Long time to get back on track - Let me start writing again -

Which way to take!?

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A lot of time has passed since I experienced this devastating earth quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster here in Japan. Lots of people asked me about the situation and my every day life and how we feel here in Japan after all this happened. First of all as you know I'm not living in Tokyo or further up in the disaster struck areas. Here in Nagoya everything seems normal. From the very beginning people acted almost as nothing ever happened. But it still felt like things have changed. I feel that people’s minds have changed. More and more elaborate preparations in case of another quake have been made. Not only in my everyday life also in my work life.

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Here a quick review how the situation was right after the quake here in my social environment.

People didn’t go out that much, they stopped to consume and started to buy essential things. After the nuclear crises and the fact that the water in Tokyo has been contaminated existential things became more important. Suddenly we couldn’t buy water anymore. The shelves in the supermarkets where empty. Beer, sake, tea and wine no problem but normal water was just not available. Friends of mine started to buy mineral water for there families up in Tokyo and further north. After two weeks I finally found a supermarket that had lots of water again … I grabbed 4 bottles, so I wouldn’t have to come back the next day. After I queue for a while the cashier tried to explain me in Japanese that I can not buy the bottles … I didn’t understand no one told me that the supermarkets introduced a 2 bottle per person rule, so everyone could buy water and people where not able to stash it.

Several of my friends have left the country. They took the chance to start somewhere else new or go back home … I meet people who left Tokyo and the northern areas for good to start further south in Kyushu something new, but some of my friends also moved from Nagoya to Tokyo to live up there. Everyone has there own reasons and ideas about the situation here. I actually like that … even though it’s difficult to form your own opinion. So I started to do my own research. I read/ read about six different online news agencies from around the globe, including Japanese news, per day to get a grip on what’s happening and how the situation evolves. You might not believe but this is hard work and you have to watch out that it doesn’t demoralize you and takes of you the love for your life in Japan.

I believe we are very safe here in Nagoya and still I somehow developed a sensitive feeling towards quakes since the big earth quakes hit Japan. We had several aftershocks. Some were very small and almost not recognizable but I somehow felt some of them very strongly. My friends in Tokyo felt them much stronger. But still, I felt like a goldfish in a tank while kids are knocking against the glass. It is such an indescribably strange feeling …

The shaking of my building sometimes wakes me up. Some weeks ago for example we had an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.5 jolted Fukushima Prefecture, north-eastern Japan. Far away, but I woke up feeling the ‘mini shake’ that reached Nagoya.

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It's interesting how easy we are adapting to new things. Since the earthquake and the nuclear we are saving energy! I think it's such a good thing, because when you start doing it you realize which things are important in life and which aren’t. For example the train I took today in the morning was dark no light but the air con was working. At first you think it's a bit strange to sit in this ‘dark’ train but then you realize that it's perfectly fine.

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It looks very bright but it actually wasn't.

The Toyota Group started to save energy. The result of this step is that my weekends shifted from Saturday and Sunday to Thursday and Friday.

- Why did they decide to do this!? –

According to statistics on Thursday and Friday are the days when the car industry consumes the most electricity during the manufacturing process. Our office temperature was raised as well, in order to lower the air-condition power consumption. It’s interesting cause since then I don’t have to wear a scarf in the office anymore and the air feels much healthier than the summer before.

It’s still very hot here now and it was even hotter in August. I have to say that the humidity and the heat here in Japan can be incredibly exhausting; some days where a bit unpleasant to sweat in front of your screen.

I believe that this crisis could be a new beginning for Japan. But it could be also a boost for the world’s renewable energy systems to develop new standards and efficient technologies for the future.

For example this here is an interesting example:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14057714

Ok this was the little overview. 
Greetings from ...

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p.s.

all pictures are phone pictures in this post.