Happy Island

地震以来、毎日インターネットや新聞、テレビなどで情報を収集しています。

でも情報だけ集めても、気持ちが落ち着かなくなるばかり。

最近連絡のなかった友達からの久しぶりのメールも、「福島県外に避難しました」というものばかり。

私は１９９４年１月にアメリカ西海岸のノースリッジというところで、大地震に遭いました。地震から１ヶ月後、私は帰国しました。

今は帰るところは他にないので、避難できるところもありません。

ラジオからこんな曲↓が頻繁に流れました。歌手は毎日ラジオ局に来てライブで歌っていました。こんな非常事態の中、毎日どこかに通って仕事をする人がいることに、少し心が落ち着いたことを思い出しました。たった２週間前だけれど。

福島は、（幸）福の島です。さぁ、がんばっぺ！  Mariko. S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_U1WB7fq7o&feature=youtu.be

Since the earthquake, I’ve been trying to gather information through Internet, newspapers and TV news.  I get emails from my old friends telling me they have evacuated from Fukushima prefecture. The more information I get, the more restless I feel.

I experienced another big earthquake in Northridge in America in January, 1994. One month later I came back to Japan. But now, I have nowhere to go back for safety.

I heard a certain song on the radio very often. (check the address above) The singer came to the radio station and sang the same song over and over again. I remember feeling a little easier when I came to think about this man coming to his workplace and doing his job daily even in this emergency. Only 2 weeks have passed since then.

The Chinese characters of Fukushima literally mean “a happy island”.  All right, let’s try our best to make it a happy island again!  Gambappe! (In dialect)

Mariko. S

 

Nobody knows?

Hi, I got this link from a friend of mine. I'm sharing it with you here.

http://www.dariennewsonline.com/news/article/Japanese-nuke-utility-apologizes-again-and-again-1310295.php

As one of the people who are actually living here, I'm kind of tired of listening to all the press releases. I cannot tell which is right or wrong. I decided to check the information once a day!  Unless, I cannot do anything other than watching TV or checking all the informative sites online. And I would be even more confused.
I don't know if this attitude is good or bad. But maybe to be stable, I'm trying to ignore something that seems to be inconvenient for me. What do you think?  A. Suzuki

About Hobara Elementary School

The building of Hobara elementary school has been damaged. Nobody is allowed to enter the building. So elementary school students will go to Toryo Junior High School starting in April.
The new school building has been under construction since last year. It was supposed to be completed next January. But it seems to be hard to finish it by that time due to the lack of materials.
For about a year, Hobara Elementary School and Toryo Junior High School have to share the building. Is it possible?

Sad...

Yesterday, I learned a 65-year-old man in Sukagawa killed himself. He was a farmer. As everyone knows some kinds of veges in Fukushima found to be contaminated by radioactive materials, the government announced it and prohibited to sell them. Now the market doesn't accept all the veges from Fukushima. Actually it is not only about Fukushima but Tochigi and Ibaraki.
The man lost his hope and killed himself.
It made me think about the weakness and the strength of humanbeings.
Over 190,000 people are in shelters, losing everything, literally everything. But they seem to be very strong. They are trying to stand up again. And all the kind helps go to them. I feel the warmth of humanbeings. I heard some young boys and girls are working as volunteers in shelters and they say they want to rebuild their community. Now they've got a motive to live forward. In this sense, I think we can help each other and live together.
The man who killed himself had his family and property. But he gave up. Why was it? Was it because of the upcoming fear? And is there any ways to help those people in despair?

I also learned a woman from Fukushima was not accepted into a facility because of a fear of radiation she might have.  Finally, it started. I worried about this. Maybe people or anything from Fukushima will be discriminated in some ways from now on. It's sad. But there should be a way for us to overcome this. I want to witness how Fukushima overcomes this problem however long it may take. I'm filled with love toward my own hometown. I'll never forsake this place.

March 28 Monday

Mt. Azuma from Hobara

Today is a lovely day with blue sky and bright sun, though the wind is a bit cold.

I start my cram school classes today. I hear people are coming back to their homes. In about 10 days or so, schools will start. Even though the radiation problem is still here, parents want their children to be back at school. I also think children need to be with their friends.

Fukushima Prefecture started accepting those children in shelters into public schools.

Measurement value of the environmental radioactivity

As of 9 a.m. March 28, 2011

2.87 (normal value 0.04)

 I picked up this information from the site below.

http://www.worldvillage.org/fia/kinkyu_english.php

I also picked up a frequently asked question. It's something I was concerned about, too.

Q. Is Well Water safe?

A. Generally speaking, well water is rainwater that is naturally filtered through many layers of soil before becoming ground water. Furthermore, various forms of cover (such as lids), which prevent rainwater or other foreign matters from contaminating the water, usually protect the well. Therefore, it is likely that well water is less affected by radioactivity in comparison to tap water, whose sources are open rivers and streams.

March 26

We didn’t have water for about a week. It was the hardest part. All the big shops, which are mostly branch shops, were closed the next day. But small local shops were open. Most of the shop owners said the same thing. “We'll keep this shop open. Don’t worry. Come tomorrow, too.” It was a big relief.

Now most of branch shops are also open. Restaurants are open, too. Normal days are coming back little by little, but it's still difficult to buy gasoline, and we still have the reactor problem.

Water in a part of Tsukidate, Date-city was contaminated by radioactive materials. The water in most of Date-city has no problem. But many people, including residents of Date-city, think all the water in this city is contaminated. They bought all the bottles of mineral water from the shops. Now I don’t see any bottled mineral water here. Information is very important. But sometimes it causes too much fear in people’s mind.

The earthquake

This is all the itsy-bitsy detail about a small community in Fukushima Prefecture, which is about 60 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant.

March 11th, 2011, the earthquake occurred at 14:46.

It was the largest earthquake I have ever experienced in my life.

(I am in my fifties, by the way.)



The cabinet I saved.
No glasses inside now.
We put the books back.



I was at our office in Date-city. The upper part of the cabinet behind me was shaking and moving forward. I tried my hardest to hold it back.

I was thinking it should end soon. But it just kept on.

The first one stopped. I managed to save the glasses and plates in the cabinet.

So silly! In this crisis, I was trying to keep this place tidy!

When I went outside, I saw roof tiles on the ground and cracks on the walls.

Then the second one came, and soon the next one. It went on and on.

Still I didn't realize how bad it was. I went home and watched TV.

Then I saw all the horrible things on the coast.

2 weeks have passed. We still have earthquakes every day.

Sometimes the tremor goes on for a long time.  (A.Suzuki)