Driving down the Tomei

March 17, 2011

The drive up to Hakone was uneventful. I did get got caught in two traffic jams in Kashiwa because of construction and gas station lines. But once I got on Route 16, traffic was moving well. I take the Joban Highway into Tokyo, junction with the loop line around the outer rim of Tokyo and again junction with the Tomei, which goes all the way to Kyoto and beyond.

I got onto the Joban Highway. It is closed for traffic further on because it is the main road for relief work. But since I was heading for Tokyo, it was no problem. There were remarkably few cars on the road. Mostly trucks trying to deliver stuff. I made good time to the Ebina Parking Area, on the Tomei Highway where I always like to rest and get some coffee.

I got a DOUGHNUT PLANT doughnut and a coffee. What was interesting is that the parking lot was almost empty. I could park right in front which is unheard of. Usually there are hundreds of cars and "zillions" of trucks parked there. It is a main stop along the Tomei Highway. ....BUT, there were about 200 cars lined up to buy gas. I had hoped to buy gas too, but I just kept going. When I got to Hakone Yumoto City, which is at the bottom of the Hakone mountains, I got in line with about 20 other cars at a SELF gas station (what the Japanese call a gas station where you pump the gas yourself). I topped the tank up to full again and off I went for the 20 minute drive to the top.

I belong to a group of "Foreign Wives of Japanese". There are many nationalities, US, Canada, Iran, Mexico, Swiss, UK, Rwanda, on and on. We have lunches once a month and the younger wives share information about life in Japan. We, older wives, with more experience in Japan, mostly just talk. One or two of the younger wives are going to leave Japan during this time of troubles because they are afraid of the RADS. Some of my Japanese neighbors will not leave their homes.

There was a big, level 6 in the Japanese system (7 being the biggest), quake in Shizuoka Pref, in Fuji City. I saw photos of lots of broken tiles and broken walls. That was the day before I was set to drive up here. Fuji City is just down the mountain on the other side of the Hakone mountains!!

Everyone is Tokyo keeps asking, on TV anyway, will this big quake up north trigger the Tokai fault, which is under Tokyo and is expected to happen any time now..... It seems a Tokai quake happens every 70 to 100 years. Well the last one was about 1923.....　100,000+ people died in the quake but mostly in the fires. All the experts are saying that they are not related... but...

They are also saying the this big quake was not one big quake, but actually 3 quakes that happened at almost the same time.