Earthquake Stories.

So, the fact of the matter is that I was way, way too hungover to write anything interesting during the Time of the Quake, but it was a fascinating time to be in Tokyo. I should probably write a few of these down.

First of all, the liver abuse. So epic. It turns out that not going to work for a couple of weeks during a possible apocalypse scenario is an irresistible license to party your face off, which I did. Vigorously. I met up with my friend...let's just call him AW...and his girlfriend in Osaka. Prior to his unfortunate relocation out of the country, AW was legendary for being a core member of a group of the cheapest drunks in Tokyo. We happened to be staying at the same shitty, dirt-cheap hotel, and we decided to go out clubbing. I knew a guy in Osaka who DJs all the time and was pretty well connected, so we were going to meet up with him at one of the millions of imitation Irish pubs that you can apparently find in every big city in Japan. Prior to that meeting, though, AW bought a bottle of shochu, which is basically potato/rice vodka. The evil thing about it, though, is that it's about half as strong, which makes it super...super...easy to over indulge. We killed a bottle between the two of us in about 20 or 30 minutes, and holy fuck, was that a bad idea.

I will finish this story a little later. Time for bed.

Update from Osaka.

I'm in the lobby of the hotel/hostel that I'm staying at.  Not quite sure which one it is, since it has some clear characteristics of both.  I have my own room, but bath and bathroom are shared.  The joint has a Japanese style bath with what we will refer to as a hot tub and sauna. It's not really a hot tub, but I don't really know any words in English that would specifically cover a Japanese bath.  Maybe just Japanese bath.

Anyway.  The nuclear situation seems to be stabilizing.  The news hasn't gotten noticeably worse for a couple of days now, which is a big relief.  The drumbeat of ever-worsening news has been nerve-wracking, despite the fact that it has been generally acknowledged that the worst-case scenario is not particularly dangerous outside of a fairly small radius.  I'm considering going back to Tokyo in the not-distant future, although I had planned a trip to Fukuoka, which is further west from here.  The return trip to Tokyo would be a serious pain in the ass, though, and I'm not sure I want to spend the time/energy to make it happen cheaply and painlessly.  It would involve spending a lot of hours on either a bus or a local train.  I could take the shinkansen (bullet train), but they are pretty ridiculously expensive, and, even then, it would be a 6 or 7 hour trip.

So...we'll see what happens.  I can probably stay in Osaka or Kyoto for a few more days, as well.

Going to try to get a few more hours of sleep, all the people checking out woke me up earlier than I wanted.

Hey everybody...

I just woke up and checked the news. I realize that there's undoubtedly a lot of panic in the media right now over the nuclear situation in Japan, so I wanted to take a minute to address it and to let you know my future plans.

First, let me post a summary of a conference call with the British Embassy. Note that one of the questions addressed here was asked by the head of my school.

BEGIN BRIEFING
BCCJ Members Update on Japan’s Nuclear Power station situation

At 5pm Tokyo time (Tuesday 15th March 2011) a telephone briefing was given by Sir John Beddington the UK’s Chief Scientific adviser and Hilary Walker Deputy Director Emergency Preparedness at the Department of Health.

“Unequivocally, Tokyo will not be affected by the radiation fallout of explosions that have or may occur at the Fukushima nuclear power stations.”

The danger area is within the 30 kilometer evacuation zone and no one is recommended or will be allowed to enter this area other than those people directly involved with the emergency procedures currently being undertaken at both Fukushima 1 & 2.

Sir John went on to answer a series of questions including a comparison between Chernobyl and Japan. He said “they are entirely different, Chernobyl exploded and there was a subsequent fire with radioactive materials being launched 30,000 ft into the air. The maximum height of any Fukushima explosions would be no more than 500 metres."

“The radiation that has been released is miniscule and would have to be orders of 1,000 or more for it to be a threat to humans” This was confirmed by Hilary Walker.

He went on to say that the Japanese authorities are doing their best to keep the reactors cooled and that this is a continuing operation. All workers on site dealing with the emergency are being fully decontaminated at the end of each shift.

When asked on how reliable was the information coming from the Japanese authorities as to radiation levels he said “this cannot be fabricated and the Japanese authorities are positing all the readings on the recognized international inforamton sites which they are obliged to do. Independent verification shows that the data provided is accurate”.

In answer to a specific question from the Head of the British School in Tokyo, Sir John Beddington and Hilary Walker said that there was no reason at all for the school to be closed unless there were other issues such as power outages and transport problems.

David Fitton, First Minister at the British Embassy in Tokyo moderated the teleconference and confirmed that a transcript of the briefing will be available on the Embassy website later today.

BCCJ members are encouraged to regularly check the Embassy website as well as the Chamber website and Facebook sites for the latest information.
END BRIEFING

Please note that the British Embassy's sole duty in Japan is to protect its citizens...it has no motivation whatsoever to lie or cover up for the Japanese government. The French Embassy, which recommended that its citizens leave Tokyo, is also of the opinion that there is no radiological danger in Tokyo. I am presently in Osaka, which is about 750 kilometer from the reactor site. Let me be very, very clear. The expert opinion is that there is no danger to Tokyo from the nuclear reactors. There may be a slight, but not dangerous, bump in radiation levels, but no need to even leave Tokyo. The only reason that I left is because I effectively have a week of vacation, and Tokyo is just not a fun place to be right now due to rolling blackouts and panic over food and water.

