Quakebook

Quakebook is coming together with unbelievable speed and grace. We hope to have it in your digital hands by the end of the weekend. Please follow the new #quakebook account on Twitter, if Twitter is something you're into. Give the Quakebook Facebook page a thumbs up, if you do that kind of thing. Please ask your friends to, too. Why? More recognition means more sales means more money to the people who need it n-o-w. 100% of everything from this book will go to Japan Red Cross. Thanks. And if you're in a position to help spread the word in any other way, please let me know in the comments, by email, on Twitter, any way you like. Or, heck, just do it. You don't need permission. Thank you.

Where I'm at

Quick catch up. Short answer: in an LA suburb at Jim's dad's house. In the past week, I've been profiled as a "level-headed source of information" amid the confusion and as a spokesperson for the reviled subgroup of non-Japanese people who left Tokyo as the Geiger counters started clicking. Since I haven't written about either here yet, I'll point you to those until I can keep my fingers on the keyboard for more than three minutes at a time. I seem to be having trouble writing about what's going on and where I'm at.
Probably because I have no idea.

I am excited to tell you that I've had the privilege of helping out with a book from which all proceeds will go to the Japan Red Cross. I've been editing essays people wrote in the aftermath of the quake from all over Japan and a few from abroad. I will post details on how to get it as soon as they're available.

Prepared

They're talking about aftershocks. Throwing around numbers that don't make any sense to me. What are you supposed to do with an x percent chance of a y magnitude quake? People love numbers, but generally have no idea what they mean. not helpful. Anyway, we'll take at face value the idea that it's not unlikely that we'll have another good rock or two in the coming days. Like David Bowie says, Let's Sway!

Kitchen cabinet taped up. Good thinking, Jim!

Water. Honestly, we could probably use a little bit more. We’ve got a few gallons spread out over a bunch of bottles. (A friend had filled every juice and wine glass in the house. Could get messy fast.) I cleaned out the bathtub and filled it with cold water. I hope we don’t have to drink it, but if the power goes off, we can use it to flush the toilet, wash or drink in a pinch.

To avoid having to wash in cold water, I’ve also laid in an extra pack or two of body wipes. Japan is rich in body wipes of all varieties. I also have some waterless shampoo that I got when I went to check out Katrina.

Safety. We’ve got first aid kits, headlamps, and a crank-powered radio. Headlamps may sound a little over-the-top, but Jim made the excellent point that if you’re in a situation where you need a flashlight, probably better to have your hands free. I took the picture frames that fell off of shelves and laid them flat. By the door, I have hiking shoes and a bag packed with mixed nuts, dried cranberries, water, a blanket, extra socks and underwear, a notebook, toiletries, my camera battery charger, and instant coffee and chocolate.

Food. Luckily, we went to Costco last week and stocked up on non-perishables. We have enough fixings for pasta and nachos for the whole neighborhood. Tuna. Olives. Brie. Peanut butter. We run a greater risk of getting fat than of being hungry.

Iodine. I have mixed feelings about this. If I think there’s enough of a chance of radiation poisoning that I’m laying in iodine, should I just leave? The fact is that I don’t think we’re going to get dosed. I guess I’m looking at it like putting on a seatbelt - I don’t expect to crash when I get in the car, but I put it on anyway. Further mixed feelings, because what I bought is not the potassium iodide that you’re supposed to take one dose of post-exposure. The pharmacist told me you can only get that from clinics here. He said a lot of people were buying the povidine iodine anway, which is basically meant for gargling. It’s the red stuff that comes in a dropper bottle. He said that if there were an announcement of contamination, the best thing to do would be to get to a hospital where KI was being distributed. The next best thing to do would be to put three drops of the povidine in water and drink it. He said he was worried that people were buying the stuff up and trying to take it in advance, which is not good for you. To be clear, there is absolutely no indication of how many people might or might not be doing this. I imagine the numbers are small.

Me. Doing some stretching, making a conscious effort to notice whether or not I’m breathing normally. I wasn’t for a while, which I didn’t even notice until I started again. Keeping myself fed. I forget to eat until I’m way too hungry in the best of times. A little added stress, and I don’t get hungry for hours and hours. Trying to read good sources of info, avoid sensationalist media, and consider carefully things that sound scary or unlikely. Learned last night that the Japanese equivalent of hearing a rumor from “a friend of a friend” is often “my friend’s father.” Interesting, because I did hear the rumor about acid rain from a friend who said it was her friend’s father who told her directly. It turned out not to be true.

