Radiation levels are rising in the Tokyo water supply and Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano said "Don't let babies under the age of one to drink from the tap". Bottled water sold out quickly at Yahoo! Japan Shopping after we got the news. Crazy... "don't panic, calm down" is what I want to say to the Japanese people.
Ken Watanabe created the site "Kizuna311" with his fellow artists to support the disaster-hit areas. He read a famous poem called "Ame ni mo makezu" that was written by Kenji Miyazawa, a poet from the Iwate prefecture (part of the tsunami disaster area). This is one of my favorites, a beautiful poem. This translation is better than the video.
TEPCO says they may restore power to the cooling systems of the #1 and #2 plants in Fukushima, and maybe they will make it to the rest of them tomorrow! Things are getting better now. :-D And it's a miracle! Wow, a young guy was found in a broken house over 186 hours after the tsunami!
By viewing this video, a donation will be made to the victims of the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The donations collected will be reported on "www.shueisha.co.jp" as well as in magazines published by Shueisha Inc.
Finally, people are actually starting to freak out and some are panic buying. I really don't need to check Geiger counters or hoard a lot of toilet paper because the earthquake doesn't make me poo more than usual. But the good thing is that there are lot of people who are staying calm. Here are posters that advise people to "stop panic buying."
The Twitter #tag "#edano_nero" is hot in Japan now. Edano is the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Since the earthquake hit, he has been appearing on TV everyday and has been explaining what is going on in a calm tone of voice. He tries not to avoid questions from the press. Now people are tweeting with the tag “#edano_nero” at the end of their tweets to encourage Edano. It means “Edano— go to sleep” in Japanese. Because we know that he has not been sleeping enough during this disaster. And some Twitter users are getting frustrated at Prime Minister Kan. They have added the hashtag “kan_okiro” (Kan – Wake Up) at the end of their messages.
Thank you very much, we really appreciate your support. This is a video showing a village that received an unexpected donation of food from the US military.
Self defense force helicopters sent water cannon trucks to spray down the hot reactor in the morning, but unfortunately it was not enough. They're doing it again from the sky and also from the ground, but I am not sure it is going well because the TV isn't showing it. Unfortunately, today it is very cold in east Japan and people are using more power than they were yesterday, so power shortages are unpredictable now. We may have a sudden blackout anytime tonight.
Left photo: March 11th / Right photo: March 15th. Great job, they fixed all that damage in only 4 days. When the power is down, someone goes to fix it, when the water stops, someone goes to fix it, when the road is damaged, someone goes to fix it. Now we start to realize how the conveniences of normal life are all thanks to somebody's hard work.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano gives us up-to-date information and official statements at a news conference everyday, he is getting high approval ratings from people now. And someone is selling a fan Tshirt. Ha ha ha, we need laughter.
And this is a post written by a guy who was a high school student when the great Hanshin earthquake happened. I am impressed because I am a person who want to go to Tohoku soon. _ "The day before we planned to go, our teacher told us: 'Bring your own food. Never touch food for evacuees. Bring a sleeping bag or tent, dry and flat ground should be reserved for evacuees, so you need to setup in another space. Once you register as volunteer, never refuse or give up on any work. Quitting in the middle is the worst thing you can do in group working. If you can keep those rule, you may go there becasuse at least you are young and strong, so you might be helpful there. But basically I hope you concentrate on studying and going to college to learn special knowledge and become a person who helps a lot in such a disaster."
However we went and we realzed we were useless and powerless in Kobe. The Self Defense Force and fire department guys were professionals and they fixed everything quickly. On the other hand we were just useless young guys who just had selfish motivations and hope. We could do nothing, and our food was gone in five days. To be honest, we had to leave there with a completely broken feeling.
After that we became college students and I must admit that our ambition for Kobe didn't even continue one year after that. Our sense of justice was just empty. I suppose there are many young people who want to do something for the Tohoku area, but don't rush. There is nothing you can do there. Staying there might only bother people. Donate money or blood. It might be the most useful thing to do right now. And hopefully keep your ambition to help the people in that place for over one year, because one year later those people will still need help, and will still not have been able to return to their previous lives. Supprting people is nessessary beyond the first shock. After media packs up and leaves the place. I am an engineer now and am currently working in the disaster prevention field. I'm glad I am now in a position to help people, compared to when I was young."
Evangelion Inspires Real Operation Yashima After Quake. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) created a blackout plan for the Kanto area. But fortunately, my area didn't have any blackouts today because of individuals' and companies' support. Tonight, Tokyo was the darkest that I have ever seen it. We are all trying to save electricity.
Earthquake, Tsunami, Fire and now we have a nuclear meltdown. Sadly, the "Sendai Earthquake of 2011" is now listed as the 4th largest earthquake in history.
Compared to the Tohoku area, Tokyo is ok, we just had transportation troubles. I was in a midtown tower when it happened. Japanese people are used to earthquakes, we can usually sense them because the building sways, but this time it was shaking up and down. Some people screamed and some hid under their desks. I could see Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Tower swinging from an office window. Actually, the top of Tokyo Tower bent. After the shaking, we immediately got an emergency call: "midtown tower has a fire on 42F", so we were all evacuated to a park behind the building and had to wait for two hours or so in the cold until we got security clearance to return. Back at the office, everyone worked on updating news and sites, and stopped all direct mail from all services. After that, I wanted to go home, but all trains and buses stopped service. Some co-workers walked home, some gave up and stayed at the office. I had to wait until the trains were running again. Finally, after midnight, subways and my train line started to run, and I reached home after 3 am.
The good thing is that people were calm, formed queues and there were no mobs at all. Some beverage vending machines set their prices to 0 yen via their operating network connections. Some electronics stores offered cell phone charging services. Restaurants and convenience stores let people use their toilets. Some offered free riceballs on the streets. And I realized the power of the internet: cell phone service was down for a long time because of network jams, so Twitter, Facebook and Ustream became a stable source of information that people relied upon. I checked in with my family on Facebook, kept up with TV news on Ustream, and was notified about train service thanks to people's tweets.
Today is a girl's day in Japan and Google change logo like this, Google.com has use the same one but other countries seem not to use it. When I was a kid, my mom made special hinamatsuri menu like this , usually decorated chirashi sushi and special sweets like hina arare or hishimochi.
I am really not ure Evangelion is still hot in other countries, but in Japan, Yes it is! "Eva item" make a lot of money and many products want to colaborate with Eva still now. I worte before Hakone area is the location of Neon Genesis Evangelion. This post introduce Hakone local specail EVA sweets, one is fortune cookie that famous line inside, one is angels photo candies. And one is eva cookie.
Series of beautiful paper trees made by Japanese artist Yuken Teruya out of recycled toilet paper rolls.
