desk at the Garlic Center. I was finished with my responsibilities for the week, and I was running through everything I had to do at home in preparation for my sister to arrive the next day. As always, I had left everything to the last minute. I needed to do laundry, mop, vacuum, do dishes, straighten up, etc, etc! I was chatting online with Ululani about how slow Friday afternoons can be when the town's PA system sounded an alarm I had never heard before: ding dong, ding dong, jishin desu jishin desu! I looked over at Makiko sitting across from me and before I could finish asking, "What is that for?", the building lurched in one direction and threw itself back in the other. After five seconds of shaking, it had grown so violent that I knew this wasn't just another earthquake. In all my years of earthquake drills at school, my instinct was to jump underneath my desk and cover my neck, so I did. But as the shaking continued, I felt even less safe under my huge metal desk. I popped my head out from under and watched the room shake around me, the lights above us flicker and then go out. I felt my eyes well up with tears, bent my head down and said, "Why won't it stop"?! About a minute and a half later, the shaking finally subdued enough for us to run downstairs. I grabbed my phone and jacket, and ran down as fast as I could, still covering my neck. The garlic bulb lights in the front entry way were still swaying, as were the stuffed garlic toys hanging in the front window. We hadn't been outside for more than a minute before the first aftershock came, knocking us from balance and roaring through the town.

Unfortunately, the first aftershock wouldn't be the last. For the next two hours, the ground beneath us continued to shake shake shake every few minutes, and we're not talking small tremors here. Someone suggested that I go check on the apartment, which is infamous for being pushed around by a strong wind. As Yasuyo and I approached the apartment, I joked that I was glad to see it still standing...joking, but also impressed. A few things had fallen from their spots atop my TV, dresser, desk, etc. The most devastating damage was my fruit basket (normally filled with snacks from America) that was hanging from the ceiling and had fallen to the ground. *Sigh* I surveyed the apartment quickly, and left, not wanting to be in there if another aftershock were to come. The town PA system came on several times, warning us to be careful and for parents to pick their children up from school. Teachers and principals guided most of them into town to make sure they were picked up or in sight of other adults. For the most part, I was distracted, but I couldn't help but notice how much everyone was taking care of each other.

My phone almost immediately lost service, but Nana was able to call in to my phone one last time before it completely gave out. We discussed the possibility of me being able to meet Julia in Tokyo the following day. At the time, I had no idea of the severity of the earthquake in Sendai, but I knew Shinkansens wouldn't be running that afternoon and figured they may be running the following morning. After we hung up, though, news images on the car's TV of the tsunami taking out everything in its path as it crashed into the city of Sendai made all of our stomachs sink. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I tried to stay positive that Julia would be able to come out and that we'd be seeing our trip through, but as the news went on and on about the rising damage and continued aftershocks, it seemed less and less certain. As everyone began packing to head home, I went into a silent panic. Would I have to stay at my apartment alone tonight? I was desperately trying to get a hold of Joel, the other foreigner in town to see if he wanted to buddy up tonight and battle the aftershocks together (which at this point were happening every 10 minutes or so), but the cell phones were completely down at this point. Just as I thought I was going to have to brave the long, cold night of quakes alone, Yasuyo had me in her car and on our way to the apartment to pack an overnight bag. It was dark inside, as it was past 5pm, and it's funny what you throw in an overnight pack when you're terrified of being thrown around by another earthquake. I managed sweatpants, a work sweater, and my toothbrush (I ended up sleeping in exactly what I was wearing...too afraid to leave the room and change in the dark).

Before heading off to Yasuyo's, we stopped by Yakuba to let everyone know I was okay. Of course, the place was a mad house, as it was the only spot in town with power (due to a handy dandy generator). The people in my division were all glued to the TV in the corner, and my supervisor looked beyond relieved to see me standing and well. I tried calling home from my desk phone, thinking this may be the last time to call them for a while. We confirmed that Julia's trip was canceled; Narita Airport was completely shut down.

Although the power was out, you wouldn't know it being at Yasuyo's! Her family had a portable gas heater that didn't need electricity, and they managed to keep the kotatsu (this nifty heated table that Japanese go nuts over) warm despite the lack of power. Dinner was cooked all on the stove and was delicious: miso ramen and garlic rice. Yum. After setting up our futons with about seven blankets for each, we went to bed early. I was shocked at how exhausted I was, and as I tried to sleep through the "aftershocks" (I put quotations because they continued to be much larger than anything I've ever felt before), I thought about how surreal everything still felt.

We woke the next morning to no power. Yasuyo was scheduled to work, and I needed to call home so we headed into town. Garlic Center was, of course, closed, so we headed over to Yakuba so I could check in and make my phone call. During the night, however, the generator ran out of battery and Yakuba was without power. My cell phone was still out of service, but Yasuyo's allowed us to check facebook and send messages to loved ones. I was able to get emails and messages out to my sister, Mom, and Patrick before we headed back into town where cell service was unavailable. With nothing much else to do, we sat at home listening to the radio and sleeping. Despite having napped all day, I was still tired at night (being tired seems to have become a recurring theme in my everyday life) and we went to bed early.