First person accounts

Here's a small sample of Japan bloggers' first-hand experiences on the day of the Touhoku quake. Many of these bloggers have already written second update posts. Consider this list a bit of a time capsule of that day and a jumping off point for reading more. I'd be happy to add others you can send links to, especially from anyone who was closer to the main impact. In no particular order, using the names I could find for them online.    

James Simpson,
writing at the New Pacific Institute

Angela Salisbury, Sake Puppets

Loco of Loco in Yokohama

Our Man in Abiko

Eboni at International-E

Tim, at Life Enhasa

"Caroline" at Spooning with a Schoolboy

Vblogger RobinDave (video)

Paul, at Just Another Day in Japan

Eryk S., This Japanese Life

Kamuchan, Fearfully Made


Green-eyed Geisha

Foreign Salaryman in Japan

From Osaka, Vivian Morelli, at Lost in Translation

Quiet Kabukicho

Neon lights on, but video screen off. People are calling for companies to turn off unnecessary signage to save power.

You can only stay inside tweeting for so long, right? Eventually you have to go outside... and tweet from there. Kidding. (Kind of. Apologies to my friends who have seen way too much of me staring into my phone.) It was sunny and warm on Saturday. We headed out in the afternoon to meet our friend Miki in Shinjuku. She wanted to eat fresh vegetables and so suggested Sizzler. I had no idea we even had Sizzlers. And I have no association of it with fresh vegetables - more like vats of mashed potatoes, and croutons and Bacon-bits with French dressing. But it turned out to be a good call. Quite a nice salad bar (though no Bacon-bits), decent little steak, and something comforting about canned peaches. There were a few Japanese families with small kids there and one other non-Japanese family. It was only about a quarter full. It was painful to see that big salad bar sitting there, untouched for minutes at a time, knowing it's not that far away that people are huddled in emergency shelters with only, at best, cold rice balls.

After dinner, we had a wander through Kabukicho, Shinjuku's bar and red-light district, just to see how it was. It was quiet. Granted, it was a little early. But almost all the people in the street were touts, just standing and waiting for customers to take to their bars. Quite a few hosts, in loose clusters with their meticulous mops of cartoon hair, and a few African guys. One walked along side us for a minute - "Hey, you want to--" and then gave up. His heart wasn't in it.

We stopped for a little karaoke on the way back to our bikes. When I was trying to sing Kiss' "I was made for loving you," I realized two things: I knew none of the lyrics besides the refrain, and I hadn't taken a really deep breath since the shaking had started. We had fun. I'm not the biggest karaoke fan - my brother got all those genes. But I definitely recommend it if you're needing a break from constant vigilance. I checked Twitter later, and there had been lots of aftershock reports. We hadn't felt a thing inside. 

We couldn't believe how quiet the area right around Shinjuku station was. Aside from one semi-boisterous group of a dozen or so guys with the kind of matching shopping bags you get at weddings, there was almost nobody there, even though trains were running. Shinjuku is usually cited as the busiest train station in the world. I walked back to where I'd left my bike, near a Starbucks that had been closed in the afternoon. There was an escalator near there, rolling silently up and down. A group of cops passed me and I gestured to the escalator and said in Japanese, "Why not turn that off?" One of them said, "Hai, O.K. Down." "No," I tried again. "Nobody's using this. Wouldn't it be good to turn it off to save electricity?" 

"Ah," he said. "Yes, saving electricity. Ah." 

Oh, well. I tried. Eastern Japan is looking at rolling blackouts starting tomorrow, Monday morning, for the next week or weeks to save power. They say demand will exceed capacity by 25 or 30 percent. I'm always torn over whether or not, in these things, every little bit really helps. Does it matter if I leave my cellphone charger plugged in when all of Kabukicho is bathed in neon? Usually, I think it doesn't. Given the sudden dramatic reduction of Japan's power generating capability, for now, I'm going to try to believe it does.

Pachinko. Pachinko? Is there anything that uses more power for less good?

Earthquake

 

Aargh. Computer just crashed on my long and thoughtful background about writing about the day of the quake. Just read this for now? Bout to head into Shinjuku and see what's what.

Mt. Fuji is looking a little frizzy

Beautiful sunset yesterday. You can see the snow blowing off of Mt. Fuji, especially if you click on the picture to enlarge it a bit.