There has been some talk of my returning to the United States, and I'd like to address that, as well. I do not wish to return at this time. Japan, presently, is my home, and I do not believe in abandoning your home except in the most extreme situations. In this case, the most extreme situation would be widespread contamination in Tokyo, which has been declared a virtual impossibility by very, very knowledgeable sources. Since I do not possess detailed knowledge, myself, of nuclear reactor design, I will defer to their expertise until it is demonstrated to be insufficient. So far, that has not been the case, and, in fact, the reactors are melting down in precisely the way predicted by experts, despite the occasional explosion. Yesterday, Tokyo's radiation level did spike to levels that were still under the normal daily background radiation level of Denver, Colorado. That's right. In the middle of a nuclear crisis, Tokyo is less radioactive than...DENVER ON A NORMAL DAY.

If the experts are proved wrong, and Tokyo does receive a significantly contaminating dose of radiation, then the likely scenario is that I will lose my job, return the States to give everyone a hug and a kiss...and then I will come back to Japan to see what I can do about helping to clean up. I love this country, even with all its flaws and warts.

I love you all. I'm fine. Please take care. I'm posting this to my blog, as well, and will be better about distributing updates via the blog.
http://tokyoiowan.blogspot.com/

-Ryan

Update.

Well, well. It's been so long. Things have changed so much that I'm not even sure where to start. Bear with me.

First. I have been having crazy, crazy dreams. So vivid and so bizarre. It seems like something is trying to get out of my head, so I thought maybe I should let it out. Writing is always good for that. I might try to record some dreams here, although, usually, I am mostly concerned with getting my ass to work right after I wake up in the morning.

Second. I have a new job. I got a gig as a science technician at a private international school here in Tokyo. I play with chemicals and electricity and fire, and I get paid for it. The job isn't all roses, but it's improved tremendously since the first couple of months.

Third. The DJing has been going just smashingly, and I have a pretty big gig next month. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the biggest of my DJ career, to date, and I hope to leverage it into other large events.

Fourth. One of the benefits of my new job is an even-more-tremendous amount of vacation than I had previously, which means that I can go back to the States for well over a month next summer...possibly nearly 2 months. I can't wait to see my friends and family, it's been way, way, way too long.

Awright, that about does it for an update. Hopefully the next one will include disturbing tales of my bizarre dreams.

Yesterday.

I have 10 minutes to write a thoughtful, cogent post before my next class.  I'm also a bit hungover and have had less than the ideal amount of sleep.  Ahhh, a challenge.

Yesterday was the first day that I can remember in recent history when I felt happy.  I'm referring to actual happiness over the course of an extended period of time, as opposed to just a moment or two of fleeting joy smack dab in the center of an ocean of low-level depression.  Yesterday the weather finally...FINALLY...really broke, and we had a legitimately cool day and glorious, glorious rain.  The rain was too heavy in the morning, but a perfect Oregonian drizzle for the rest of the day. 

I went to my friend's art show opening.  I had a quick dinner with my roommates.  I DJed.  I came home to my roommates having a few late night drinks, in which I also partook.

As I was speed-walking in the cool rain to the bar in Koenji where I've recently been DJing, it felt like a million pounds had lifted off of my shoulders.  Seriously...fuck Tokyo summers. 

New room and a haircut.

I moved downstairs from my old room. It was pretty much awful on every conceivable level, but the new one is actually about 75% of the way to moderate niceness. 25 years ago, it was probably awesome. It's Japanese style, which means that there's a lot of wood and frames and paper and stuff. The paper, naturally, has a few holes in it. Technically, it's a tatami (woven straw mats) room, but the mats were long ago covered up with some moderately horrible wood-esque flooring. It doesn't look terrible, but the tatami would be a lot better if they weren't, undoubtedly, hideously stained. The floor has this generally mushy feeling, which is characteristic of tatami, but floors all over the house have kind of a similar feeling to them. This place won't last another 10 years, which is kind of a shame because there are very few houses left in Tokyo that are this old.

Other stuff: I'm organizing my stuff in a bid to throw out a god-awful plastic drawer thing where I was keeping everything. Jun hated it and I have developed a strong aversion to it, myself. I picked up 2 or 3 small plastic bins and have been going through it. I'm surprised to find that it all fits into a pretty small amount of space. Apparently organization really *is* important. See, I'm learning new things. My room is a bit of a disaster right now, but progress is being made. Might have it all put away tonight, I dunno.

More stuff: I've been DJing pretty regularly. I think I'm on track to DJ every weekend this month, actually. It's keeping me busy searching out new and improved music for the people. I've also been out to the clubs. After 13 years DJing, I'm a pretty big fan of dancing, if the music is up to par.

One more item of stuff: I talked to my friend Karen last night, and it was good to hear her friendly voice. She's going to send a care package, which is officially awesome. I'm grateful.

Last: I got a haircut today. I'm a little surprised that I made it this long, especially in this christ-awful heat, but it's pretty fucking short at the moment. I don't doubt that I'll grow it out a bit again in the not-terribly-distant future, but it's nice to have a low maintenance head again.

Ready to go back to school...

The weather in Tokyo during August is nightmarishly horrible. Intense heat and intense humidity. Showering is basically pointless due to the fact that you'll be soaking wet again within a matter of minutes. Airconditioning helps, but sometimes has trouble defeating the heat. I've awakened sweating even with the AC on full blast. Once I get heated up, nothing cools me down quickly, as evidenced by the gallons of sweat following my walk/workout today, even after the shower.

Tomorrow is my last day of vacation. I'm going to spend it at the beach with some friends. I don't have much money left for this month, and it's expensive to get there, but I have to find enjoyment where I can right at the moment. I need it.

My new track is coming along well, but it is largely a process of trial and error; listening a lot to new changes and tweaks before deciding whether or not I want to keep them or tweak further. I wouldn't call it frustrating, really, but it's definitely extremely time consuming. I wish there was a way to speed it up, but maybe that just comes with more practice.