What a Quake would Do to You (6)

The project room developed a trap after the quake.
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In fact, life in Tokyo moves along normally. I met up some friends on Thursday in Roponggi, and realise most of them are going to Osaka the following weekend. Some of them are temporarily relocated by their overly worried HR, but my estate broker friend is going to Osaka because his wife's family is in Osaka, the trip was planned long time ago (um, we talked so much of the strategy to make money over the market's over-reaction that night over beer, it was fun. I guess I really like money a lot). As we were crawling from one pub to another, I ran into 2 of my skating friends. Briefly exchanged our feeling about how good it is to enjoy a less crowded Tokyo, the American friend said that BBC would like him to find some friends who are panickedly trying to leave Tokyo. He told the journalist that those who wanted to leave are gone already, do you want to interview people who want to stay? No was the answer.

In fact, this week has not been very productive, although I went to work but I spent long time browsing internet trying to find useful, calm, and truthful information. I read as much as I can, but it is hard to filter away the white noise.

I don't want to leave Tokyo (though I have to admit that I was a bit worried but I always think I can find a way to survive, besides, there are so many fella Japanese, there is really no reason to be scared). Nevertheless, I quickly calculate the benefit of going to Osaka, man, I can calm down my parents and have a free trip to Kansai (west), why not? I am not productive anyways, might as well take the advantage.

Legends in Autum-Spring and Warring State Period China

I am not very happy with the translation of 春秋戰國 in East Zhou Dynasty in Wiki. Spring-Autum is actually the name of the history written by Confucius, who wrote the history on the surface but implied the wrong-doings of the current authorities in the back. The phrase "spring-autum" has developed a separate meaning, such as eventful or under-current dynamics. Warring-state is the true translation of the tension-bound international relation at that period. Not really internationl, but the competition between states. There was a powerless central authority, that was time before Chin dynasty unitfied China, the unity has lasted for roughly 2 thousand years.

In that period, Chinese didn't behave like Chinese today. The talents were only loyal to power (preferably power that will be given to them eventually). One of the most well-recognized talents were politicians who gave advise to the state lords in order to defeat, out-prosper his neighbors. The other branch is military strategists.

It is actually not very easy to survive though you are super smart and talented. The key to rise is to handle your boss, the state lord, who can give you the glory and also get your head off your shoulder. You also have to pay attention to the subtle dynamics amongst other advisors. You'd better have the sensitivity to know when to flee to the neighbors, which most of the time is the enemy you are fighting for. This is amazingly similar to the highly developed capitalism society. The principle is not to have any principle.

What a Quake would Do to You (5)

As the nuclear plant explosion event unfolded, gradually friends and colleagues were getting panicked. Many had fled, those who stay are showing their anxiety on the face. Even my Japanese friend txt msg me saying that she had gone to Osaka although she has to work. She warned "Japanese govenment never told the truth". I really think there is no problem at all, but when British Embassy's website published the advice encouraging those living in Tokyo consider leaving the area. I was a bit worried.

My parents use MSN to contact me mostly (10 minutes after the earthquake on March 11 afternoon, both my mom and dad had MSN me separately). My mom MSN me "I don't read news and I don't watch TV. But do you know what to do if things get worse?" I said "First of all, I don't think things will get worse and secondly, I have no foggiest if worse case scenaio happens". That was really a bad answer. My mom threw me the emotional black mail right away "If you die, I have no meaning to continue living my life. I am going to go shopping, bye" and she logged off.

Um, I think I have to do something. I was searching for tickets to head back to Taipei and, at the same time, I politely told the bank's project manager that I am going. Project is in the critical phase, they came up with the plan for me to work in their Osaka branch. Ok, that sounds like a good plan, at least I don't need to leave the country and I can continue working. Best of all, my company is going to pay for the travel (HR in San Francisco is also scared by the media sensationalization, they don't want anyone dies in Tokyo otherwise they have to pay more I guess). Things work out pretty ok, because it was Thursday that I decided to go west, and the long weekend is coming along.

Suppose Tomorrow is the End of the World

I am going to copy Kamimura, if I have only 24 hours to live, I would put on my best dress (oh man, need to buy a nice dress) and my best heels. I will then go to a nice Jazz bar, I am going to order the best Scotch. Definitely not to get drunk, I want to go home, take a nice shower/bath, then sleep as much as I can. Oh, maybe read a little bit. I hope I happen to have a good book in hand.

What a Quake would Do to You (4)

It is quite complex why I am not thinking about leaving. In a way, I really like where I live and I have developed some routines to clean, exercise, eat. That's the ultimate balance. I don't want to give up my comfortable life. In addition, if ordinary Tokyo residents can handle this, why can't I?

Also, after reading some very good link about nuclear plants and radiation, I can pretty much comprehand there is no great danger in Tokyo. For those who lives 30Km radius around the plant, evacuation is necessary, but 250Km away tokyo should be ok.

Life as usual in Tokyo, I ran, went grocery shopping, went to work on bicycle. No one behaves differently from every day life. I was a bit angry with the foreign media coverage, people in Tokyo are trying their best to live the normal life, foreign media are exaggerating for program rating. What is the deal? I had to reply to many friends/relatives' are-you-ok emails. Some friends who's never contacted me for ages wrote me email or facebook messaged me "should I deliver some foods to you?".

Most of the news in Japan are calm and to the point, there is no need to create extra panic. Oh well, on the otherhand, perhaps overly sensentionalization is actually a good thing to push the authority to work harder (for example, the news media in Tanwan miraculously pushed the government to speed up the process of refugee care). This is not happening in Japan, Japanese are very supressed, suffering is expected and accpeted. Delivery of food and materials is kinda slow.

