Before, During and After. Earthquakes.

At 2.46PM on March 11, 2011 my office began to shake. Some five minutes later it stopped and we could all stand again. There is a universe of stories about that day (heck, I even wrote a book on it) so today is not so much a 11/11 story as general food for thought about what'll it be like when another hits (which it will) action that may take the sting out of it. I hope you find it useful, a little preparation can go a long way.  

 

The Emergency Medical Number is 119

 

First things first: Take a deep breath! Your earthquake alarm is loud!

 

So what will happen in the event of a major earthquake?

 

1       The ground around you will shake (a lot) and you probably can’t stand;

2       Mobile phone services will be out in around 10 mins (internet communication may still work: (FB Call, Line Call, What’sApp Call etc);

3       Roads will be log-jammed in a few minutes. If you’re on the highway they may not let you off, train stations will not let you out until the external facades are declared safe;

4       Hotels will fill quickly and you may have to share a room with a stranger;

5       Trains will stop until tracks have been confirmed safe (possibly next day);

6       There may be tsunami; coastlines and river valleys will see the main effect; 

7       There will be aftershocks and these may continue for several weeks, but they will eventually fade.

 

 

 

Home Preparation

 

1       Prepare your house / apartment and relocate anything over the bed such as heavy pictures, re-arrange furniture so it will fall away from you;

2       Identify safety zones in the house especially for the kids;

3       Prepare an earthquake bag including water, rain-poncho, some clothing, a stack of 10 yen coins as pay phones will probably still work funnily enough, 1000 yen notes, pet supplies, wind-up radio etc;

4       Check the school evacuation policy, (do you pick the kids up, are they released to come home on their own, is it ok for a friend to pick them up?);

5       Know where your gas meter is. In a severe earthquake there’s a safety trip which will cut the gas automatically. The reset button is the small red one next to the meter;

6       InterFM will probably be broadcasting updates in English; (Tokyo 89.7; Yokohama 86.5)

7       Ensure you have an Earthquake alarm on your phone, there’s a lot you can do with a few seconds warning, you’d be surprised;

8       If you live, or are vacationing near, the coast, know your route to high ground and run;

 

 

Work Preparation

 

1       Act quickly;

2       Try to stay in the office unless there’s a concern the building is no longer safe. FYI the highest concern is falling glass;

3       Keep a pair of comfortable shoes under your desk. Walking home in heels or leather soled shoes will become painful very quickly;

4       IT: Create an email account that includes all staff including temps, you may need to send “All Staff" communications over the next few days

5       If senior level, your teams will be watching for guidance. They’ll need your reassurance;

6       Know the route how to walk home, if you always travel by Metro, you may not know;

7       The first items to go in Combini (Convenience Store) will be battery powered phone chargers, good idea to keep one in your desk draw;

8       And finally, to paraphrase FDR: When your neighbour's house is on fire, you lend them your bucket. Help where you safely can.

Some of the best times in Japan come from those little moments of confusion

After all these years in Japan, and living in the same area for many of them, we gratefully feel we're part of the local community in many ways but know we'll always have the enjoyment of hilarious communication breakdowns on a fairly regular basis. And last week was something of a classic when we were invited to friends' for dinner. And yes, there's a language barrier for me but with patience all around, we can usually work anything out.

So sitting around the table, a few glasses of wine had been quaffed, and the host asked about a friend of mine she's met at our house many years ago. It took a little while but, with the excitement levels building, I realised who they were talking about. A good friend with a wicked sense of humour (last year he spotted us enjoying our sons birthday dinner in a restaurant in Akasaka, central Tokyo. With a loud flourish of "sorry I'm late" he bounced down, much to our son's surprise and joined us for a couple of glasses of a fine wine, but I digress...)

So we're having dinner last week, and we figure out who our friends were referring to, and they said they'd love to meet him again. It'd only been ten years. So, my wife, phone in hand, looked up his number and called him. The answer came with a deathly silence until I spoke and the voice screamed "Oh God, I thought you were dead!". We let him down gently and explained he'd come up in conversation and our neighbours would enjoy seeing him again though I must admit to still being a little confused by the deathly reference. But by now, our friends only understood the word "dead" and thought it was someone else breaking the bad news about my friend instead of me.

