Disaster in Japan
Since we keep getting asked, I just wanted to take a second to post this up - just some notes and observations from my 外人 point of view. Wami's home in on the North-West side of the main island, which by crow's flight is about 350 km / 215 miles from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, or 375 km / 235 miles from the Sendai coast.
In comparison to U.S. distances, it's not all that far. But for relative comparison, from San Jose, that's about the distance to Santa Barbara or Redding. From Salt Lake City, that gets you to the Grand Tetons or Cedar City. From LA, that gets you to Las Vegas. Yes, I'm a little West Coast biased. ;)
My only point is that even though it seems close, folks weren't that worried about it in Takaoka. There are various mountain ranges that makes the travel there more than trivial. From Takaoka to Sendai, it's a 10 hour ride by train that goes through Tokyo, or a 7 hour drive by car. For most folks in Takaoka, it was watching a disaster on TV, must like we've been watching the Joplin tornado aftermath on TV. I'm definitely not trying to trivialize it. For every one person that dies, there are hundreds affected. Tens of thousands died in Japan. There's virtually no one who's not affected. But Wami's family is safe.
As you can see from the map above, we completely avoid Japan and the east coast if we fly into Kansai airport and take the train up to Wami's place. That's what Wami did recently. There were no water problems, no panics, no power outages, etc. The interesting thing is that they do ring everyone's cell phone with a special emergency ring if there are earthquakes or other things going on. Wami's borrowed cell phone did ring a few times shortly after the disaster.
Also, on TV, the disaster was the biggest news, just like New Orleans or 9-11 was the biggest news in the US following those disasters. When I was watching TV in Japan, the big news was allowing the evacuated families around Fukushima go back home for a brief 2 hours to take care of business. They were all wearing Geiger counters and full-body suits, as well as accompanied by government officials. The news also focused on the Nuclear power plant, which still isn't totally under control, but has totally been dropped as a news item in the US now. Lastly, the emperor of Japan order other plans to shut down as well. As you can imagine, that's a huge hit to the economy and lifestyles of all those in vicinity.
God bless the suffering people in Japan, Joplin, Libya and elsewhere in the world.
In comparison to U.S. distances, it's not all that far. But for relative comparison, from San Jose, that's about the distance to Santa Barbara or Redding. From Salt Lake City, that gets you to the Grand Tetons or Cedar City. From LA, that gets you to Las Vegas. Yes, I'm a little West Coast biased. ;)
My only point is that even though it seems close, folks weren't that worried about it in Takaoka. There are various mountain ranges that makes the travel there more than trivial. From Takaoka to Sendai, it's a 10 hour ride by train that goes through Tokyo, or a 7 hour drive by car. For most folks in Takaoka, it was watching a disaster on TV, must like we've been watching the Joplin tornado aftermath on TV. I'm definitely not trying to trivialize it. For every one person that dies, there are hundreds affected. Tens of thousands died in Japan. There's virtually no one who's not affected. But Wami's family is safe.
As you can see from the map above, we completely avoid Japan and the east coast if we fly into Kansai airport and take the train up to Wami's place. That's what Wami did recently. There were no water problems, no panics, no power outages, etc. The interesting thing is that they do ring everyone's cell phone with a special emergency ring if there are earthquakes or other things going on. Wami's borrowed cell phone did ring a few times shortly after the disaster.
Also, on TV, the disaster was the biggest news, just like New Orleans or 9-11 was the biggest news in the US following those disasters. When I was watching TV in Japan, the big news was allowing the evacuated families around Fukushima go back home for a brief 2 hours to take care of business. They were all wearing Geiger counters and full-body suits, as well as accompanied by government officials. The news also focused on the Nuclear power plant, which still isn't totally under control, but has totally been dropped as a news item in the US now. Lastly, the emperor of Japan order other plans to shut down as well. As you can imagine, that's a huge hit to the economy and lifestyles of all those in vicinity.
God bless the suffering people in Japan, Joplin, Libya and elsewhere in the world.
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