3rd Update

I've been wanting to do another update but there has been too much information we've been given and it has been changing daily.  We continue to try to keep a good attitude and are still safe.  I'm just grateful that we live out in town because the Japanese are continuing with their daily lives.  They are concerned with the effects of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear power plant, but continue to hold their heads high.  They are remarkable people and we're fortunate to be in a country when they are not only brave, but concerned about how we Amerika-jin are doing.

Some families have chosen to leave the base on their own, while others are choosing to "voluntarily" evacuate.  The process has been slow and some military dependents who received orders to return stateside have chosen to cancel their orders.  We are not choosing to "voluntarily" evacuate at this time.  If the evacuation becomes "mandatory" we will go to my mom's house in California.

The schools decided to close last Friday, and are still closed today (3/21).  We've heard that school may resume tomorrow.  It will be good to have the kids back at school.  They need to be educated and kept busy during this time.

We have also kept ourselves occupied a few days helping with the winter clothes drive for the victims up North.  There have been numerous shipments delivered to the devastated area via boat, helicopter, and truck.  So rewarding.  I'm glad that the boys and I were able to participate in this incredible mission.  Thank you to those of you back home who have figured out ways to help the people of Japan.  

Radiation Levels (we are under Kanagawa):


http://notice.yahoo.co.jp/emg/en/


Miscellaneous sites we use for current information:


http://www.facebook.com/cfayokosuka

http://japan.usembassy.gov/

2nd Local Update

Below is another link that provides good information to us here in Japan.  It even gives a readout of the radiation levels in every Prefecture (we're in Kanagawa) as of yesterday.  We have been advised to limit our time outdoors, but work and school are still in session.  The evacuation area has increased to 50 miles today (U.S. Embassy is suggesting this), but Yokosuka is over 200 miles from the Nuclear Power Plant.

We have recently been given information on putting together a 72 hour Emergency Bag.  This isn't a bad idea, even if you aren't confronting a crisis.  You can never have enough Emergency Preparedness training or knowledge.

We are trying to remain calm and optimistic for ourselves and our family.  We are also trying to limit what we are seeing or reading because it truly doesn't help at times such as these.   



http://notice.yahoo.co.jp/emg/en/

Local Update

Train Stations that are open are on limited service. 3/15

Closed Train Station.  3/15

Shell gas station closed.  Gas shortage.

Its been 5 days since the earthquake and we've been feeling some effects from the disaster.  Here is a local update:

Blackouts
There have been scheduled blackouts since yesterday.  We are grouped according to where we live.  Today our blackout was from 1520-1820.  Citizens have also been requested to minimize their use of electricity (and gas) during the non-blackout period.  The Power Plants damaged in the earthquake produced a lot of energy for Japan.  If everyone does their part to reduce energy usage, then the plants will have time to cool down.  We've been scaling back on our heat and using our lights considerably less.  

Limited Train Service
Certain trains are still not running on a their regular schedules in our area. Yesterday (3/14) , there were so many Japanese walking, who normally ride the train.  We had heard that the trains were running, but when I went by one of the stations, it was already closed for the day.  It made for an interesting  bicycle commute from town to home since the Japanese got off work 2 hours early.  I ride through 5-6 tunnels in the pedestrian walkway.  I must of said "gomenasai" or "sorry" a zillion times.  Luckily the trains are running a little more regular today.  I have noticed that the local Japan Railway (or JR Line) station close to the base has been closed for the last two days.

P.S.  Since writing this portion last night, I can tell today that the Keikyu Line trains are running on a regular (or close to it) schedule.  This is a good sign!

Gasoline
There has been a gas shortage since the earthquake.  On base you could only get 10 gallons of gas over the weekend.  They are completely out today, but expect a delivery tomorrow.  In town I have seen gas stations closed, or open with a lineup of cars 1/2 mile long.  Its been advised to not drive at this time. 

Radiation
I know that the media has been focusing on the potential radiation risks from the Power Plant in Fukushima.  People have been evacuated that live close to the plant, but we are quite a distance away (5 hours or so) from that area.  For precautionary measures it was advised for us to stay indoors yesterday (the kids had to stay indoors for the afternoon portion of their school day), but I have not heard an update today.  I have faith in the professionals who are closely monitoring this situation.

Aftershocks
There continues to be numerous aftershocks since Friday.  I was just saying last night how I hadn't felt any yesterday...knock on wood.  Well, last night when most of us were sleeping, our cell phone earthquake alarms went off at 10:26p.m.  I woke to the glass shaking, and to some rumbling.  Justin could feel the ground under him on the main floor moving for awhile after the aftershock.  I've read that aftershocks are common after such a large earthquake.  We're ready for them to stop.

