The flotsam and jetsam of Fukushima

"Highly radioactive" is a somewhat emotional phrase being regularly applied to the debris drawn into the Pacific Ocean after the tsunami of March 2011. Although elements of this disaster have been washing up on the shores of the west coast of North America for quite some time now, recently the first traces of radiation, identified to come from Fukushima, have also been identified along the Oregon shores. You needed to read a long way into the reports to see the levels were fractions of fractions of a percent of the everyday background radiation. Not really something to worry about but it makes a great headline.

The debris field is the remnants of millions of tons of the everyday items that made up the towns and villages of the Tohoku coast that was scoured away that day. Whole habitats simply disappeared along with everything they contained. A football crossed the oceans quickly and was emotionally returned to its owner months later. A motorbike, a Hog, kept in a weather-proof plastic garden shed landed in British Columbia and was refurbished and presented to a delighted owner. The wreckage of floating docks, ghost ships, houses and even fishing tanks with live fish still in them (hmmm, I question that one) regularly wash up on the shores of the Pacific countries now.

The debris itself set off on its sojourn across the oceans in the days before the meltdown at Fukushima and is generally not considered to be radioactive or pose a risk of wild mutation. What it does carry is the ability to pollute the shorelines when the wreckage comes to rest and potentially this poses an even greater risk is to wildlife. The flotsam carries with it hitchhikers, species native to the waters of Japan but that were not necessarily established elsewhere. Although the process of ocean current transfer has always existed, this time it is on a scale never seen before. Radiation isn't the problem, fare dodging passengers are. This could be an ocean wide environmental disaster to follow the natural one of 2.42, March 11, 2011. But it just might be forgotten until it's too late.

Amazon - the world's biggest fresh-air shipment service.

I like Amazon, I really do. When it launched back in the 90's it was an absolute game changer for a foreigner's quality of life in Japan. No longer did I have to take a train halfway across Tokyo to the small section of English language books tucked away on the third floor of the Shinjuku Kinokunia (which were generally significantly overpriced). Now I could browse on-line and search recommendations, order multiple copies and have them all delivered to my door. Even the international delivery costs didn't discourage me, it was still cheaper to buy them from America than in Japan.

And then came CD's that weren't just J-Pop and then English language DVD's followed by almost anything else you desired. Kindle took me full circle back to books and then came Amazon Japan. Now delivery was next day, no waiting for international shipments, and soon that improved to same day. Payment could be made by credit card or direct bank transfer. And then it could be cash-on-delivery or even payment at the local convenience store. Delivery improved again and was not just same day but soon it was same afternoon.

But two issue still stand out for me. Firstly, why does Amazon Japan print the labels using a microscopic font that you need the eyesight of an eagle to read? But that's just me being picky. More importantly, why does Amazon enjoy shipping so much air around the country. Each time I receive an item the box is completely oversized and predominantly empty. That's spare air they're shipping. And although it is generally considered that air is free, it's actually not. A larger box means less boxes on the truck. And that means more trucks. All that free air is costing you carbon dioxide. And I'd really rather not pay for the book I want with an ice cap.

TenguLife - where life began

TenguLife, as a concept, began in the close of 2011 as the aftereffects of the devastating earthquake that Spring began to simmer down and slowly come under control. We'd made it through summer, saving power by turning off the lights and upping the dial on the air-conditioning. Not as many foreigners as thought had left, but enough to notice. And then new faces started to appear in the Fall as a little confidence in the country began to return and the doom-sayers were finally falling silent. 

I was talking with someone who had hesitantly just arrived and was so concerned about what was happening had left his family behind in the relative "safety" of their home country. He asked a thousand questions about life in Japan, good questions, ones I wished I'd asked someone when I first arrived and I mentioned this to him. He, in turn, pointed out that he was glad he had someone to ask in the first place. And then he laughed and said I should write a book about it. And so I did.

The Beginner's Guide to Japan contains the answers to those thousand questions, designed for anyone coming to, or just plain interested in, Japan. Whether for a few months or a few years, we all face the same problems on "Day 1". The Beginner's Guide then spawned a sequel in The Expat's Guide to Japan, a book specifically aimed at those arriving to face the challenges of working in the Japanese market. And then more people, both foreign and Japanese alike, started asking even more questions. And so TenguLife was born, a place where answers could live in real time. Now approaching 100,000 words, maybe I'll compile all three into a single, giant compendium one day. But in the mean time, I hope you enjoy.

TenguLife
Tokyo - Spring 2015

Tokyo and Osaka - two very differently similar cities

In many ways the great cities of Tokyo and Osaka share a number of key characteristics. For a start they are both immense with Tokyo boasting some 13 million people with a local zip code and Osaka weighing in at a very respectable 8 million, equivalent to the size of London. Osaka makes better okonomiyaki but Tokyo has the choice of finer wines. The standard phrase for good morning in Tokyo is pretty much "good morning" whereas in Osaka you'll ask "are you making money?" Osaka were the merchants and Tokyo the administration.