Long story short, he'd seen my wife's phone number calling him and seeing this, quite reasonably, formed the conclusion that she was carrying bad news. With the call being a liberal blend of Japanese and English, and only partly audible as it wasn't on speaker, there was panic all around until everyone saw (and heard) me crying laughing as I'd realised what had happened. He'd thought I was dead and they, in turn, thought he was dead. Anyway, I'm fine, my friend of the phone is fine and a very kind invitation has been extended from our friends, who were rather glad he wasn't deceased, after all. 

I'm looking forward to the reunion dinner at some point in the future, though I may be a little more diligent in advance this time around and confirm no one has shuffled off this mortal coil. And then we can sit, eat, relax and return to the shochu. Unless, of course, someone else actually dies in the meantime...

A Birthday, a Treehouse and an Earthquake in Japan

Give or take, the second Monday of January is "everyone's" twentieth birthday here. It's actually a National Holiday and those who turned twenty in the last twelve months (not precisely but, run with me here) is celebrated. The girls wear beautiful kimono and the guys try to wear a suit. The girls do it better... There are town meetings when the responsibility of adulthood is extolled to all and sundry by the great and the good of the community. And then friends, for some they may not have seen each other since graduating High School, head into town and catch up on their latest adventures. It's an important day in the life. 

And so, like many others, I'll walk into Shibuya and enjoy the spectacle. The stations used to be overflowing with excitement but these days more will take a taxi direct to the forum rather than rail and a walk. And when the ceremony is over, they're all adults. I quite like the concept, it's good to see the recognition and reward they've all achieved to this point, it's not going to be easy going forward, but this is their day and I'm always grateful to be a silent witness.

New Years Resolutions are not something of a "thing" here but I've never quite kicked the habit. And so, this year, it's "Podcasts"! But, to be honest so was last year so let's just call it a "Carry-Over". Took me four years to hold a photo exhibition but I did have the excuse of a small global pandemic getting in the way for that one (https://www.instagram.com/i_tsurulife/ if you were wondering). Actually managed to (finally)  create a book of the work too. If you take a look, most are friends and about half speak English which always adds to the creative charm (sadly my Japanese sucks but you kind of raise the bar as time goes by and so it always feels like you're on the bottom rung).

Today, as I write, is Kobe Earthquake Day. Not recognised as such but I remember coming to work (in Tokyo) to hear there's been a small quake in the western city of Kobe. Turned out that it was so massive all sensor and communication links had been severed and so no one really appreciated the scale at first. I remember watching the news as the numbers climbed throughout the day eventually reaching some 5,000+ souls lost and the fires starting. The city turned red as night fell and I put a tape in, recording it till morning. Still have that tape.

Earthquakes aside, one of the real pleasures of living in this land is welcoming others new to town and, with a friend, we welcomed two Canadians who were in for the evening having spent two days snowed under in Hokkaido (them, rather than us). A wonderful backstreet location ("Kaikaya By the Sea" if you were wondering) involved introducing them on how to order sake, the elegance of chopsticks and sashimi to die for. Ten minutes from Shibuya Crossing (the crazy one), it's an easy walk and within a stone's throw of Nombe Yokocho (literally "Drunkards' Alley", an area created post war as somewhere to go in a burned out city, it's a little like a Charles Dobson experience (you may need to look, that particular reference, up) for a final nightcap. A night to remember was enjoyed by all!

And so, thirty five years after arriving in Japan for two (and being locked up at Narita airport on arrival, but that's another story for another day), I'm wondering where this year will take me. I have a place in the mountains to pass on, a two ton treehouse to dismantle (hopefully without injury, at least to me) and a car that is showing its age. Should be good. Oh, and podcasts of course. Well, maybe, possibly, downhill, with a following breeze...