Ways We Are Helping
There are have been many ways to help with this cause.  The Red Cross has been taking food, clothing, hygiene and cash donations on base.  The Spouses Club I belong to has also started a winter clothes and personal care (including diapers) drive for the victims.  The club's organizer has put the word out so that anyone who wants to come sort and pack boxes over the next week is welcome to help.

Thanks again for all the well wishes and concern.  We have people round-the-clock looking out for our safely.

Informative Websites:

www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.htm   

http://japan.usembassy.gov/

 http://travel.state.gov/

Earthquake Hits Japan

The road was shortly cordoned off.

Where I was during the earthquake.

Earthquake alarms sent messages to our phones.

Although we are geographically living in a place that is used to, or prone to earthquakes, its something to experience one in person. The large 8.9 earthquake hit north of us up in Sendai just before 3:00p.m. on 3/11/11.

Before the quake, we were just going about our day.  My husband was at work, my oldest was at a friend's house in one of the Towers, my middle son was stretching for track in the school gym, and my youngest was with a friend who lives close to his school, and I was visiting with my neighbor from Bremerton and her young son at a park near the water on base.  I was sitting on part of the play structure talking to my oldest (on the phone) when he said, "Do you feel that?" My immediate thought was "oh no".  The ground was shaking, the waves in the water were crazy, the lamp posts were swaying and the metal canopy above the play structure was shaking. I've heard rumors that it was a few minutes long.....but it seemed to go on forever. 

I think in any emergency situation the immediate need to contact loved ones is human nature.  I heard that the cell phones were down after the quake, so I felt so frantic not being able to reach everyone here.  Thank goodness Lee Ann was with me.  She was very helpful and calm.  I must say that I didn't relax until about 2 hours after the quake....when I finally heard from my oldest.  He and a friend headed to a park out in town that's on higher ground.  Good thinking since there was a tsunami warning for our area through 2200 last night. 

I'm so grateful that we had the car with us yesterday.  Its not a commuter car, but we had it on base because of all the evening activities that were supposed to take place.  If we didn't have the car, we would've been walking home like everyone else since the trains stopped running.  The traffic was backed up and it took us almost an hour to go less than 3 miles.  Once we were home, we didn't notice any damage to the house, or our neighborhood.  We are on top of a hill, so we felt safe from a tsunami.

We were able to post on Facebook, and email loved ones back home yesterday.  Thank you for all the love and support you sent our way.  I'm grateful we were safe, but am completely saddened by the devastation up to the north of us.  The media footage is horrific and heartbreaking.  We send out hope and strength to all the Japanese as they prepare to move forward after yesterday's tragedy.

Riding The Trains (Densha)

Platform "2" to Shinagawa.

Train Timetables.  Trains start running at 0500 to just before Midnight.

Yokohama Station- busy place especially on a Sunday!

Our family had little experience riding trains until we came to Japan.  We'd used them a bit when we lived in San Diego, but overall we were novices to this "new" way of commuting.  At first, just thinking about purchasing a train ticket was challenging.  We've made huge progress since being here, but it hasn't been free from trial and error.  Here's a little rundown of how to get onto the correct train.

1) At the ticket machine there is an English button that will walk you through everything.  Most of the time there is a map above the kiosk that will tell you how much it will cost to where you are going.  In the event that we weren't sure or that the map was solely in Japanese, we just put in a certain amount of Yen and did a fare adjustment at another Kiosk once we were at our destination.

2) Once you ticket spits out of the machine then you walk through the turnstile.  Put your ticket into the slot and it will pop up at the other end.  Grab it before you head up to the train.  I forgot to grab my ticket once and had to ask the ticket booth attendant (that was interesting to try to explain) to fetch it for me.  I'm happy that it was in the lock box at the turnstile and that someone was able to help me.

3) Now, after you have your tickets you need to figure out which train to take.  The trains will show the "final" destination on large signs so that will guide you to the correct platform.  Once on the platform, there is usually (unless at a smaller station where you will just look at the timetables shown in blue and pink on the wall) a digital train schedule that will show times, platforms and destinations.  The trains that say "local" or also known as "black trains" will stop at every stop until the final destination.  To shorten your trip you can use the red or green trains..or express trains.  This is a good option if you're heading up to Yokohama or up to Tokyo.  The trains run from around 0500 to just before Midnight.

Once you've made it to your final destination, the trick is always how do I make it back?  Just as long as you back track, make sure to have a phrase book handy, get an English map of the train systems if possible (they have them on base) and of course just ask for help.  Language barrier or not, someone has always been willing to lead us into the right direction.

HELPFUL TIPS WHEN RIDING THE TRAINS:

• Turn off your phone, or use manner mode on the trains.
• Get a Pasmo or Suica card.  
• Do not stay on the train when everyone else has gotten off.  This means its probably at the end of  its route.  We did this once and someone helped us get onto another train
• Do not blare your headphones on the train.  
• Avoid taking the train around 9am during the weekday if possible.  This is rush hour and you will be standing, or crammed into the train.
• Make sure you don't get too relaxed or into a good conversation and end up missing your stop.  This happened to me and a friend just yesterday. 