As in many countries both the accent and the vocabulary differ significantly over the 500km dividing the two cities though many will insist there is only one "Japanese". The differences can indeed be so extreme that it becomes impossible to use the phone and I've actually seen people give up and communicate by fax (this was a while ago). But the populations of both love their golf and karaoke and sake is a binding passion.

However, one curious difference is that, although both city's inhabitants predominantly commute by subway, on returning to the surface on any of the thousands of escalators, Tokyoites stand on the left and Osakians stand on the right. But now the local Osaka Government has decided to convert the entire population to standing on the left to align with Tokyo in time for the 2020 Olympics. There's even the threat of a warning to be followed by a modest fine for repeat offenders. Seriously guys, good luck with that one. Grab your video cameras, you're about to witness civil disobedience  Kansai style. Standing on the right.

A forgotten story of a volcano

Asamayama, at nearly 2,600 meters, is one of Japan's larger volcanos. It remains active and although there hasn't been a major eruption for approximately 300 years, a decade ago it threw enough ash into the air to make everyone clean their cars in Tokyo, some 200km away. Back in 2010 I was hosting a birthday party in January and took everyone up to the snows on the slopes of the mountain and within thirty minutes was summarily asked to remove our contingent from the area. The next morning it erupted again, but this time just a small example of its efforts though I should thank the official for warning us to leave.

Asamayama in 1913 

The structure of Asama is complex and the peak is actually closed to the public, toxic gas emission being regular enough to endanger hikers as they traverse the path to the summit. It is a beautiful volcano though and twenty five thousand years ago it would have looked just like a child's drawing of what one should look like. And then it blew itself apart but you can still see the western fringes of the remnants of that explosion. 

There's another reason for its fame though. In 1955, with Japan just recovering from the war, it became the birthplace of road racing in Japan with the Asama Kazan (volcano) race. A 19.2km track, with a starting line in north Karuizawa, the track encircling the volcano. Honda made it's name there have bought war surplus generator engines and strapped them to bicycles a just few years earlier. Today it is silent, no one races any more though there is a 3km stretch of perfectly straight road across the north side of the mountain is you'd like to take your bike for a ride. And last night the self defence force were testing their jets over the peak. Or it could have been aliens of course.

Farewell to the 19th Century, hello the 21st

The first of April is the first day of the Japanese fiscal year and the traditional moment hundreds of thousands of new university graduates begin their working lives. All sombrely dressed in black suits (dark grey being considered a little too ostentatious) they could be seen on the streets of Tokyo this morning heading for their inauguration ceremonies at the company where they may well spend the rest of their working lives. 

This year appears to mark a shift in market conditions towards a sellers market. For the past several years recruitment has been on the decline however the post-war baby boomers are now in their mid sixties and are retiring in droves. Japan Inc needs to bring in new blood. Toyota is taking on some 1,500 and ANA over 1,000. In a bit of a stunner even TEPCO is taking on 700.  

But for me the most poignant moment came in the days before this 21st century right of passage. At the ripe old age of 117, Misao Okawa neatly arranged her geta by the door for the last time and quietly slipped away. With her passing, the next oldest person in the world is a mere 112 and coincidently also resides in Japan. But, if you think about it, this means that the last living person to be born in the 19th Century has taken their final bow. Farewell Okawa-san, I trust you had a good innings. 

Running the Nakasendo - From Kyoto to Tokyo

The Nakasendo, Japan's central mountain road, is one of Japan's five (relatively) ancient super-highways that stretched some 500+ kilometres from Kyoto to Edo, modern day Tokyo. The problem had arisen in the early days of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the military government that came to power in the early seventeenth century. For the first time Japan had a potentially stable leadership and to secure that stability it needed rapid communications. Edo and Kyoto being the two effective seats of power, it became necessary they were linked.

Prior to the creation of these roads, travelling the length of the country was little more than navigating village lanes. Not an ideal approach to deploying the occasional army or carrying a message in the fashion of the Pony Express. And so the lanes were connected and the roads became highways and the Nakasendo came to cut through the centre of the country. With sixty-nine overnight stations, approximately a days walk one from another, the super-highway was created. And although it didn't require fords, it did have its breaks where a little scrambling is required.

The village of Oiwake, with its statue of Sherlock Holmes (a story for another day), is one of those stops, it's central route through the town having been recently repaved in a more traditional style akin to the days of the Shogun. And if you visit during Obon, make sure you follow the drums and wander into the forests. You'll be surprised the sprites you find there. But if you want to see the entire length of the Nakasendo, do what the British School in Tokyo achieved last year. Repeat the run, on foot, all 332 miles of it. In five days. Nicely done to students, teachers and parents who took part, what an incredible achievement.

The Nakasendo through the old postal town of Oiwake, Nagano-ken