March 11th, 2011 in Ota

I had another post all prepared but when I saw the date it would have I thought better of it.  Instead I'll tell you some interesting tidbits I learned recently about what it was like here in Ota one year ago today.  (I had a somewhat in-depth conversation about it with a Japanese friend for the first time.)

1. Japanese TV wasn't offering much coverage of what was going on, so other countries (i.e. the US) actually knew more about what was happening than the Japanese public.

2. However, NHK (the public/government TV station) did have helicopters with video cameras posted along the coast for just such an emergency.  They were able to video the tsunami as it happened.  Apparently, before the earthquake there were a lot of complaints from the public about how much money it cost the government to keep these choppers at the ready.

3. Here in Ota, the Aeon supermarket store shelves were bare for 2-3 weeks.  Everyone wanted bread and Cup O' Noodles.

4. Most foreigners around here dropped everything and ran to the airports.  Mainly out of the country, but some to Osaka in the far south.

I also learned that I could go over to city hall and borrow a radiation detector to run over my food any time I want.  And I learned that the maps that sometimes appear on food packages to indicate where the food is from (mainly dairy--butter, milk etc.) have always been there, not just since the earthquake as I had theorized.

Shake, Rattle and Roll....Over

We've had a couple of decent little quakes here recently....this one made the TV wiggle during breakfast this morning.  It was about 15 seconds too...that's pretty long.

This one was at 3:30am a few nights ago.  We both remember waking up, but we didn't grunt unintelligibly at one another as we sometimes do in acknowledgement of the nighttime quakes:

Chad: Uftqk?
Me: Urg.
Both: Zzzzzz.

Is The Ground Shaking, Or Is It Just Me?

when in Rome, right?  you use an odd "clothes
pin mobile" to hang them up

I suppose I should mention the earthquakes, and the after effects of the big one. There are tiny earthquakes everyday and we have felt at least two decent trembles since we have been here. We have noticed that it is hard to feel most of these unless you are sitting still. If you are up and moving around, you won't notice them. Sometimes you wonder if it is actually an earthquake or your imagination, but the dead giveaway is if you hear the house creak and pop like it is settling. Then you know it's really a quake. The two bigger ones have registered as 3's here where we are and were 4.something further east. They are all just a few seconds long, by the time you realize it's a earthquake and start wondering if you should get under the dining room table, it's over. They're a real let down so far. ;)

There is zero damage here from the March 11th quake. I heard rumors that some people lost roof tiles and that a neighbor's garden wall crumbled a little bit. They definitely felt it here. As far as the nuclear situation and the damage up north, we see it on the news pretty regularly. The only widespread effect is that the whole country is devoted to saving energy so that blackouts can be avoided (we have had no loss of electricity so far). Which means that companies and stores are running their air conditioners as little as possible. Which means it can get pretty hot inside sometimes. Chad had to get a fan for his desk because it is so hot at work. The news gives tips on how to save energy all the time. Everyone is asked to save 15% energy this year. As for us, I let the upstairs get hot during the day and only run the air conditioning downstairs (I'll explain the heaters/air conditioners later). I also dry clothes outside (normal here even before the energy saving) even though I have a dryer. And I don't use the dishwasher. It isn't much, but hopefully it's our 15%.  Also I'll say that we don't really know what it was like before the quake so we are probably not aware of some changes.  We've talked to a few people who were here about the differences since and they say it is different but their examples are pretty vague....mostly just that people aren't buying as much or going out (to bars and clubs) as much.