The Language Barrier

Probably one of the most difficult things about adjusting to our new home has been the language barrier.  We came to Japan equip with 2 years of High School Japanese (Justin) , Japanese phrase books, a little bit of Rosetta Stone, travel guides, and vast information from people currently living in Japan, or who had lived here in the past.  While all this information was invaluable we've found communicating our basic daily needs a bit  interesting and sometimes challenging.  Just  knowing how or what to say is something we've always taken for granted back at home....not here.  We rejoice when we get the correct thing we ordered on the menu, onto the correct train, or when we can say a certain combination of words to get our point across.

We are fortunate that we have so many resources available for us to learn the language.  Not only are there  free conversation classes during the week, but there is a bi-monthly Saturday class, and minimal fee classes both on and off base.  There is just so much to chose from depending on your interest and skill level.  Currently, three of us have been taking a 10 week conversational class (I'm doing it during the day, while the other two are taking the night class).  This has given us basic information we can use when shopping, eating out, needing directions, basic greetings, etc.  Its also given us the opportunity to network which I find extremely useful being new to the area. 

This week I was able to go with a friend to sit in on an intensive language class taught out in town.  We wanted to see what it was like since the next semester is starting in April.  I was very impressed with what I saw.  The instructor spoke Japanese to the students plus the book they are using is written in Japanese.  All the students in the class looked like they were able to follow along and understand what was being asked of them.  I signed up for the class which will be finished shortly after the kids are out of school for the summer.  I'm grateful for the Japanese people who are willing to donate their time and energy in helping us Amerika-jin integrate into their society.

Here are a couple favorite reference books we've been using:

Our New Kuruma (Car)

Our "new" 2000 Nissan Liberty van.

As you all know we've been getting around on foot, bicycle, train and base bus since arriving in Japan.  This is how a majority of people here commute so we were within the norm.  We weren't in a hurry to buy a car at first because we were in the lodge and it was easy to get around plus we had to wait until we finished our orientation class and got our drivers licenses (we can't buy a car here unless we both have a U.S. Forces license) before we could seriously start car shopping.  We were loosely looking at cars shortly after we got here, but unfortunately our orientation class was very large (150+ people) so most of the cars at "The Lemon Lot" were being sold quickly.  We were trying to be patient but carrying all those groceries via bicycle or on foot was getting a bit old, plus we had ordered a shiki buton (a cushion to go on top of the futon) that we needed to pick up from the local Homes store.

Justin was very persistent when car shopping.  He was going to the lot many times during the week to test drive cars, or to see if there was anything new on the lot.  One of the major problems we found when car shopping was that almost every car had been smoked in.  Most of the cars on the lot were purchased at Japanese car auctions.  While the Japanese are very health conscious about their weight and exercise, its not uncommon to see them smoking in their cars.  This was something we were very opposed to because smoke is very hard to clean out of cars and the smell is hard to mask.

We also had discussions about what size of car to buy. Should we get a smaller 5 passenger car, or a small van with at least 7 seats for when we have to cart the kids' friends around or if company comes to visit us, etc?  Luckily, Justin ended up finding and test driving the van we ended up buying.  It had very low miles, is a 2000 (new for a used car here), and we have a little more JCI (Japanese compulsory insurance you have to have on your vehicles here) left.  We paid a little more than we had originally planned but most of the used cars we were looking at ranged from $2,000-$3,500 USD.  Not bad.  Like I've mentioned before, even though people drive really "old" used cars here they are taken care of...in my opinion a lot better than back in the U.S.

There's a bit of a process before we could actually get the car keys.  First, when you want to buy a certain vehicle you must go to your local police station.  They have to physically come out to your house and measure the parking spaces..to make sure the car will fit.  We've heard of people purchasing a car and having to turn around and sell it because it wouldn't fit into their parking space.  We're pretty fortunate where we live because we have 2 parking spaces at our house.  Many times the homes here only have one.  After the measurements were done Justin had a little more running around to do at the licensing office before he met back up with the car dealer.  We were lucky that the dealer was nice enough to deliver the car to our house.

I haven't driven the van yet but will probably try at some point.  The traffic is pretty crazy here, plus the pedestrians have a tendency to step out into the street when you least expect it.  It was wonderful to go to The Commissary last weekend and stock up on some food.  I think we had about 7 bags of groceries!

More Car Trivia:

1) American drivers are easy to spot in Japan because they have a Y on the left of their license plates.
2) American teenagers can take drivers training and get a permit on base.  They have to log 6 hours of practice with a parent even though they cannot drive off base until age 18.
3) The tolls from Yokosuka to Tokyo cost around $70.00.  If you rent a vehicle on base (which many people do) the rental fee includes vouchers you can use on the toll roads.