Stories from people on the ground ... what you don't see or hear in the news
Welcome
Thank you for the thousands of emails in support of the original translations of Japanese Twitter accounts of the March 11th quake on my Facebook note, "Japan Quake as Seen from Twitter". Now, together with ten classmates and friends in the University of Cambridge, I have launched this blog to continue translating the voices of the Japanese people on their road to recovery.
Just now, I managed to call my parents in Iwate Prefecture.Their electricity seems to have been restored.But my cousins who rushed to get to Iwate following the quake have been bogged down at Sendai.It may be that the damage in the Tohoku region is bigger than we all thought.Traffic seems to be congested even off the highways.
Just arrived in Sendai’s city center.Not only is there power and water, but the stores are operational, traffic is moving … it almost seems there never was a quake yesterday.
When is the power going to come back on again?? They said sometime today but which part exactly of Sendai is that? My place is still pitch black. I’m not in a mental state to go to work tomorrow, but here is my company calling my mobile …
Three people lost their lives in yesterday’s quake.One, who was being treated, died from the oxygen inhaler stopping because of the power blackout, and two died of shock.I pray for the quick restoration of electricity especially for those who depend on medical equipment to survive.
The earthquake caught me in the shower ... AGAIN! Even worse, I was washing my hair. My concerned parents rushed to see if I was okay but it wasn’t like there was anything anyone could do until I could see again to unlock the door.
Please Pass On.The water pipes in Izumiku Minami Hikaridai have been ruptured, and the reports are saying that there will be water shortage very soon.To everyone who still has running water, BOTTLE as much water as you can now!
Buildings have crumbled in Kesenuma because of this new quake.There are reports of fires and gas leakage in Sendai City.My sincere sympathies to the people in the Tohoku region who are going through an extremely anxious night.They say there will be aftershocks leading from this quake as well, so please please be careful.I will keep up to date on the news so that I can jump on any chance that comes up for me to help in anyway.
Man, that was scary! I was sleeping on the sofa when it struck and I woke up dazed. My head was still wrapped in sleep as I saw my father run to hold the furniture in place. When will the day be when we can all live in peace again? Good night.
Another one … again a very strong one that lasted a very long time.Things were dropping everywhere around my house, and I thought the house was going to fall apart.I fled to my car, and seeing that the water was still running, did the first thing that came to mind … bucket as much water as I could.
Earthquakes don’t scare me… is that best you can do!!It’s going to take much more than that to kill me!I’m going back to bed!… at least that’s what I’m telling myself right now in bed.
An hour has passed … there is a tremendous number of ambulances going in and out of Miyagi Nohara Hospital.The earthquake caused an instant blackout again, but thankfully the power seems to have been restored.
I was terrified all over again.The ground swayed back and forth in big, slow waves and I felt like crying.7.4 aftershocks … wow, we still really can’t let down our guard.But was glad I was together with all my friends.
It’s been almost a month since the quake. The environment that my family lives in has changed completely since that day, and it is going to be difficult to think and live normally again any time soon. We have been living as strong as we could with scars in our hearts, but where we can, we need to shift gears so that we can overcome and move on. Speaking of which ... it’s midnight and I just noticed, the date has changed and it’s our wedding anniversary! I think I'm going to take my wife out for a drink at the neighborhood bar.
A young, recently hired employee in my company donated his entire salary for March to disaster relief. Everyone in the office agreed that “Yup, that’s way bigger than Mr. Son’s 10 billion yen donation.” (click here to read article)
We just received a delivery from my hometown in Tokyo; drinking water, rice, and sweets.We’re so grateful.When we found sweets in the box the children went crazy with glee! There was my one-year old son drawing a chocolate moustache on his face with a choco marshmallow, and beside him his five-year old sister digging into the ramen crackers. My poor children cannot play outside here in Miyagi, so it is such a blessing when there is a nice big surprise for them at home.
My name is Kuji Kōsuke. I am the fifth generation brewer of "Nanbu Bijin" ("Southern Beauty") Sake, from Ninohe City in Iwate Prefecture.
Iwate Prefecture was severely damaged in the recent North-Eastern Japanese Earthquake. My brewery was also badly damaged; a chimney fell down, and an old part of the brewery was destroyed. However we are trying to rebuild as fast as we can.
We are of course extremely grateful for your donations. We also received great amounts of supplies. We are truly grateful.
With the situation here in Tohoku region, it’s not really the time to be drinking sake. But if things are left at that, we’ll be badly damaged a second time, this time by the economic side-effects of the tsunami.
