地震

Walking along the streets of Tokyo, those two little characters you see above can be found on signs in nearly every store you see. "Jishin," or "earthquake," is provided as an explanation for closed stores and lack of products.

I was on a happy hike with my mom and her boyfriend in the middle of nowhere between Osaka and Nagoya (well away from Tokyo). On the train ride back into Osaka, I got a text from Clare asking me if I was "alright from the earthquake." My initial thought was that some little quake had hit and Clare had forgotten I was away. I checked the news when I got back to the hotel to find that a magnitude 8.9 (later updated to 9.0) earthquake had struck the region just north of Tokyo.

I honestly expected things to be worse than they were. My friends were (thank heaven) all safe, and the area in which I live was largely unaffected structurally.

We got very lucky. We didn't feel the quake AND the bullet train (from here on, I'll call it by it's Japanese name, Shinkansen) between Osaka and Tokyo was up and running by the next day. We made it back to Tokyo without difficulty, and only a few things in my dorm had fallen over (yoga mat, bottle of hair product).

Fortunately, Narita did not take too long to partially recover, either. My mom and her boyfriend were able to board the correct flight on the correct day. We made it to the airport well over 5 hours early to ensure that a) we could get there (the trains schedules are very abnormal) and b) they would have enough time to wade through the hordes of people in the airport to get to their terminal. They landed safely in Phoenix and made it home :)

Aftershocks have still been hitting the area, though I've only felt one (as far as I know). It's interesting having an earthquake as an alarm clock, but I guess it's effective? We're being encouraged to either get out or stay put--if we can go south to Osaka and that area or if we can leave the country that's one option, but the other is just staying inside as much as possible. My dorm is a fortress--it's only 2 years old and built with all the current earthquake standards. Earthquakes that shake other buildings can't even be felt in my dorm.

Power is an issue right now. They're worried about the plants and worried about a full-scale blackout, so they're encouraging everyone to use as little electricity as possible (I'm sitting in my room with my window open--light coming in from only from outside and from my computer) and orchestrating planned blackouts. My area is being skipped for the planned outages since I live in a business district--good news for us; we all have stocked meat in our fridge and no one really wanted THAT big of a barbecue!

Since power and roads are an issue, train lines are running abnormally. The ones in Tokyo (with one exception) are running less frequently and to fewer places. Several Shinkansen disappeared entirely from the tsunamis and aren't running at all. Roads and train lines to the north are cut from earthquake and tsunami damage. There are stories of whole villages having been wiped out from the tsunamis--they can't be contacted, and the roads to get there can't be traversed. It's really an awful situation.

There's rumors of a bigger earthquake to hit Tokyo. A big earthquake happens in Tokyo every 50 years (it's called "Tokai"). We're 150 years overdue for one, and the big one that just occurred was not it. Tokai is supposed to occur at the intersection of 3 plates a little south of Tokyo, and the one that just happened occurred on 2 plates (only one of which was the right one) north of Tokyo. The tsunami following Tokai will supposedly wipe out Shizuoka, the prefecture south of Tokyo. The next 10-15 days are high risk days for Tokai (since the plates are supposedly unstable). After that the risk is supposed to reduce dramatically.

Since the roads are cut, supplies are short. Since people are preparing for a supposed "apocalypse," they're buying out stores' stocks of non-perishables and semi-perishables. There are certain things that can't be found anywhere currently. Bread is being hoarded away and can only be found during first shipment in the morning (convenience stores have goods shipped in throughout the day, but since roads are different now, it's getting harder), and milk is nowhere to be seen. All I can assume is that milk comes from Hokkaido (the northernmost island of Japan), and while Hokkaido is fine, the roads in between are not.

People are still stranded at Narita, and many of my friends are stranded outside of Japan (some, at this point, by choice). I will say that it is an interesting experience, being part of a calamity in a foreign country. It seems as though the Japanese people have all been instructed on how to behave in this kind of situation--they are all behaving in a very regimented manner. My friends and I are out of the loop somewhat, and although we all know basic earthquake survival skills, it makes us stand out even more as gaijin. On the one hand, it's nice to know I have a place to go back to if things get out of control, but on the other hand, it lacks the relaxing feel of at least being at home in a calamity. In a crisis, people of one culture and mindset gather together emotionally, I'm learning. When in a different country, you have to find that support from a limited group.

Other than that, I've been preparing the best I can. I have lots of frozen meats, lots of cereal, and a lot of soymilk (which can be found and really doesn't expire). There's plenty of rice and noodles in my dorm, and I know I could survive for a couple of weeks without needing to actually leave the dorm for any reason.

At this point there's not much more I can tell you that the news can't. The streets are more barren and we're apparently experiencing "earthquake weather" (which may or may not be a myth, but it's been very nice and warm recently!). If there's more to update, be sure I will do so! For now, know that I'm as safe as I can be, and I will be heading south in 3 days.

Much love to all! Stay safe, everyone in Japan!