 Earthquake, possibly last big post about this |
20th March, 2011 (Sunday)
10:00am |
Hi friends,
Things have been crazy over the last week, but I believe things are finally starting to look up.
I don't know if you've heard, but there has been a major exodus of foreigners from the Tokyo metropolitan area. So many people left after the radiation scare that Narita is clogged up for days. I felt like a bad daughter for telling my mom I was staying, and I feel like she's unhappy with my decision, but honestly I very much doubt the government is lying about the radiation levels. The WHO backs me up on this. Things in Tokyo are going to be fine.
It's times like this, when the people up north need help from us-- money, food, gas, emotional support, etc. that we need to step up and deliver. I will be helping with a couple charity fundraisers within the next two or so weeks. Hopefully I will find some way to be helpful after those are done, too. The people up north have dealt with so much since March 11th. A 9.0 earthquake, huge tsunami, nuclear scare, snow storm, lack of medical attention, food, and heat. Some people have lost their whole families. Over 1,600 people are dead, still thousands more are missing.
Japan will overcome. We are lucky that countries all over the world care about us, and that the people of Japan are hard workers who have had a long history of natural disasters. But rebuilding lives will take time, and there was a lot destroyed that can never be replaced.
Keita's friend Kicchan, who worked as a host up in Sendai, lost everything. The quake was so huge that it woke him from sleep. He was extremely lucky to have a shelter just across the street from his house. He went there right away, afraid of what could happen next. The tsunami came and destroyed his apartment building. Thank goodness the shelter he was in was a tall building. He escaped with his life, but lost everything else. Now he and his boss, the only two people from the host club he was working for who are currently accounted for, have to come back to Tokyo and work in Kabuki-cho, which is notoriously dangerous and dirty. You guys probably think I am making this up, but no, it is the truth. :-( Kicchan's girlfriend, who is a hostess at a different club, is still up in Sendai in a shelter and has no place to go.
Life in Saitama, though I reported in previous reports that things were a bit crazy, have settled down. We have had a series of scheduled power outages, because the power grid is severely weakened at the moment. Me losing three hours of electricity a day seems like the least I can do if it helps the people up north get power.
Grocery stores are returning to normal, but gasoline stands are still short on gas. People with cars have to be careful of driving. The trains are a mess, but thank goodness my train line has mostly returned to normal.
A major hero in this event for me, at least, has been Mr. Edano. He's the man in my icon. I think everyone will come out of this loving him. He has taken so much responsibility and seems to be doing far more than PM Kan. He is a boss!
This will probably be my last earthquake post like this, I hope. I am finally starting to feel like things are coming back to control.
I'm sorry that I haven't been able to comment on your posts, friends. :-( This time, though I was off from work and was able to read what you all wrote, I felt so out of sorts that I couldn't even put two positive words together.
As my school heads into spring break, though, hopefully I'll have returned to normal.
I don't know how to end this entry, or to even write things linearly or in any semblance of order, so I will leave it here: I love all you guys on my FL. Each and every last one of you. :-)
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| Earthquake, pt. 3 |
14th March, 2011 (Monday)
5:53pm |
Hi friends,
Things are still kind of crazy and up in the air here. Hopefully it's not too boring to read about. Writing it out and posting is really helping me keep calm and make me realize all that I have to be grateful for. Plus, I never want to forget what happens in the next few weeks. I feel like, in a terrible way, this is going to be the big event that defines my life.
Today I had to go out. There were some things I needed to take care of that had nothing to do with the earthquake. Also I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help, or if there was any need for a translator.
On the way home from that, I was able to really walk around my neighborhood for the first time. A lot of the buildings at first seem unharmed, but then you look at the ground and there are lots of cracks. Some of them are really big and look deep. A lot of curb tiles are broken or sunken in, and a lot of slabs of plaster (or concrete) from the sides of the walls of buildings are cracked or fallen. I know it isn't as bad and maybe I am overreacting. After all, the houses are still standing. However, when I think of the 70% chance of another 7+ magnitude quake in the next few days, I worry that these buildings will crumble.
I walked to the station with Kei-- he had also been out because he has an eye infection (this boy! always sick!) and had to go to the eye doctor. I guess it was open and very busy. We saw the big signs up that there was no train service. There were a lot of JR workers out trying to do their best to explain to everyone what buses they could take instead. Keita had work at 6pm, so he was afraid he wouldn't be able to make it there.
I tried to go to the drug store at about 11:30, because Keita still gets toothaches and always is using our painkillers (Eve, probably like Advil in American standards) and thankfully the store didn't seem to be out of medicine. However there was no toilet paper or tissue to be found. Hopefully later this week they'll be restocked? The lines for the register were really, really long, but everyone waited patiently and quietly. It was really impressive. (Except this one Russian lady, who was obviously angry and was yelling at her little boy, who didn't seem to be doing anything wrong. IDEK though I didn't see them until she raised her voice.)
