Tuesday, March 15, 2011

In Sendai, long lines of quiet desperation (via Washington Post)

I used to eat at Rigoletto Tapas Lounge. It was right next to the train station and it was open until 4am.


In Sendai, long lines of quiet desperation

By Andrew Higgins, Tuesday, March 15, 5:49 AM

Outside the Rigoletto Tapas Lounge, an eatery that normally offers fine wines and Spanish delicacies, the bourgeoisie of this quake-crippled northern Japanese city lined up for hours Monday.

The joint is now an upscale — and expensive — soup kitchen.

There were no beggars or homeless refugees here — just well-heeled, but still hungry, Japanese willing to pay nearly $20 for a paper cup of soup and a slice of tepid pizza.

In a city of 1 million that now has little electricity or gasoline and where nearly all restaurants and shops are closed, survival is ruled not by the law of the jungle but by the orderly rhythms of long lines.

There has been no surge of lawlessness in Sendai, the Japanese city hit hardest by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake on Friday, as there was in already crime-ridden Haiti after an earthquake last year. There was no exodus of terrified residents, as happened in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami.

But with roads blocked, supplies depleted and power scarce, even the most basic quest for food or supplies can turn into an hours-long odyssey.

The devastation along Sendai’s waterfront — a narrow band of coastal territory that was leveled by a quake-generated tsunami — is catastrophic. Across an expanse of what used to be residences and factories stretches a smoke-covered vista of crunched cars, uprooted houses and shredded roads — all dotted with the debris of destroyed lives and businesses: a pink inflatable clothing dummy, a security guard’s blue hat with a gold badge, waterlogged school textbooks, mangled bicycles and mud-clogged stereo systems.

But, aside from the shattered plate-glass windows of a few auto showrooms, there is little evidence of physical damage in the center of Sendai. Nonetheless, the city is slowly seizing up.

One line on the subway system is still running, but trains to Tokyo and elsewhere have stopped. Green-uniformed railway employees stand in a neat line outside the now-sealed central station entrance, bowing politely to would-be passengers and explaining that “because of obstacles, there is no service. Very sorry. Please forgive us.”

It used to take just two hours to get to Tokyo on a fast train. It now requires a tortuous car journey that can last anywhere from 10 hours to twice the time.

The biggest problem with driving, however, is a crippling shortage of gasoline. Most of Sendai’s gas stations have closed. The few that are open have hundreds of cars waiting or are restricted to serving disaster relief vehicles. A Washington Post reporter had to drive for more than two hours Monday to find a station with gasoline, and even that one had a long line of waiting cars.

Early Tuesday, long lines of cars formed outside gas stations hours before opening. At Maeyachi, north of Sendai, one station said it had plenty of fuel - but couldn’t pump it because the electricity didn’t work.

With most food shops closed and others left with little more than bottles of vodka and whiskey on the shelves, ever-expanding lines are forming outside whichever markets do get fresh deliveries. At a 7-Eleven in eastern Sendai, staff members admitted customers into the store in small groups to avoid a crush, carefully counting the number leaving and entering. No one tried to jump the line.

Authorities, preoccupied with the radiation leaking from a nuclear plant down the coast and the suffering of people whose houses have been washed away, have brought little obvious relief to a city that is withering away even though it was largely spared physical mayhem.

“This may look normal but I can tell you it definitely isn’t,” said Masayoshi Funabasama, a civil engineer. With no electricity at home, he charges his phone from the cigarette lighter in his car. To keep the car running, he got up before dawn Tuesday to hunt for gas with his daughter.

He faulted the government for not doing enough to restore basic service but is not about to vent his anger: “We know we must be patient.”

On the road into Sendai on Monday morning, there were no convoys of trucks carrying supplies or tankers bearing gasoline — only a long cavalcade of ambulances and firetrucks racing south, their sirens blaring, out of the area.

A fashionable young man waiting for soup and pizza Monday said he spends much of his day lining up. “We do nothing but wait,” he said.

Even charging his mobile phone, that indispensable accessory of modern life, requires standing in a long line reminiscent of bread queues in the dying days of the Soviet Union.

The center of Sendai is now dotted with specially designated charging areas — tables equipped with power cables and electrical sockets.

