The Other Fifth Anniversary

Today is the fifth anniversary of the Great Tohuku Earthquake. I suppose it will always be linked in my mind with our wedding anniversary. We didn't even know it had happened until over a day later because we were on our honeymoon. I still remember arriving in the Miami Airport and seeing the news. We were stunned. At the time we wondered if that would be the end of our Japan dreams. Would John's job offer still exist? And even if it did, we wondered in the early days how safe it would be to live here.

If you've been following my blog that long (and oh how silly and embarrassing my blog is from back in those days) you know we did come out for the summer just three months later. The city was working furiously to conserve electricity, there were aftershocks all the time, and everyone was shell shocked. A little more than a year after that we moved out here permanently. Some of the freshest wounds had healed, but the country was still reeling.

Now, five years later, having lived here for more than three myself, I don't have any idea how to speak to the tragedy and recovery Japan is going through. In some ways things seem back to normal, and in others the devastation seems just as raw and immediate. There's a lot of criticism of the recovery efforts, there is still a great deal of confusion and anger over whether or not Japan should use nuclear power, there are still people living in temporary housing five years later. My heart aches for the loss and the suffering that has been and continues to be experienced. And at the same time I am so thankful that we were still able come to this beautiful country. 

Japan's Earthquake Early Warning System

Dealing with earthquakes is something you have learn to do if you're going to survive in Japan.  The summer we spent out here before moving permanently was full of small Tohoku aftershocks, and at the time they seemed like such a novelty - kind of exciting in fact.  Then we moved out here for real and they suddenly seemed much more sinister.  This was real life, and a real risk we were taking.  And now, living on the eighteenth floor we feel even the slightest sway.

Over time my panic has dissipated.  I don't think there is anywhere in the world free of natural disasters, be they tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, or even just droughts and blizzards.  We take the steps we can to protect ourselves, like having an earthquake kit, a plan of where to go and how to reach each other if a major one happened when John and I are in different places, and knowing safety protocols like where evacuation areas are (our neighborhood doesn't have a risk of fires, so we don't have to evacuate.)  I'm now at a place where I try to stay ignorant of how overdue Tokyo may or may not be for a giant earthquake (because there is some scary stuff on the internet, but reading it isn't going to do me any good) and trusting Japan's ability to handle earthquakes.  I've said it before, but newer construction here is fantastic - rolling foundations and reinforced building that are actually safer the higher up you go.  In the Tohoku earthquake, less than 8% of deaths were from earthquake damage, it was almost entirely tsunami devastation, and Tokyo, being in a bay, is more protected than much of the coastline.

Japan also has an earthquake early warning system that detects p-waves (the earliest, less destructive waves) immediately alerting new organizations and cell phone companies.  Cell phone companies then automatically send warnings to their customers (on the iphone you can enable emergency alerts under settings.)  These warnings are supposed to give 10 to 90 seconds of warning depending on how close you are to the epicenter and how quickly the quake builds in strength.  These warnings can allow people to take cover, cars to pull over if they're driving, doctors to stop surgery etc.  They can also scare you to death if they go off around 4:30 in the morning like one did last night.

These alerts sound great, right?  Totally lifesaving.  But I'm still a little unsure of them, they don't seem to happen all that reliably, and when they do I haven't always seen any results.  In the year and a half we've lived here I've experienced four.  The first two only vibrated my phone like a text or email, but the later two came with a screaming alarm.  (I always keep my phone on vibrate, so any noise it makes is startling)  The first one terrified me. It said Emergency Alert in English, and then a bunch of Japanese followed.  I dashed into the nearest convenience store just so I wouldn't be alone if a disaster struck, but nothing happened and I slunk out five minutes later.  The second came in English and alerted me that North Korea had pointed missiles at Japan.  I'd already heard that in the news, so it seemed a little unnecessary.  The third happened last year in a starbucks when suddenly everyone's phone went off.  Everyone grew very quite and waited but nothing happened.  It turned out to be a malfunction predicting a catastrophic earthquake in Nara that never materialized (thank goodness!)  Last night's was the first I've ever seen any result from.  John and I woke up terrified and disoriented before we figured out what was going on.  About ten seconds later the shaking started, and we laid in bed listening to our paintings bang against the wall wondering how much worse it would get.  It turned out to be a 6.8 in Fukushima, but honestly we felt a stronger one in the night a couple months ago.  Who knows why we never got an alert from that one.  I'm glad there is a system in place, but I wish I understood it better.

