March 11, 2011

Of course this was the day when a 9.0 earthquake struck Japan, near Sendai. This triggered a tsunami that devastated the east coast. In turn this damaged a nuclear power plant causing a meltdown and ongoing radiation threats that are still going on. Of course these things helped crush an already shaky economy and have left the people shaken, skeptical of the government and hardly knowing how to begin recovery. But you probably know all of that already. There has been ample coverage in the news. So I thought I would tell you our story. Where we were, what we were doing and how things affected us.
The second trimester at our school (Osaka International School) ends with three days of spring camps. Karen had offered a tour of English speaking programs at Japanese Universities.So she found herself inTokyo touring universities. They concluded during the early afternoon of March 11th. They had to hurry through the train station to catch their bullet train to head back to Osaka. They were about an hour outside of Tokyo when the earthquake struck. The train ground to a halt and there they sat for about three hours. Luckily they had a beautiful view of Mount Fuji. The tracks had to be checked manually to make sure there were no breaks. All of this was standard precautions for any earthquake. So after three hours of inspecting the tracks the train began moving but much slower than usual and stooping at every station where it normally would have passed through. Finally, about 5 hours later than planned, Karen made it home but rumors were flying about the big earthquake up north.
Meanwhile, Iwas up north with about thirty students at a ski camp. In fact we were WAY up north, not even on the same island. We were up in Hokkaiddo, near Sapporo at one of the premiere ski resorts in Japan. When the earthquake struck, we were on the slopes. I only fell once that day and it was at the right time for no apparent reason. I blame the earthquake for my fall! Anyway, we didn't know anything about it until we came in for the day around 5:30. Only then did we see the devastation. We had almost gone to Sendai to ski and had gone there two years previously. Amazingly we chose to go to Niseko and missed the earthquake. We flew home the next day with almost no delay.
Once back in Osaka we began a three week spring break. Again, we missed much of the fallout (literally and figuratively) by leaving the country on a holiday. Recovery is still going on and will probably go on for years. We are hoping to get up there to help with recovery efforts. We have been in touch with many of our friends from Sendai. The city of Sendai only had to battle the earthquake - only a 9.0 on the richter scale. So most of them were fine with relatively minor damage to their houses. The tsunami never made it to the city of Sendai and it is far enough away (and on the opposite side of the prevailing winds) that it is not affected by the nuclear disaster. Recovery is not something that will happen quickly. More on our spring break trip next.