Again, no one ever seems to cut in line.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Survivor List

The Sendai Student/Youth Center Alumni in Tokyo have started a Google Document to keep track of the whereabouts and conditions of alumni in Japan. It's always a relief to see more names added to the list.

Sendai's online bulletin board for Student/Youth Center Members:

International Support for Japan

(Another snippet from my cousin Ken)

There's been a lot of bad history between Japan vs China and Korea, in the past and even recently, but Chinese and Korean media and even people on the street there seem to be full of admiration for the cool-headed, cooperative attitude of most Japanese. Korean papers have front pages with words of encouragement IN JAPANESE -- which is unheard of. Many older Koreans still hate Japan over the colonial history. Until recently, Japanese movies, TV, karaoke, concerts, etc were forbidden in South Korea (although a lot of people accessed these things). It's only with reciprocal exchanges of K-Pop and J-Pop culture that things are mellowing and even getting downright friendly.

Chinese media is saying that China may have replaced Japan as the world's number two economy but that they aren't even close in terms of the organized and civilized behavior of Japanese in this kind of horrendous situation and that they still have a lot learn from the Japanese. Just a while ago, we were butting heads and slamming ships against each other and withholding rare earth shipments. Chinese and Korean rescue teams are here helping in the relief effort.

I heard that New Zealand sent something like one-third of their disaster relief teams to Japan.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

TEPCO announcement on FB

(From Cousin Ken)

Scheduled Blackout
There will be a scheduled blackout (power outage) starting the morning of 3/14 in Tokyo, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, Yamanashi, and Shizuoka.
Areas will be divided into 5 groups and each group will experience about 3 hours of power outage.

Please refer to the TEPCO Homepage (as of now, the list is only provided in Japanese) to find out which group you are in and what time the power outage will occur in your group.

Train companies have announced that there will be irregular operation, including out of service hours. Summary here.

JR | Tokyo Metro | Toei Subway/Bus | Tokyu | Odakyu | Keio | Tobu | Keikyu | Keisei

Major out of services are: Tokaido Line (all day), Yokosuka Line (all day), Yokohama Line (all day), Odakyu will only operate between Kyodo to Shinjyuku (all day), Keio will only operate between Chofu and Shinjyuku (during morning and evening rush hours).

The Facebook website will not be affected by this blackout.

News from Sendai

仙台の友人から:
仙台市内の状況は、被害がひどい沿岸部に比べると、比較的に被害は少ないです。
市内中央では電気の復旧なども進んで、私もこうしてメール送信できるようになりました。
ただ、今後はまず行政の支援・対策が沿岸部の被害者救出や原発の対応にまわり、
現在、安全な場所に避難している者への対策はそれほど進まないと予想できるので、
無事な私たちはできるだけ自力で対応しないといけないと考えています。
特に心配なのが、水と食料の不足です。あと、下水が足らないことによる衛生環境の悪化もあります。

Quick Translation:
Power is being restored to parts of Sendai so more people are able to communicate via phone and e-mail. The damage away from the coastal areas was pretty minimal. The government is focusing their efforts on evacuating the people on the coast and around the nuclear power plants. Of particular concern is the shortage of food and water as well as minor damage to the environment and sewage system.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Letter to Friends & Family

Dear Friends & Family,

I know that you've probably heard by now about the devastating earthquakes and tsunamis off the coast of Sendai in northern Japan. It was one of the largest earthquakes they've ever recorded and the Japanese government still has no idea of the extent of the damage or how many people were injured, missing, or dead although you can probably find the current estimates on the news.

As you know, I returned to California last August after living in Sendai for over 2 years so fortunately I am safe with many friends and family nearby. But, my friends and co-workers back in Japan are constantly on my mind. Phone lines were down for about 2 days and cell phone reception is still a little weak in some areas but I was finally able to get through to some of my co-workers and many of my friends have e-mailed me from their cell phones once things had calmed down.

