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It's now been over a week since the big Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami... it honestly feels like a month has passed because everyday of the past week, I was glued to the news (local mostly) and in contact or worrying about friends in the affected areas. I have had so much I wanted to say but I held back because at times I was just so distraught that I didn't know what I could say without sounding like I was all over the place.
I've had a lot of moments; emotionally I've alternated between being angry (with inaccurate media reports or people's comments), stress of friends panicking (though most are now here and will stay), hurt at some friends who are leaving and yet I'm also strengthened and overjoyed by the support of others who are staying, who are helping out, who aren't panicking... and those who are overseas and being positive for me! Amidst all of that, there's also been several earthquakes here in Kanto - mostly in Ibraki but I felt them all. It was almost unnerving for my apartment to shake like hell!
Words cannot expressed the horror I feel when I see and read about all the growing death toll, homeless people up north, about kids whose lives have been changed (from losing a parent or two to their house)... Friday was graduation day for a lot of us and for many kids, it was the beginning of a new life in junior high and high school. Imagine having all those hopes changed in one instant... I look at my kids and I'm glad that they're all safe, smiling and still here. After the quake, things were a bit shaky amongst the teachers at school (of course we were all concerned about the people further up north) and then we were all concerned about the situation with the nuclear reactors in Fukushima. But amongst the foreign community here in Gunma and amongst all of us JETs and private ALTs (teachers teaching English in Japan) in Kanto, we've united and remained resolute that we will stay. Some of us have chosen to leave, but the majority of us are here and will continue to stay and support Japan.
We've also been angry at some of the exaggerated foreign media reports. Some are so grossly exaggerated that I've heard of descriptions of Tokyo being turned into a ghost town, nuclear mushroom clouds looming and everything tainted by radiation. For the record, Tokyo and my place are both about 200Kms from the nuclear reactors. Right now there is no radiation that is considered unhealthy... and if there were, all the international bodies measuring the radiation (including various government bodies who've come to Japan) would have immediately held a press conference. What some of the reports have done is scared our relatives back home and due to that, a lot of foreigners here have been under stressed from distraught relatives...
I won't deny that my brother and sister both suggested that I go home to Australia... and I have contemplated it. I still contemplate it. Overall I want to stay here as I still don't see any danger - I am far from the nuclear reactors and even if they all release radiation, wind factors and weather patterns would dilute the radiation before it got to me. I don't live near the sea so I would not swimming in contaminated waters. I am constantly reading news about it and I am aware that it is a very precarious situation... but I also have faith that they are working around the clock (and believe me they are...) to fix it. They have done a lot of stuff that the Japanese press is reporting on... my source is the NHK daily news. I gave up on the foreign news because some of their headlines were designed to scare people. I spoke with my parents and they trust my judgement to stay. I'm not stupid... if it doesn't improve then I will reconsider things but for now, I'm not going anywhere. They are measuring the radiation daily in my prefecture... and so far, it isn't material enough to kill or poison anyone.
I have a friend in Sendai who worked this weekend at her school (which is now a relief centre/shelter for Miyagi residents who've lost their homes) - helping with the cleaning, cooking, supporting... providing for others who need it. I admire her strength and I won't go into too many details but when I skyped her some days ago, she told me about those first few nights when she had to cook rice, clean toilets, boil water, help keep many people warm in the absence of electricity. It was astounding and amazing. Truly amazing. And she told me that she drew her strength from the other teachers; knowing that they have friends and relatives who are dead or missing and still going on to help others in need. It broke her heart to see them cry when away from others and she said that considering others' situations, we were all so much better.
And I have nothing but admiration for the men who are currently putting their lives at risk working day and night to restore power and help cool down the reactors in Fukushima. I have faith and confidence that we will resolve this matter.
In addition, I think that the panic buying here has somewhat subsided... thank god! In the first few days after the quake, people bought all the bread and milk and silly enough, toilet paper. These are all now restocked at my supermarket (except for milk). Since I'm mostly lactose intolerant, I never really drink milk anyway and I mostly use it for cooking. Things are starting to return to normal... school is certainly normal. I have not had any changes in classes and I have not had any panicking students or teachers. I was rather upset throughout the week and spent a lot of time at my desk deep in thought or emotionally wrecked, so I didn't have lunch with the kids... one of the teachers actually noticed and asked me why I hadn't had lunch with them! It was hard to explain... I just didn't want to break down in front of the kids.
