Panic Buying

March 15, 2011

Well, it is Tuesday morning here in Japan.
Almost 9:00 in the morning.

Yesterday, the electric company was going to start some brownouts or "planned blackouts" as they are calling them. Our area, Kashiwa, North Chiba, was on the list. But, they did not add this area to the blackout list for some reason. We were waiting and ready for it. But nothing happened. They did it in other areas, I guess.

We ARE on the list for today. 12:00 noon to 4:00 in the afternoon. They keep saying, some time in that time slot. So it may not be the whole time.

I have pots and pans filled with water. I washed the tub very well and that is filled to. If the electricity does go out, water will be a problem.

But, yesterday was interesting (if you can say that) from another point. Panic buying started and I must say, it was a bit scary.

I did not give into. All I wanted and needed was one carton of milk for my tea. The previous day, everything was sold out because the panic had already started. I went to my local supermarket at 10:30 (they opened at 10:00), good ol' Keihoku. Well, every single parking place was filled, I got in, but several other cars rammed in behind me. I thought "enough of this". I mean, the car behind me was trying to take any spot. I though, "yes, sir, you go for it." and I left the parking lot. A friend lives near by. I left my car there and walked to the store. Well, the milk had sold out in 15 minutes they said. There was no bread or eggs.... So I left. Yesterday a friend saw a woman with 15 loaves of bread. She kept asking me, what will she do with so much bread.... Exactly. Another friend in another part of town saw a woman with her shopping cart filled to the brim with GRAPEFRUIT. My goodness. The silly season!!!

I can do without milk so I went home. I didn't need anything else, so I bought nothing. But I also saw the long lines of people just waiting to get into the store.... my goodness.....

Later that day, I dropped by a tiny mom and pop place that had run out of milk the day before and they had tons and tons of milk. I got my carton of milk and now I am a happy camper!!!! :-)

Most of the trains were not running yesterday. The reason for that is because they were trying to reduce the amount of electricity being used. Today, the Joban Train Line (my train line) will be running at 20% capacity.

A lot of people are wary of what Tokyo Electric has been saying. They have lied in the past about problems. Lets hope that will not be the case here.