For the most part, everyone seems to be safe and are finding comfort in each other. Power and gas is out over most of the city in Sendai so many people have gathered together in their neighbors homes to stay warm since there is still snow on the ground. One of my co-workers, Shima-san, was actually out of the country when the tsunamis happened so I was glad to know that was why she hadn't been answering her phone. Jeffrey Mensendiek and his family is safe as are Miho Okoshi and her family. Both of them have gathered some neighbors and students from the Student/Youth Center in their homes through the cold nights.

I've also gotten news from a friend in Fukushima Prefecture, south of Sendai that they've begun evacuating homes after a nuclear power plant exploded yesterday. There are reports of fires in factories and plants in Chiba, Tochigi, and Miyagi Prefectures. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers as well.

I'll try to keep you all updated as I know more.

With Love and Hope,
Sandy




P.S. My church is collecting a special offering for Japan Disaster Relief – to be distributed through UCC’s Wider Church Ministries which will go to our partners in Japan including the Sendai Student/Youth Center where I was working. You may send a check payable to Sycamore Congregational Church– please note on the memo line - Japan earthquake/tsunami relief.
Sycamore Congregational Church
1111 Navellier St.
El Cerrito, CA 94530

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Bangladeshi Traffic

Ever since I was a child, I have loved to travel even if it was only to visit relatives in a neighboring city. My favorite part is all the different modes of transportation we use to get around. In countries like the U.S. and Japan I think that our perception of space and distance can be distorted by the ease by which we travel. We start to think of ourselves as being transported to a different place rather than physically going from one place to another. On our journey to Bangladesh we were forced to actively participate in getting ourselves from one place to another whether by running to catch our bus or bargaining with a rickshaw driver. In this way, we used all of our senses to experience another lifestyle and way of ‘being’.

Active Participation: From the moment we stepped off the airplane we could see, smell, hear, taste, and feel that this was a place drastically different than the ones we’d come from. Our participation in this journey continued on into all of our daily activities like eating using our hands, taking cold bucket baths, washing our clothing by hand, or cooking a meal using fresh ingredients. These activities reminded me the importance of making time to take care of myself. In Japan or the U.S. there are machines that do all of these things for me and free my mind to do ‘more important things’. But these ‘more important things’ are what distract me from seeing what is going on around me and who is there.

Language: Communication was often a stumbling block when most of our group spoke only Japanese and most of the people in Bangladesh only speak Bengali and the language of their village. Some of the young people we met at L’Arche did not speak at all. I learned from Naomi when I stayed at Pushpo Nir that young Bengali women are not different than Japanese women in that they are shy and often speak amongst themselves. Japanese and Bengali share a common unspoken dialect even with all the differences in culture and language. The same is true for the core members of L’Arche. They are human just like us in that they need to eat and bathe and be loved even when they are trapped inside their own minds unable to communicate.

Hospitality: While we were in Bangladesh we could not go anywhere without help and almost everyone was willing to help us (even if they didn’t know the way). Our 10 days in Mymensingh would have been infinitely harder if we had not had the guidance and hospitality of the Taize brothers and the‘Taize boys’ or Naomi and Ayako. They were constantly checking on our health and well-being. I will always remember the way that Ayako described life in Japan as being very stressful because a person could go from their homes to Narita airport all by themselves without talking to anyone or asking for help. I know that this was difficult for some of the members of our group because we are used to doing things for ourselves but perhaps this is because we are not yet acclimated to this form of extravagant hospitality. We learn if we can trust those around us that perhaps we can make a new friend along the way.

I was touched by the stories of everyone we met in Bangladesh. And I was inspired by how all the various projects have come out of the work that the Taize brothers began about 20 years ago. I’m sure we were only able to see a small bit of it but I’m excited to see what will happen in the future.

As my life continues on after Bangladesh one story always stands out in my mind from our conversation with Brother Joseph. He compared life to riding a bicycle in Bangladeshi traffic. If you hesitate or look back for even a moment you could be crushed between two buses or hit by the rickshaw behind you.

After returning from Bangladesh, my life has definitely felt like a long-distance bicycle race in Bangladeshi traffic. It is comforting to imagine travelling through life this way when I remember all the different modes of transportation we used to navigate these hazardous roads; both actively participating in our journey and accepting the guidance and wisdom of our hosts.

What an amazing journey both physically and spiritually. Thank you to everyone who was there to experience it with me, both seen and unseen.