I was really surprised when the shutters started going down while I was still inside. The drug store closed promptly at 12:00.
There was another quite big aftershock-- or was it an actual quake, not sure-- after I got home. Kei and I ate lunch and then he went to bed for a few hours before work. In that time, I was trying to search for what bus he was supposed to ride to get to Akabane (where the trains were running), and from there to Shinbashi where he works (at Nitere). The fortunate news came that the trains would start running again from my station at 1:00pm.
I also got word from my coworkers that we would have school tomorrow. I am curious to see who will actually show up. If I was a mom who wasn't working, I would totally be keeping my child at home with me for the next couple days, until the fear of the next big quake is quelled. I don't know if I'm weird for being like that, though? In any case, as per my request yesterday, we will all be downstairs on the first floor. Thank goodness. I was really nervous to be teaching up on the second floor by myself.
There wasn't the scheduled black out for me yet, but group 5 just started theirs, so we'll see if I have one later.
There is still a huge line for gasoline that runs past my house and down another three blocks. This is more than yesterday.
It is so weird. I want to return to normal but I am pretty shaken from this. I had a terrible, terrible nightmare yesterday about my apartment collapsing. But luckily, even in the dream, Kei and I were able to escape. I can only imagine what it must be like for the people who are stuck in the 避難所 (I don't even know the English. Safe place to stay?) up north without food and blankets.
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| Earthquake, pt. 2 |
13th March, 2011 (Sunday)
5:14pm |
Hi friends,
Thanks for everyone who commented on the last post, and I apologize for the writing. I was pretty terrified still when I was writing that.
I am now safe at home. Yesterday morning I made my way home cautiously. I got on the second train running (I didn't want to risk the first train, just in case there WAS something wrong with the tracks, however unlikely). The train moved very, very slowly and stopped during every aftershock, but after 40 minutes, what is usually a 10 minute ride was finally over. It was crowded but not unbearable, considering how many people weren't able to make it home that night, and how many people were trying to get home to family.
The phones have, I think for the most part, finally gone back to normal down in Saitama.
The building across the street, which was an industrial building, is gone. Some of the older buildings around my station lost their fronts. There was some water problems with sewers, but not close enough to my place to have an impact on me. My gas was stopped for a while but it's back on now.
You might have heard about the nuclear power plants where there was an explosion, and a possibility of meltdown. That is very far away from me. In any case, they predict that in a worst case scenario, the radiation in that area will still only be about 1800 micro sieverts, or about the equivalent to having 3 stomach x-rays. (I had more than that back in November, a whopping 5 chest x-rays when I had to be in the hospital.) This is reassuring. Please don't believe any news that's reported saying this will be another Chernobyl.
There is, though, a power shortage. There will be planned power outages, perhaps for the next month, 3 hours at a time. I am not sure exactly when this will start, but more information is coming soon. An announcement came over our emergency alert system about that.
My friends Chihiro and Pei in Iwate, and Kei's friend Kicchan in Sendai are all safe and accounted for. I don't know anyone else up that way, but so many people are still missing and probably not coming back.
Still, I have to feel grateful for all of the people who are now working together, not just from Japan but from around the world, to help relief efforts. An hour or so ago, I saw a fire truck go past that had a sign saying it was "emergency relief." I believe it was headed up north.
tl;dr version: I am safe, I am home, and I am thinking good thoughts for all those up north who are currently going through hell.
Edit: There has been news since this evening that from tomorrow there will be scheduled three-hour power outages twice a day. I am not exactly sure which group I am in (my town and the part of town where I live are named in two different groups) so we will see. There is also talk about stopping water for some hours a day. When I went to the grocery there was literally nothing there. Keita biked farther away and got some canned goods and instant food at a different place, but everywhere has no bottled water or tea left. So far I washed all my empty PET bottles and have filled them with water. I hope I will come out from all this as a better person.
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| Earthquake |
12th March, 2011 (Saturday)
12:24am |
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Hi guys, I am writing safely from under a bundle of blankets on my coworker's couch. I am shaken- literally- but still in one piece. I am sure by now you have heard about the earthquakes that hit Japan. I was on the school bus taking some of my pre-school kids home when the first quake hit. In the bus it is hard to feel the earth moving. We thought originally that the bus had gotten a flat. As we saw stunned people run out of their houses, though, the bus driver and I began to realize something big wad happening. My first priority was to keep the children calm, which I managed to do while stealthily trying to get information on the quake from my phone. One of the mothers of my girls got stuck in the elevator when the quake struck. Two other mothers couldn't get in contact with their elementary school aged children. I soon realized that, while my Internet was working fine, all of the phone lines and SMS on my phone was not working. Got back to my school safely to be met outside by my coworkers. We wait and wait and then finally we realize thar we are not going to be able to get home. It was a slow dawning of information. Through countless aftershocks we ate grocery store bentos and tried to stay calm. Don Quixote was the only store open around the area. I totally gaijin-punched my way through to get food. Oops. After hours of trying I finally got in touch with Keita. Aside from a broken toaster (which we just got!) and a few dishes, everything seems to be okay. However the building across the street from my apartment is totally collapsed, apparently. I will try to get home via bus tomorrow. We'll see how this turns out. Can't get to sleep. So many aftershocks. Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.
