A candle, courtesy of Wikipedia and photographer, J. Samuel Burner. People survived and thrived with only candles for many centuries. Food for thought.
While people around the world panic over the nuclear holocaust that will never happen in Japan,1 people in Japan are facing more practical, and concrete problems: mandatory blackouts, train shortages, and food shortages. Many Japanese residents in Tokyo and surrounding areas are complaining about the confusing information from Tokyo Electric (tōden for short, 東電), which frequently changes.
The rolling blackouts are necessary now because so many reactors are shutdown and there is insufficient power to keep the lights on all day and night. So, mandatory blackouts are being put in place to conserve power. This applies to everyone, even major businesses there that are normally would be running 24×7. Additionally, train services are limited, causing a lot of people to have long, slow commutes, or simply unable to get to work. It’s frustrating for people who want to get back to a normal life.
Also, people have panicked and stocked up on too much food at home, causing stores to be empty. Even though vast sections of Japan are fine and unaffected by the disaster, people panicked and hoarded food they didn’t need. There’s no threat of starvation or anything, but it means people have to live lean for a while until supplies catch up again.
In these difficult times, you can show your solidarity and support of Japan in a couple ways (among others):
- Turn out the lights tonight, and especially all unnecessary appliances (e.g. computers, TV, etc). Watching too much news will drive you crazy anyway, so turn everything off and go read a book instead. You’ll save energy too.
- Skip a meal tonight. There are many people in the world starving (not Japan, but in other places), so skip a meal or two. People take food for granted until they don’t have it anymore.
- Walk to work if feasible, or ride a bike, or just take a bus/train. A lot of people in Japan are doing this right now, so show your support and get some exercise too. In other words, leave your car at home.
Instead of adding fuel to panic and misinformation, show your support by making some sacrifices at home, just as people in Japan are doing now. Even famous temples in Kyoto and Nara are doing their part. My favorite Buddhist temple, Kofukuji Temple in Nara, is voluntarily cutting back on electricity by turning off the lights that usually illuminate its famous pagoda at night.
As a show of support, there’s no reason why we can’t do the same.
1 For good explanations why the nuclear problem is based on hype and misinformation, read here. In short: all the truly dangerous radiation has a short half-life (seconds, not minutes), the wind disperses it anyway (reducing it), and people are exposed to low-levels of radiation anyway. Also, remember compared to the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the total devastation post-WWII Japan (e.g. Tokyo fire-bombing), this is nothing. Life goes on.
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile / Koreaphile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the 
I very much appreciate your thoughtful and eloquent postings in the wake of recent events in Japan. Great ideas here.
Thanks! Reading Twitter posts on the subject is a lesson in mass-hysteria. I wonder if any sociologists are taking notes.
I’m really worried and sad…T_T…this post is so emotive, I think we must ALL do something, no matter how litle thing is, or how far we live, there’s always something we can DO! thanks for the post…
Yeah, the best thing to do right now is stay calm and do something.
Good Post. The link to a knowledgeable account of what’s happening at Fukushima daiichi was interesting reading.
There is a marked difference in the reporting in the Japanese News site you link and the stuff I see on even respected English broadcasters. (I got angry from some reason at the news crew who wandered into someones damaged and abandoned house to film…) In the scheme of things I wonder how important this rolling coverage is. Does it make anything better… Next week or the week after it’ll roll on to somewhere else no doubt.
Hi Robert, amen to that. Good point about the difference in news reporting. I wish more people could understand Japanese. Anyway, I think we as a society have gotten addicted to fast, constant news, and need to take a breather. It’s not helping us or anyone. A lot of hard-working people are trying to help Japan recover, and we need to let them do their job.
This post is similar to my post. :smlie:
You really know Japanese affair.
Ha ha ha, I learned most of this reading Twitter updates, news from within my company, and my wife’s conversations with her parents. Your post and comments confirm thus too.
Hi, great post Doug!
Like you say, life goes on. We have electricity right now but there won’t be any later. Ikumi is making it to work each day (different routes – always squashed) and there is food in the shops (but no bread!). And my job hunt continues!
All the best from Marcus in Tokyo.
Hi Marcus, glad you are ok. I couldn’t remember if you had moved to Japan yet or not. Obviously I know the answer now. Hang in there!