tokyo after quake 2

the day of the quake made all the distance commuters difficult to go home, yet it was just a beginning of our trial. what followed was the invasion of markets by outrageous consumers. 

although the damage tokyo received directly was relatively small, indirect impact on tokyo was massive. the most notorious example is of course the breakdown of the nuclear power plant. it has led to the lack of electricity in tokyo region, and that has caused planned blackouts (although it seems its over for now). but thats only one of many aspects. 

soon after the quake, people went nuts and started leading weird consuming patterns. many people lost their coolness and started buying whatever they thought they might need. many shops started making big sales of disaster prevention goods AFTER the main big quakes and people went to buy them, again, AFTER the quakes. 

and the outcome of the madness is...

but the real crazy consuming patterns have been found at markets and convenience stores. as i described above, tokyo region has implemented planned blackouts. many areas has been having blackouts sometimes, which means there is no guarantee that fridges and freezers would function properly 24/7. nevertheless, people went to buy literary anything anyways. im kind of sure that there could have been many food thrown away as a result ironically. 

this rampage is getting rather calm down gradually. yet still this sort of trend is expected to continue inevitably. for instance, it has been extremely difficult to get milk recently. this is not because of the influence of radiation or the breakdown of distribution network. it could be partly because of stupid consumers buying millions of cartons but its not the only reason either. the thing is that the quakes and tsunami have left huge damages on carton factories. this means that there are not enough cartons to fill milk in. this could be applied also on paper as well. many paper manufactures and gigantic paper storage were affected by tsunami and liquefaction. and it seems we have shortages of paper as a result. 

regardless of this reality, i still see it optimistically. this is because i know itll be alright in a while. in fact, now we can find bread and bananas quite easily, all chocolates are back, and sometimes i can even find milk when im lucky. these are good enough to make me believe that tokyo is recovering gradually. and if i can be insanely optimistic, i can say that those selfish consumers buying up my milk and yoghurt are now storing their energy in order to contribute for the recovery of northeast (although i dont really think so). 

tokyo after quake 1

when the earthquake hit japan on the 11th march, i was organizing a seminar in Hamamatsucho, tokyo. the quake was big enough to make all the participants and lecturers panic, and soon after the quake, the seminar was naturally canceled. after about an hour of cancellation, we headed back to our office in Nishi-shinbashi, about 15minutes walking distance from where we had the seminar, while afterquakes kept hitting the country. 

what i saw on the way to the office was tremendous amounts of people evacuating from their work places with helmets on. ive learned that tokyo is the biggest city in the world with regards to population, but ive never seen that many people during the day time on weekdays in the CBD. some were just waiting, and some were already walking back to where they live. 

tokyo's public transportation system is super convenient and therefore it allows millions of people to commute from distance. yet its not necessarily resilient for its location (as a city with many natural disasters). relatively big earthquakes and typhoons can easily paralyze the transport system for hours. this time, it stopped almost a half day or longer. this led to the millions of people had choices, either to walk home, take cab home, or stay at hotels or friends' or offices. i believe they all wanted the choice "to head back home by trains" but it was out of order. i chose neither of them, cycling home as usual. 

on the way home, i saw hundreds of taxis and buses stuck by traffic jam, thousands of people walking with their determination to get home (and some failed), and millions of people waiting for taxis hopelessly. as i cycled, i reconfirmed that my choice to live near to the central was a right decision.

although it was crystal clear that heading to stations would never bear any fruits but still some did anyway seemingly. heres the shinjuku station. many were just waiting helplessly, hopelessly. 

when i passed by the tokyo metropolitan hall, the building was full of lights regardless of its time. apparently most of municipal officers had to stay overnight that day. and many police officers had to maintain peace and order.

of course this was not an ordinary thing but an once-in-lifetime urgent matter in tokyo. yet by seeing this chaos and panic, i came to realize that we are way too dependent on what we take for granted which could be of no use when we really need. many news around the globe regarded japan as the most disaster prepared nation, yet obviously we are way too far from ready yet. 

its not deniable that tokyo needs some time to get recovered (let alone northeast) yet we cannot let the lesson from this brutal disaster a waste. i hope tokyo is wise enough to make the most of this bitter experience to make it more livable. this is a crucial point for tokyo to shift its paradigm to another. as a tokyo-urbanite&planner-wanna-be, i really hope i can contribute to tokyo to be wiser. 

tokyo after quake 0

its been almost 2weeks since the devastating earthquakes and tsunamis hit northeastern part of japan. it was unbelievably shocking when i saw the news broadcasting destructive tsunami wiping cities away. whats worse, the catastrophe was not over then. a few days after the quake, the nuclear power plant in fukushima started having huge troubles that make all the residents in tokyo region worried, and some are already evacuating from the city because of the risk and the reality of the leak of radiation. as nuclear power plant stopped producing electricity, tokyo is facing a serious problem of the lack of electricity, and that has led to implement the system of planned blackouts which is quite inconvenient for the people of modern lifestyle. under these circumstances, its extremely difficult to lead an ordinary lives but fortunately, the life in tokyo at least has been getting rather calm recently. 

as things getting calmer, ive been thinking what i should do in this situation, and somehow came to the conclusion that i should let the world know whats going on in tokyo, not in iwate, miyagi, fukushima that all the media broadcast. ive been watching closely whats happening in my favorite city of tokyo since the quake, as a tokyo urbanite representative, whos studied urbanism. 

its really discouraging to see as if all of tokyo is in mourning, yet we cannot let it be like that any longer. tokyo has to be THE driving force of the recovery of northeast. it might sound inappropriate and quite offensive for those who are affected, but there shouldnt be time for tokyo to weep for the loss. some say that tokyo is also a victim but how can it be, comparing to the brutal situation of northeast. tokyo should be strong, should be wise, should move on. i really appreciate that the global community is super supportive for the northeast, but tokyo should take the lead to support. 

i have next to no influence on the global and even local society yet, but by uploading blogs to the world of www, i hope at least I can get some positive influence on my mind. lets see.