Seismic Update from Susono

It is hard under these circumstances to be happy about much, but it is comforting to know that our own friends and acquaintances have not been harmed, even though so many others have, and many are still suffering.

My home-base in Susono is geographically 500km distant from the epicenter and the tragic results, and people around here have kept their 'ganbatteiru' (persevering) attitude in the face of the relatively minor sacrifices and local inconveniences. For example, it might be easy to complain about the train lines being inconsistent or even suspended, but instead people and companies are working together to assess priorities and find alternatives.

The foreign news reports I have seen (in English) don't seem to appreciate the depth and breadth of effort the Japanese people and institutions have put into disaster preparation and response... within hours, my electric company implemented this plan for 'rolling blackouts' in blocks of 3 or so hours each, for 10 million households. I am in Group 2:

These blackouts are to apportion the electric power fairly and to minimize the obvious disruption, while allowing the power company to repair the grid safely and quickly. In addition, people are voluntary heeding the plea to avoid unnecessary usage as noted by dramatic drops in the demand for power. (This city has also turned off street lights, so the night sky is brilliant with stars, for a change.)

Closer to home, this area hosted a large earthquake last night. People are still a little nervous from the big earthquake last Friday and the dozens of quite noticeable aftershocks that have continued since, so the 6.0 really shook folks up. Again there were no injuries among my friends or co-workers, but this one did damage some of our office buildings and sounded alarms across town. The rest of the night included aftershocks strong enough to wake those who could sleep again at all.


After an incredibly busy last few days and sleepless nights, I am actually looking forward to stable sleep tonight. Tomorrow morning I'll again drive co-workers to their offices (trains through this town will not run again for weeks) before getting to my own desk, and then get as much done as possible before the planned daytime blackouts.

As I rest tonight, rescuers continue their search in the tsunami zones, and Tokyo Denryoku does their best to control the reactors in Fukushima. I am confident in the sincerity of their efforts.