We still don't have gas/petrol in Gunma... from all reports from my friends all over the place, people aren't driving except out of necessity. I don't know how long this will go on as there is no train running in my area the moment and the teachers need to drive to get to work... and high school kids need to catch the train to school (most high school kids go to "better" schools in other towns since the good schools tend not to be in small towns). The shinkansen is running but it goes all the way to Tokyo and is expensive to travel... I know two people on LJ who live in Japan but as far as I know they are both in Kansai and safe and sound.
For those of you who may or may not know, we are still experiencing rolling blackouts (3 hours once or twice a day with no electricity). The Kanto area (Eastern Japan) and Tohoku area (North-Eastern) are included. Tokyo is definitely affected. The downside to these blackouts, is that it's difficult for businesses to run because some happen during the day. To get an idea of the Kanto area schedule, here's a link. As you can see, there are 5 groups and some groups do have two blackouts a day. There is also another schedule as to which group people belong in. It is very hard and I can't see happening forever as the economy can't survive if businesses can't run...
http://setsuden.yahoo.co.jp/schedule.html
Everything is very organised... we have updated schedules everyday on the net and in the news, and I also check the net daily for news on my train schedules - well, more specifically whether it's running or not. Again, I really am very lucky as it turns out, my town has several dams and as such, we have hydroelectric power... so we haven't been included in the rolling blackouts list. That doesn't mean that I'm using power to no avail... I'm also trying to conserve it but it's hard as we are still getting snow and it's going to snow again this week!
In other news, I also learnt that in the new term, I won't be doing anymore elementary school rotations... this makes me incredibly sad in many ways. My own supervisor didn't tell me in person about this and I had to find out from other sources. I was hurt because I found out about it when I was at one of my elementary schools on Friday and I had to say goodbye to all the kids and the teachers. The vice-principal actually announced to the teachers that I wasn't coming back just before I said goodbye. I was told that I could always visit! It was difficult and I think that some of the kids don't realise that I won't be back. The elementary schools that I go to are also attended by another ALT but she's leaving Japan in July... if they are unable to find someone to replace her (given the current worry about radiation and the fact that all governments warning against travel to Japan), it might mean that there will be three elementary schools in my town without a foreign English teacher. Keep in mind, that in elementary school, most teachers can't speak English, unlike Junior High English teachers, who have very good levels of English. So teaching English in elementary school is very difficult for the Japanese teachers... but the kids are incredibly bright and fast. I know 9 year olds who can exclaim, "Oh my God!" perfectly or 7 year olds who can ask me, "How old are you?" in perfect English.
So overall, I'm mostly fine. I still worry about a lot of things, but things here are really returning to normal. I call my parents when I can, I skype with friend here in Japan (in other cities) or abroad when I can and I try to stay abreast of the situation. I guess I get support from friends here in Japan and I in turn (hopefully) support them. I hope this week will be a better week. It's the last week of term and for the school year. We will all be busy whilst at the back of our minds, we won't forget those who are in need. I'm also really impressed by all the outpouring of support in terms of donations and various items from people here on LJ and people in other parts of Japan. The people in the Tohoku region do need our support.
And thanks to a bit of help from one of my elementary school teachers and his wife, I have managed to buy a bus ticket to Osaka for my springbreak. I planned this holiday a while ago, before the earthquake occurred. I allmost cancelled it as I need to take a train to a bigger city to catch the bus... I had no idea that I could use a 7-11 machine to buy the ticket until he showed me. It really wasn't that difficult but when you don't read all Kanji/Japanese like me, you sometimes avoid these things. I guess if my train doesn't start running by this Saturday, I will have to take a shinkansen instead.
If you're interested in some of the foreign media, check out this site: http://jpquake.wikispaces.com/Journalist+Wall+of+Shame. There is also a link to good journalism on the page. The comparison to Chernobyl makes me wonder if that's why a German friend of mine recently said in an email that I should start taking Iodine...? I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or dead serious... and I don't even know if he's still living in Japan or chose to fled...