Rolling Foundations

In order to withstand earthquakes most buildings in Japan are built on rolling foundations.  An initial foundation is put down, then rolling balls are placed on top, and then the building is built on a second foundation above the rollers.  This allows the rollers to move in an earthquake and absorb most of the vibrations, protecting the rest of the building.

I've understood this concept, but recently I got to actually see it.  There are two buildings under construction next door to us, and one day looking out the window I saw what looked like a bunch of white bubbles.  It took a minute to figure it out, but they're the rollers in the foundation.

Earthquake Kit

Let's take a minute to talk about earthquakes.  It's been strange to adjust to living in a place where earthquakes are an inevitability.  But Japan does an amazing job preparing for and dealing with them.  Building are built on rolling foundations with specially reinforced frames to withstand earthquakes, every neighborhood has a designated evacuation zone, and everyone is advised to keep an earthquake kit.  In the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, 92.5% of people died from drowning after the tsunami, which is of course terrible, but it illustrates how well prepared Japan is for earthquakes.  And luckily Tokyo is in a protected bay that greatly reduced the chance of a tsunami.

Because of the safety of the buildings, earthquake kits are more for the chance that we might spend a considerable time without power after a major earthquake.  The government puts of recommendations of what to include, and I thought I might share ours.

Our Earthquake Kit

 These are the non-perishable foods I chose.  Mainly because they had the latest expiration date.  You don't want to have to constantly be replacing this stuff.

 LED flashlights, with lots of extra batteries.

For health purposes, alcohol wipes, bandaids, and face masks.  There could be lots of debris in the air.

Since the electricity could be out, candles, matches, and heat packs in case it's cold.

This last thing was John's idea.  Portable battery chargers for cell phone are really popular, so we got one with lots of extra batteries.  Cell towers and internet could still be out, but it seems better to have the possibility of being able to contact people rather than just having a dead phone.  And then some trash bags, just because it's a recommended item.

The final thing, which is not part of the kit exactly, but is important to have, is a good supply of water.  In an emergency, stores could be closed (or bought out quickly).  And even worse is the idea of having to carry a lot upstairs if the elevator isn't working (we live on the 18th floor).  I recommend ordering it on Amazon so you never have to carry it (even in a working elevator).

12 2-Liter Bottles

Seen Around Tokyo

There was a big earthquake this evening!  It seems that everything is fine, and although there was a 3 ft. tsunami in the north, it only did minor damage.  We were almost 300 miles away from the epicenter, but it was still the strongest earthquake that either of us has felt.  It's really amazing how the architecture here deals with it though.  Despite how much it scared me there was nothing other than gentle swaying.  The most startling part about this quake though was how long it lasted - between 60 and 90 seconds!  Definitely less fun and exciting than the tiny ones that are over in 15 seconds.

So, I know it's been a while since I've posted but I've been taking pictures and thinking about blogging for the last couple weeks.  I've just been thinking about our apartment hunt as well, and I haven't wanted to say anything because it might jinx it.  But I think it's close to being settled, and soon I can post all about it.  In the meantime I've been hanging out lots with Raku and doing all sorts of fun things.  Last week she had a friend visiting and we went out to Kamakura, one of the historic capitols of Japan.  It's only an hour away by train, but it feels so calm and peaceful compared to Tokyo.  We looked at gardens and temples and shopped in quaint little stores.  Christian - if you're reading this - it reminded me of when we went last year and you bonded with the pigeons.

The carefully swept rocks always make me feel so peaceful.

I've also been noticing trees growing citrus fruits that are ripening now.  I'm not sure if they're oranges or something else, and I didn't realize we were in the right climate, but they're beautiful.

Right now Tokyo is a candidate city for the 2020 Olympics, so they're having all sorts of events to get the public excited.

So Raku and I became Olympians:

Don't we look strong?  (There's a little seat under us)

And then after all the hard olympic training, we had to become chocolate bears.

The way the bears were positioned we couldn't both get behind it (maybe because it was for children).

And I found a vending machine selling toiletries and band-aids:

And finally, a shot that Raku took on a night out last weekend

She's a pretty great photographer (but we're a pretty gorgeous couple).

Up next, a post about Christmas in Japan!

Setsuden aka The Brown Out

Before John and I came here we were hearing all sorts of things about how there wasn't going to be enough power in Japan this summer because of the nuclear plants that are off line.  We heard that there might be rolling blackouts in the afternoons or that trains might not be running normally and that it was basically going to be a disaster.