Sake improves well-being and soothes the soul, and we would like call on everyone in Japan to support us by continuing to buy and drink our sake. In fact, we would be far more grateful if you held hanami (spring festival) parties like you do every year, instead of cancelling them out of a sense of propriety [as some government authorities have done].
Japanese sake sooths the soul, makes food more delicious and gives us all a feeling of luxury. Please continue to buy and drink Japanese sake. We make our sake from nothing but rice, water and kōji (rice malt), we believe it has the ability to bring spirit and energy to the people in Japan. We urge you to take the energy you gain from drinking our sake and use it to help the devastated areas in any way you can.
We sake brewers of Iwate urge all Japanese people, especially those in the metropolitan areas, to help us continue our ancient art of making sake. Let us continuously improve upon it, and not let it die. Help us grow strong again so that we can in turn help rebuild our coastal regions. Please support us by buying, drinking, and continuing to appreciate our sake.
About 30 volunteers, made up of students and office workers, began sorting through donated aid goods this morning in Okayama prefectural city hall.
One after the other, ground sheets, tissue paper etc were brought into the public rooms on the first floor and sorted into boxes by the volunteers. When packed, the boxes were delivered to meeting rooms in the south wing that had been turned into temporary storage. The work was divided in to early and late shifts, and continued until 9pm.
Around 130 people volunteered. The work will continue until the 21st in alternating groups of 30-40 people. Meanwhile, from the 14th when donations opened until today, around 2100 people have brought over 20 different kinds of goods such as batteries and disposable nappies.
According to the prefectural authorities, every day since the earthquake they have received about 10 enquiries from people wanting to help in the affected area. However, the situation on the ground is still uncertain and it is difficult for volunteers to go there. "At this stage, we want people to take measures in their local area by donating money and goods" said a spokesperson.
(Original Japanese text)
http://town.sanyo.oni.co.jp/news_s/d/2011031823324796
Very soon, the municipal governments will begin defining what constitutes a “victim” of the tsunami and who is eligible for which level of support. There will necessarily be a line drawn somewhere and families living 1 meter apart may be given different levels of aid. I know this is not how anybody wants to do this but also that it is unavoidable. There are limits to what can be done. It is a sad struggle, both for those drawing the line and for those waiting for the line to be drawn.
In this podcast, Dr. Matthias Holweg from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School discusses the impact of the devastation left by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami on Japan's economy.
According to Dr. Holweg, supply chains from Japanese electronics, automotive and aerospace manufacturers face short-term disruption. But in the medium- to long-term it will be business as usual for production outside Japan. However, he says that worldwide companies are being forced to reconsider their global supply chains by the 'turmoil' in the oil and energy markets. "We will see a change from global supply to products made locally to local demand."
I often find myself thinking how fortunate I am to be married. For example, when we were sending clothes to my mother in Minami Sanriku (one of the most devastated areas: see http://voicesfromjapan.blogspot.com/2011/03/movies-from-ground-tsunami-engulfs.html), my wife knew to send things that I would never have been able to think of on my own, such as specific kinds of warm underwear or socks. My wife even knew to send a complete set of cosmetics, again, a need that I would have been entirely oblivious to. My mother called and thanked us profusely. She had never before used some of the makeup items my wife had sent, found them wonderfully useful, and asked us for more! Thank you, dear wife!
Today, employees in my company in Hakodate have started organizing the documents scattered on the desks. The office is practically in ruins. These days on the path to recovery will probably be by far the most challenging throughout their employment history. I was touched at the sight of each of them working hard, doing their own part to make that recovery come true as soon as possible.
Just now, I felt a thrill of excitement seeing a Tokyo-bound train running on the JR Joban Line between Katsuda and Mito. My city is on its way towards recovery, one step at a time. I hope to see the Hitachinaka Kaihin Line running again soon too!
My father just drove huge amounts of water to the “aid supplies collection point” for areas that still had standing houses and people living in them. We have been buying water from Kagoshima regularly, so we have enough to go around the family. But today, some curry powder we had ordered from a shop in Hokkaido arrived together with lots of free bottled water. Thank you, to the kindness of the curry shop in Hokkaido.
I was touched and inspired by the sight of my wife, who was born and brought up in the devastated Miyako area, working tirelessly to send incredible volumes of cookies to the children of her hometown. I was terribly ashamed of myself for having done nothing but put some coins in the donation boxes. I felt so passive and cold. I need to carefully think again what it is that I can do for these people; if I don’t, I will end up being nothing but an indifferent spectator to their suffering.