Well, here is a photo I took last week when I had to walk to elementary school. It snowed a lot as I crossed the bridge to the Tone river. If you wonder what the specks are on the photo, that's actual snow falling as I took the pic with my iphone.
click on the pic for a larger version
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12785274 which seems to logically consider some facts.
I've had a lot of moments; emotionally I've alternated between being angry (with inaccurate media reports or people's comments), stress of friends panicking (though most are now here and will stay), hurt at some friends who are leaving and yet I'm also strengthened and overjoyed by the support of others who are staying, who are helping out, who aren't panicking... and those who are overseas and being positive for me! Amidst all of that, there's also been several earthquakes here in Kanto - mostly in Ibraki but I felt them all. It was almost unnerving for my apartment to shake like hell!
Words cannot expressed the horror I feel when I see and read about all the growing death toll, homeless people up north, about kids whose lives have been changed (from losing a parent or two to their house)... Friday was graduation day for a lot of us and for many kids, it was the beginning of a new life in junior high and high school. Imagine having all those hopes changed in one instant... I look at my kids and I'm glad that they're all safe, smiling and still here. After the quake, things were a bit shaky amongst the teachers at school (of course we were all concerned about the people further up north) and then we were all concerned about the situation with the nuclear reactors in Fukushima. But amongst the foreign community here in Gunma and amongst all of us JETs and private ALTs (teachers teaching English in Japan) in Kanto, we've united and remained resolute that we will stay. Some of us have chosen to leave, but the majority of us are here and will continue to stay and support Japan.
We've also been angry at some of the exaggerated foreign media reports. Some are so grossly exaggerated that I've heard of descriptions of Tokyo being turned into a ghost town, nuclear mushroom clouds looming and everything tainted by radiation. For the record, Tokyo and my place are both about 200Kms from the nuclear reactors. Right now there is no radiation that is considered unhealthy... and if there were, all the international bodies measuring the radiation (including various government bodies who've come to Japan) would have immediately held a press conference. What some of the reports have done is scared our relatives back home and due to that, a lot of foreigners here have been under stressed from distraught relatives...
I won't deny that my brother and sister both suggested that I go home to Australia... and I have contemplated it. I still contemplate it. Overall I want to stay here as I still don't see any danger - I am far from the nuclear reactors and even if they all release radiation, wind factors and weather patterns would dilute the radiation before it got to me. I don't live near the sea so I would not swimming in contaminated waters. I am constantly reading news about it and I am aware that it is a very precarious situation... but I also have faith that they are working around the clock (and believe me they are...) to fix it. They have done a lot of stuff that the Japanese press is reporting on... my source is the NHK daily news. I gave up on the foreign news because some of their headlines were designed to scare people. I spoke with my parents and they trust my judgement to stay. I'm not stupid... if it doesn't improve then I will reconsider things but for now, I'm not going anywhere. They are measuring the radiation daily in my prefecture... and so far, it isn't material enough to kill or poison anyone.
I have a friend in Sendai who worked this weekend at her school (which is now a relief centre/shelter for Miyagi residents who've lost their homes) - helping with the cleaning, cooking, supporting... providing for others who need it. I admire her strength and I won't go into too many details but when I skyped her some days ago, she told me about those first few nights when she had to cook rice, clean toilets, boil water, help keep many people warm in the absence of electricity. It was astounding and amazing. Truly amazing. And she told me that she drew her strength from the other teachers; knowing that they have friends and relatives who are dead or missing and still going on to help others in need. It broke her heart to see them cry when away from others and she said that considering others' situations, we were all so much better.
And I have nothing but admiration for the men who are currently putting their lives at risk working day and night to restore power and help cool down the reactors in Fukushima. I have faith and confidence that we will resolve this matter.
In addition, I think that the panic buying here has somewhat subsided... thank god! In the first few days after the quake, people bought all the bread and milk and silly enough, toilet paper. These are all now restocked at my supermarket (except for milk). Since I'm mostly lactose intolerant, I never really drink milk anyway and I mostly use it for cooking. Things are starting to return to normal... school is certainly normal. I have not had any changes in classes and I have not had any panicking students or teachers. I was rather upset throughout the week and spent a lot of time at my desk deep in thought or emotionally wrecked, so I didn't have lunch with the kids... one of the teachers actually noticed and asked me why I hadn't had lunch with them! It was hard to explain... I just didn't want to break down in front of the kids.