Dinner with friends...
no earthquakes allowed!

Aftershocks continued to wake us throughout the night, but we woke up to a wonderful surprise. Denki (electricity) had returned! I grabbed my phone, hoping that cell service had returned as well, but it had not. At least, not quite yet. We headed into town, delighted to see that the power was back on everywhere. Next, we needed Internet. I checked in with the Garlic Center, and then headed to the apartment to see if I'd have luck with getting online. Yatta! The Internet gods were good to me. I skyped and facebooked for a few hours, checking in with everyone and reporting the good news that I was okay. Throughout all of this, I was hoping that I'd get the chance to talk to my Patrick, because from lack of emails from him, I figured he still wasn't allowed to use his phone or laptop yet. But then low and behold, his name signed online! I dialed him up and was greeted with a, "Hey, what's up"? What's up? What's UP? I'll tell you what's up...his class had been on complete lockdown at OCS the entire week and he had no idea that an earthquake had even happened! It was difficult finding a way to explain it all, but I managed after calming down a bit. We ended our conversation with me asking him to promise to ask to call the next day. After my hours online, I headed to Joels', the other gaijin in town, house for dinner. Saki, one of my favorite kids here in town, was there too and for a few hours, we talked about anything and everything uninterrupted by any aftershocks. That night, I spent the first night alone at the apartment since the big earthquake hit. We had one aftershock that I felt before drifting off to sleep, and if we had any more, I didn't feel them.

The next morning being Monday meant time to go to work! This may come as a shock to all you Americans, thinking that we all went back to work after a huge disaster like this. But such is the way of life in Japan. I wouldn't know what else I'd be doing if we didn't have work; I relished in the fact that I'd be around people all day long. I turned on the computer and wasn't shocked at the crazy amount of emails, comments, messages, etc. that greeted me. I got right to work updating my friends and the people in Gilroy (not to say you all aren't one and the same!). I knew people were eager to hear from us, and I didn't want anyone worrying more than they had to, so I made some phone calls to reporters, threw some updates up on the Takko facebook page, and hoped that it would reach everyone it needed to. Whew.

Since then, it's been business as usual for the most part. Here is the situation as of now and my personal situation because of it:

They reported that we may expect another large earthquake sometime in the near future. Of course there is no real way of knowing when of if they could even happen, but it's keeping everyone on edge. Because of that, I've decided to stay with the Chiba family. Nothing would be scarier to me than to be in that apartment alone during another earthquake like that on Friday afternoon. I am forever grateful for their hospitality!

Gas, oil, and food supplies are slowly dwindling here in town. The gas is in short supply because many of our gas and oil suppliers are on the coastline located in cities that were greatly affected by the tsunami. Because gas is hard to come by, it's difficult to transport anything, including food! Many people are offering to send food, which is really very sweet, but the mail relies on transporting to get here sooo...we're stuck. But okay! I promise. I went to the Takko store and there was plenty of food...just no bread or cup of noodle, which just means no ramen or toast for me for a while. What will I do with all that peanut butter...?

The shinkansen, my beloved bullet train, is down for an undetermined amount of time at this point. I'm not sure what kind of damage the tracks themselves have but the Sendai station, one of the biggest stations in the Tohoku line is nearly destroyed. I'm hearing that it'll be okay and that it won't be okay...but it's been less than a week since the big quake, so there's no way of knowing now. The only way to Tokyo is by plane at this point.

The Fukushima power plant crisis. There are no words because too many have already been said. This is probably the biggest point of conversation regarding all of this and it's exhausting. American news is portraying it as being VERY bad, while Japanese news is telling us that it should be okay. I think both sides are at fault here for either leaving information out or blowing it out of proportion, but since no one in Takko is freaking out over it, neither am I. In reality, we really are too far from the plant for it to cause any real harm. So Californians, stop buying those damn iodine pills. You're 5,000 miles away. You'll be fine.

We just got some spring snow last night, so we're crossing our fingers that kerosene comes soon! In the meantime, we'll be fine with the wood stoves and electric blankets. No need to worry! We'll be warm. I'm greatly concerned for our Japanese brothers and sisters on the coastline that are all dealing with the tsunami aftermath. As scary as this earthquake was, nothing compares to the videos and images we see of the tsunami tearing through cities and towns. The death toll is inconceivable, now in the tens of thousands. Despite the rising numbers of people missing and/or dying, small glimmers of hope can be found in stories of miracles. However, the Japanese people have this amazing sense of resilience about them, and nothing seems to get them down. With the community always coming first, neighbors and strangers alike are helping each other during this extremely difficult time.

I'll continue to keep everyone updated as this amazing country that I've come to call home rebuilds itself. I'm finding that I need to remove myself from the media every once and a while because it becomes simply overwhelming.


The following is a video posted on the Discovery website showing the before and after shocks of the now infamous 8.9 earthquake that hit Japan on March 11th. It's an excellent representation showing how busy the Pacific plate has been this past week.