Well, electricity is a big concern, but so far there have not been any black outs.  Instead, campaigns have started up, and everyone is voluntarily conserving as much power as possible (in the majority of cases) in order prevent black outs and to allow trains to function normally.  This is especially important to a lot of  tech companies because they say that having to turn computers and servers off for 3 hours would basically be devastating to their work.  (John can explain this better than me).  So, this electricity saving campaign has been named Setsuden.  I don't think anyone really loves it, but it's better than the alternative.

I've been taking pictures of everything I can to illustrate it, but I always seem to miss the TV screens that show current electricity usage.  Earlier in the summer consumption was at about 70-75% of what can currently be provided during peak times, but as it's gotten hotter consumption has increased to about 85-88%.  I haven't seen numbers hit the 90's yet, but I'm sure it's coming.

This is the main logo for the campaign that we see all over the place.  Lights are being left off as much as possible.  Air conditioning is being used sparingly, government offices (including schools) are required to keep it at 28 c which is 82 f and many other offices are leaving theirs that high voluntarily!

This is one of the subway ticket machines.  They've turned about half of them off to use less power.

Some vending machines have been turned off completely (notice the tape over the places you would put money in) while other are now set to turn off at night or to not light up.

Almost all down escalators (and some up) have been turned off.

There are also many encouraging signs.  This one says Genki for Japan, which sort of means health or energy for Japan.

A sign at a restaurant.

Well, you can't really read the sign hanging up here (blame John's iPhone), but it says Cheer Up Japan, and has a lot of signatures on it.

At Shrines, people will often buy blocks of wood and write wishes on them.  This one isn't in perfect English, but the sentiment is clear.

So, I'm not sure if I've covered everything you're all wondering about what it's like here in regards to the recent disaster.  But if you have questions or want to know more, just leave a comment!

Earthquake!!!

While perhaps a 5.0 earthquake does not warrant three exclamation marks, a 5.0 earthquake felt while in Tokyo tower does.

We went to Tokyo Tower for Wendy's birthday because they have a birthday deal that involves free cake. We actually live kind of close, so we just walked there from our apartment, waited in line for tickets, purchased them, rode the elevator to main observatory, and observed the view.

Turns out that Tokyo Tower is a hot date spot so there were many couples enjoying the view. This, and the fact that the windows were slightly dirty, made taking pictures difficult. Here's one I took from my phone. It's pretty bad as far as picture go, but you get the idea. I took some with my real camera, but my netbook can't process them (and I forgot the appropriate cable).

Anyway, after enjoying the views from Tokyo Tower we then went to the Tokyo Tower Cafe where they presented us with a free piece of (chocolate) cake. We sat down to eat the cake and suddenly the whole tower started to shake back and forth. The shaking was significant enough to cause the light hanging from the ceiling to noticeably shake back and forth. This went on for perhaps 3 minutes (longer than the earthquake because of the residual motion) and then stopped. No one else seemed that concerned. We then got on the elevator and went to the bottom.

Big Earthquake!

There was a 7.0 earthquake this morning a little farther out in the ocean from where the the original one was in March.  We're fine (and it appears that was no significant damage), but we definitely felt it.  The US Geological Survey is reporting that it happened at 10:57am, but they're wrong it was actually 9:57am.  I was lying in bed trying to decide if I should wake John up to go to church or just let him sleep all day, and then the earthquake hit and woke him up for me.  This one lasted longer than any of the others we've ever felt and it was the first time that I was absolutely certain it was an earthquake, not just my imagination.  We thought it must have been a big one, or else the epicenter must have been extremely close to Tokyo.  So we got up and went to church, and when we came home it was on the news.

Our First Aftershock!

This morning I was lying in bed g-chatting with Kyle, when suddenly the bed shook. It sort of felt like someone else had flopped on the bed (considering that our mattress is not very springy), except I was the only one home. And then it happened again. Nothing else in the apartment moved. My cup of tea didn't even rattle. My first thought was, is this an aftershock? And then I decided I probably imagined it. But being the daughter of a geologist, I went to the US geological survey website, and yes it was! Now, I don't know if I should be calling it an earthquake or an aftershock (Mom, feel free to enlighten us in the comments), but I know after an earthquake as large as the one in March, aftershocks are expected for up to a year, so I'm thinking that's what we called it. Lots of people have been asking us what it's like after the earthquake, and I promise I'm going to write a post about it! I just wanted to spend a little more time here first, to make sure I had a better sense of it first.

In other news I found a fantastic grocery store just a 10 minute walk from our house! It puts everything I ever found last year to shame. I forgot to buy eggs though, and they were like $12 at the Lawson by our apartment, so I'm going out to find some more reasonable ones.