We still don't have gas/petrol in Gunma... from all reports from my friends all over the place, people aren't driving except out of necessity. I don't know how long this will go on as there is no train running in my area the moment and the teachers need to drive to get to work... and high school kids need to catch the train to school (most high school kids go to "better" schools in other towns since the good schools tend not to be in small towns). The shinkansen is running but it goes all the way to Tokyo and is expensive to travel... I know two people on LJ who live in Japan but as far as I know they are both in Kansai and safe and sound.
For those of you who may or may not know, we are still experiencing rolling blackouts (3 hours once or twice a day with no electricity). The Kanto area (Eastern Japan) and Tohoku area (North-Eastern) are included. Tokyo is definitely affected. The downside to these blackouts, is that it's difficult for businesses to run because some happen during the day. To get an idea of the Kanto area schedule, here's a link. As you can see, there are 5 groups and some groups do have two blackouts a day. There is also another schedule as to which group people belong in. It is very hard and I can't see happening forever as the economy can't survive if businesses can't run...
http://setsuden.yahoo.co.jp/schedule.html
Everything is very organised... we have updated schedules everyday on the net and in the news, and I also check the net daily for news on my train schedules - well, more specifically whether it's running or not. Again, I really am very lucky as it turns out, my town has several dams and as such, we have hydroelectric power... so we haven't been included in the rolling blackouts list. That doesn't mean that I'm using power to no avail... I'm also trying to conserve it but it's hard as we are still getting snow and it's going to snow again this week!
In other news, I also learnt that in the new term, I won't be doing anymore elementary school rotations... this makes me incredibly sad in many ways. My own supervisor didn't tell me in person about this and I had to find out from other sources. I was hurt because I found out about it when I was at one of my elementary schools on Friday and I had to say goodbye to all the kids and the teachers. The vice-principal actually announced to the teachers that I wasn't coming back just before I said goodbye. I was told that I could always visit! It was difficult and I think that some of the kids don't realise that I won't be back. The elementary schools that I go to are also attended by another ALT but she's leaving Japan in July... if they are unable to find someone to replace her (given the current worry about radiation and the fact that all governments warning against travel to Japan), it might mean that there will be three elementary schools in my town without a foreign English teacher. Keep in mind, that in elementary school, most teachers can't speak English, unlike Junior High English teachers, who have very good levels of English. So teaching English in elementary school is very difficult for the Japanese teachers... but the kids are incredibly bright and fast. I know 9 year olds who can exclaim, "Oh my God!" perfectly or 7 year olds who can ask me, "How old are you?" in perfect English.
So overall, I'm mostly fine. I still worry about a lot of things, but things here are really returning to normal. I call my parents when I can, I skype with friend here in Japan (in other cities) or abroad when I can and I try to stay abreast of the situation. I guess I get support from friends here in Japan and I in turn (hopefully) support them. I hope this week will be a better week. It's the last week of term and for the school year. We will all be busy whilst at the back of our minds, we won't forget those who are in need. I'm also really impressed by all the outpouring of support in terms of donations and various items from people here on LJ and people in other parts of Japan. The people in the Tohoku region do need our support.
And thanks to a bit of help from one of my elementary school teachers and his wife, I have managed to buy a bus ticket to Osaka for my springbreak. I planned this holiday a while ago, before the earthquake occurred. I allmost cancelled it as I need to take a train to a bigger city to catch the bus... I had no idea that I could use a 7-11 machine to buy the ticket until he showed me. It really wasn't that difficult but when you don't read all Kanji/Japanese like me, you sometimes avoid these things. I guess if my train doesn't start running by this Saturday, I will have to take a shinkansen instead.
If you're interested in some of the foreign media, check out this site: http://jpquake.wikispaces.com/Journalist+Wall+of+Shame. There is also a link to good journalism on the page. The comparison to Chernobyl makes me wonder if that's why a German friend of mine recently said in an email that I should start taking Iodine...? I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or dead serious... and I don't even know if he's still living in Japan or chose to fled...
Well, here is a photo I took last week when I had to walk to elementary school. It snowed a lot as I crossed the bridge to the Tone river. If you wonder what the specks are on the photo, that's actual snow falling as I took the pic with my iphone.
click on the pic for a larger version
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12785274 which seems to logically consider some facts.
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