In fact, Japanese society is run by the philosophy of big-state-small-citizen. The existence of individual is to support the bigger picture of the state. The state is taking care of everything, as a citizen, your job is very simple. You only need to be law-abiding, sensible (that is, being a Japanese ;-) and paying tax. You can see Japanese are calm and not losing any manners during this traumatizing time. The authority will sure take care of everything eventually, they think. They are educated this way, they are living this way, they will be doing this forever without coming up with out-of-box solutions.

What a Quake would Do to You (3)

Still quite a few aftershocks, after a while, I only felt dizzy. The anxiety seemed to die away because the nerves had been numbed. A beautiful Saturday it was, not quite sure what to do since my friend cleverly made her way to Haneda airport waiting for the flight back to Taipei. I went running, since there is nothing urgent for me to do, I spent long time to jog to Asakusa. Visiting temples and feeling the tranguil atomoshpere might be just what I need after the previous day's unresting mind.

After the jog, going grocery shopping and took a nap. I was woken by a phone call from a colleague. She was really concerned about the nuclear plant blast. So I switched on TV while talking to her, um, the TV was just showing the first explosion of Fukushima Daiichi plant. Oh well, that's scary. But I still didn't understand why she was so nervous. "Radiation leak! Joey, radiation!". Ah, that's why. She asked if she should go now becuase it might be hard to leave when every foreigner in Tokyo starts to move. I have no plan to go anywhere, so I said to her if you feel so stressed that you cannot eat, cannot sleep, you'd better go.

She flew out the next day. At the same time, I got skyped by another colleague. I typed my opinion to her. She flew out the very day. I guess my manager is going to hate me for that.

Still nonstop aftershocks, I have TV on constantly and can hear the emergency blink blink sound all the time. Somewhere in Ibaraki-ken, somewhere in Shizuoka, somewhere is Nagano, magnitute ranging from 3 to 6. I cannot be bothered, went to bed sleeping like a baby.

But I have my survival bag packed, with my passport, wallet, a bottled water, fleshlight, candies, just in case I have to run out the building, I hope I have enough money to get by for a while.

What a Quake would Do to You (2)

My parents caught me on MSN 10 minutes after the big quake. They were of course worried but I assured them that things are ok in the strong building.
I have a visitor coming from Taipei and we are going to meet at the hotel next to my place at 6:30. Although chances are low that she can make it to the meeting, I do not want to be late. In addition, ever since the earth quake happened, no phone line worked. I biked home, all sidewalks are packed with people. I have never seen so many people on the street ever in Tokyo. They decided to walk home despite the fact it might take 3 or 4 hours (Can you imagine the pain for girls who are on heels?).
I arrived in the hotel just 10 minutes late, the road is more crowded than before. The hotel makes me think of 張愛玲傾城之戀的淺水灣酒店. There are so many people waiting in the lobby. No train is running, no bus going to Narita airport, people are just waiting. Old ladies were given blankets, people sat on the floor but all are very quiet and calm. I walked around the whole lobby trying to find my friend (oh, it feels so much like at war, you are trying to find the injured in a hospical) but to no success.
I gave up and went home, all drawers were open and the kitchen shelf fell, my Chinese rice wine spilled all over (it actually smell very disgusting if you have too much of it). The planting soil in the pot were all over my kitchen, great, I have to spend some good time to clean this up.
In order to calm my nerve, I drank some sochu, the aftershocks are still coming in pretty small intervals. After 10pm, the phone lines are not jammed anymore. My friend is trapped in Hilton Tokyo in Shinjuku, where she was put together with her colleague for the night. Great, at least she is safe. I gave up the idea of going to Roppongi to party with my colleagues, decided to go to bed.But the moment my head hit the pillow, I passed out and slept so well.

What a Quake would Do to You (1)

Um, we were all very young back then.
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When the quake started I was working in my client's super high rise building next to Tokyo station. The glass and steel building shaked so violently that you can hear the sound of mental blocks pressing each other. I thought this is just an ordinary quake but it lasted for more than 20 minutes. I was getting a bit nervous because many people have put on the halmet and hid under the desk, what I can think of is, man, if the building is going to collapse, nothing is going to help. I am searching for the pillars, I guess at least that's the strongest point of the whole floor. Hold on to my handbag (was really struggling whether to take my laptop or not, I gave up at the end), slowly moving toward the corner and pondering the possiblity of running out of the building (I was in the 5th floor, theoretically speaking, it should be possible to dash out fast enough although lifts are shutdown the first thing after the quake started).
Shocks came almost like every 15 minutes, as you think the whole thing is over the building started trembling again. I was really annoyed, there are so many tasks we have to finish, I don't have time for this. We continued working until all TVs in the trading floor showing the tsunami striking Sentai, Miyagi and all trains are suspended for further inspection (Japanese are painfully careful with safety. The rail way, I was told, will be inspected by human inch-by-inch before operation can resume. All highways are also closed for the same reason). Things do not sound very good.

Johann Sebastian Bach

I quite like Bach's work. Listening to the music, you can feel order and precision. That helps to feel organized in this super un-organized world.

Diet and Yoga still Going On

Party but I cannot eat anything after 7pm, only shochu on the rock
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Having problem leaving the warm house into the cold for my morning jog, I started yoga about a month ago. My yoga teacher is YouTube, my living room became yoga studio with a mat. It is very addictive after 1 hour yoga that all muscles screaming bloody murder.

Diet is still going on, no sweets (occasionally I was lose enough to allow a chocolate donut) and definitely no Bento boxes (I used to buy 2 bento boxes from convenient store and ate them ALL!). Strictly no beer (only when I go out, 1 beer is max, then switch to shochu on the rock). Weight doesn't drop much but my physic is apparently trimmed - compared to early Jan. Joey, well done!