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| I'm home!! |
10th January, 2011 (Monday)
12:00am |
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Got back safely, but oh man. I still don't think I'm quite over the pneumonia. I slept so much over the vacation and figured I'd be okay now that I'm back, but I'm totally not. Great! Oh well, these things take time! Hopefully now that I am starting up jogging again my energy level will increase. Okay so for Christmas,  bethfrish sent me an AMAZING PACKAGE!!! Filled with wonderful!!
( Some pictures of this under the cut!Collapse ) Now I am watching the Japanese National Soccer Team lose to Jordan (and Okazaki nail one of their players in the nuts)! This is not fun and Tulio is still injured, but Yoshida, his temporary replacement, is pretty good. He's had a rough game (ball bounced off his foot and scored an own goal) but I like him.
There he is being kinda gay on the right, with Uchida on the left. Oh yes and he plays for the Netherlands league which reminds me that I read an article today saying Ian Thorpe MIGHT un-retire? This is probably not going to happen right now but somewhere in Eindhoven, Pieter van den Hoogenband is wondering whether or not he's really over the Thorpedo. I swear. Edit: Yoshida just scored on loss time!! Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.
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| Friends only. |
20th March, 2010 (Saturday)
3:12pm |
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mood |
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calm |
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Friends Only
 This journal is friends only... if you'd like to be added, please leave me a comment!
日本語でも大丈夫だから、宜しければぜひメッセージをください。
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| Tweets for Today |
30th October, 2008 (Thursday)
12:17am |
- 17:34 I wish my computer didn't pretend to blow up every time I tried to turn it on... cell phones are not fun for typing on. :-(( #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
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14th August, 2008 (Thursday)
11:53am |
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mood |
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so depressed |
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*cries for like two days* ..... no..... just.... no.......
)-:
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| ゲイに策あり |
20th September, 2005 (Tuesday)
12:16pm |
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mood |
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ハードな世界にはまる |
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最近どうしてかハードブームなんですよ。ちょっと遅いかもしれないね（汗）。
これ、WinMXでダウンロードできたファイルで、ハードゲイも郷ひろみさんも入っていますからとても面白いと思う。もし興味あったらぜひ、ダウンロードしてください。
GO TO 郷！フォ～～～～っ！！！オッケー！！
ダウンロード/download (zip file, 308mb)
これ、HG達（ハードゲイ＆郷ひろみ）のテーマ曲：
（♪Livin' la vida Loca）
不気味なリズムで うごめく腰に
ひろみもたまらず 欲望のダンス
二人の体が 触れ合うたびに
ハードでハードな 世界にはまる
横にいるひろみが Sleeping in the car
そのすきにひろみも ハードゲイ
俺達HG～！ フォー！
ハ・ア・ド・ゲ・イ 腰を振り出すと
あれ？ひ・ろ・み・郷・も 何故か止まらない
さぁ、ひ・ろ・み・カモン！全てなくしても
エ・イ・チ・ジ・イ（HG）それは郷さんが
させた事だよ 郷の本能が～ OK!
To my non-Japanese speaking FL... if you have a high speed connection and can spare a few minutes downloading, this video may be worth your time... if you like HARD GAY guys humping things and making famous Japanese singers do various gay acts not on purpose. Otherwise, I guess leave him alone.
HARD GAY!! WOO!!!
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| Ta-da! |
9th March, 2005 (Wednesday)
7:37am |
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8th January, 2005 (Saturday)
11:40am |
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| おならについてあった話： |
11th November, 2004 (Thursday)
2:36am |
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mood |
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crazy |
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My boyfriend and I are so weird.
えりんぎ の発言 :
"Whoever smelt it dealt it"
えりんぎ の発言 :
"Whoever said the rhyme made the crime"
慶太 の発言 :
”おならしてないよ”って最初に言った人がおならした人！！ どうしてかって言うと、ほかの人に”おならしたでしょ？”って聞くからね（笑）！
慶太 の発言 :
いいだしっぺ
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| なぞなぞ…。 |
7th October, 2004 (Thursday)
1:44am |
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mood |
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clever |
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１．バスの中に７０人のっています！
みんなが飲んでる飲み物はなんでしょう？
２．あるお店に行くと、表にしか看板がありませんでした。
このお店はなんのお店でしょう？
( ANSWERS!!Collapse )
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