Trying Some Shopping

March 19, 2011

I was feeling bad because we were slated for another blackout. But
this time from 4:00 to 7:00. At least most of it would be in the
daylight.... And I know I shouldn't use the car....., but I felt I
should try to get some candles or something.... instead of sitting in
the dark.

I could hear the Hakone town load speakers saying something. I called
the Town Office and found out that they have a town "magazine" which
they also use for announcements. They send them right to your cell
phone. I can pick and choose what information I want, so I picked
"security" and "emergency" information for my cell phone. Other things
like "cultural" and "events" I will have sent to my computer. About 10
minutes after the loud speakers go off, the cell phone email chirps,
so I can find out what they said.

I decided to chance it and to go to the local home center. It is just
a 10 to 15 minute drive a little way down the mountain. It was a
really nice day. It will be fun, I said to myself. Even if I do use up
some gas.... Of course, they were out of candles and flash
lights. Well, there I was at 11:30. Part way down the mountain anyway.
Not many tourists on the road as they can't buy gas... the devil in me
says, let's go to Gotenba, a near by small "big" town, .... I
can go to some shops I haven't been to yet, go to Kimisawa, my
favorite big supermarket, drive around and see Mt. Fuji. Yeah, lets do
that. And off I went.

And Mt. Fuji did not fail me. There she was in her majesty. All white
with snow. Very much up in your face, huge, taking up most of the sky.
Not a cloud in the sky and me with no camera. And, I basically had the
road to myself. I rolled down the mountain with Fuji flashing between
the trees. I pass the residence of the former Emperor Showa's brother,
Chichibu no Miya, and roll into Gotenba, which spreads out on Fuji's
skirts.

I should at least look for flashlights and candles.... but
where? I drive around looking for the local home center, and there it
is. Packed with cars and people rolling their shopping cars filled
high with toilet paper. Oh dear, I am late here too, I thought. Oh,
well, lets park and see what's up. The usual smell of cut lumber and
the dry clank of nails. Fencing piled high. Plants in the nursery
area, ready for spring planting. It is dark inside, like dusk. Yeah, I
guess they are trying to save on electricity, too. I pick up a little
shopping basket and head for the crowd of people knowing that is where
something good and scare has to be. And, YEEESSSS, little camp lights
that take batteries.  Two of those. AND they have the batteries.
Limited amount, but I get two, one of the regular sort and one of the
"special" kind is okay, the clerk says. Then I find some flashlights,
the sort you crank and then turn on. Great, two of those. And then
some candles. Okay, we are good!

Now, I had two flashlights before but I made the mistake of keeping
the batteries inside, so they dripped or something and ruined the
flashlight. We also had one or two tiny birthday cake candles, but
please, they would be useless. Also, I heard that yesterday a woman
was cooking dinner with candles during the blackout in her area and
she burned her house down. No joke!!!!

Anyway, on to Kimisawa and food shopping. Again, not many people
around. I saw two closed gas stations who were out of gas, but I saw
two that were working and selling gas with only 5 or 6 cars lined up.
Kimisawa had lots of food, milk, eggs, meat, fish, chicken.
Everything. Bread too. No shortages here. In fact, I made an amazing
discovery. Kimisawa sells 8 different kinds of bananas. They were
labeled where they came from or the type. I got the ones from Peru.
PERU???? They grown them in Andes, it says on the package....

I got home about 2:00, had lunch and set up my lights. And at 4:00 the
blackout started. BANG. No lights, no TV. I worked for a while with my
camp lights, but I find dozing the best way to pass the time,
especially as it starts to turn dark.   :-)  But at 7:00, it was over.
My husband came up the mountain at about 9:00 by train. He and may be 4
other people were on the the little mountain train, which is the
second steepest train line in the world. I think that Darjeeling train
in India is the steepest in the world or is it one in Switzerland???

During the day, on the news, I saw video of children cleaning up their
school in one of the harder hit areas - where the school was not
really totally destroyed. They were doing this voluntarily. Without
being told to do so or asked by someone. Did you know that Japanese
children clean their school room themselves everyday!! There are no
janitors in Japan. At the end of the school day, all the kids get out
the brooms and mops and clean up. They take the trash out. They also
take turns cleaning the toilets and hallways. AND they start doing
this from the first grade. Those, cute, little first graders are
handed brooms and mops by their elders, the sixth graders who teach
them the ropes. Also there are no lunch rooms in a Japanese school
either - for the most part, anyway. They eat, for the most part, in
their  classroom. The food is cooked in central kitchens and delivered
to the school. The food is in big contains, on racks, one for each
classroom. The kids get the food themselves and serve it themselves to
their classmates. The teacher eats with them. They take turns with
this duty. Then all the kids put the plates and bowls back on the
racks and out in to the halls again. None of this going to the lunch
room and having food fights.....

Not too much news about the aftermath of the earthquake or the tsunami
or the Fukushima plant. But I do have one story. A man runs a fishing
boat design company - not for sport, but the kind used by professional
fisherman. He is older and he was training a young man to take his
place. He was out in the rubble looking for that man. Finally, he
finds his car with his jacket inside. He can't make heads or tails of
it. Finally someone comes along who can explain, someone who witnessed
what happened. It seems that after the earthquake and before the
tsunami, a fisherman was in the water and the younger man took off his
jacket and drove in the water to help the man. Then the tsunami came.
They didn't make it.

People are starting to die because of lack of medicine. Four as of
yesterday. And 21 have died in the refugee centers. The Japanese Self Defense Force Force has been putting up pontoon bridges where they were
broken or swept away. That is making it much easier to get around. The
roads are being cleared first so that supplies can be brought in.
Japanese TV is turning more and more to its regular broadcast
schedule. Only NHK is spending 100% of its time on the suffering.
Other stations now have specials. The news shows are all about the
earthquake and related issues, though.

The airports are filled with foreigners leaving Japan. France and the
US and several other countries are sending airplanes. They are worried
about the lack of news in their language....