Parsed Participle

I discovered this post a while ago: Some Perspective On The Japan Earthquake. On radiation, and bananas:

At present, in terms of radiation risk, the tsunami appears to be a wash: on the one hand there’s a near nuclear meltdown, on the other hand the tsunami disrupted something really dangerous: international flights. (One does not ordinarily associate flying commercial airlines with elevated radiation risks. Then again, one doesn’t normally associate eating bananas with it, either. When you hear news reports of people exposed to radiation, keep in mind, at the moment we’re talking a level of severity somewhere between “ate a banana” and “carries a Delta Skymiles platinum membership card”.)

On luck, and preparedness:

(An earlier draft of this post said “lucky.” I have since reworded because, honestly, screw luck. Luck had absolutely nothing to do with it. Decades of good engineering, planning, and following the bloody checklist are why this was a serious disaster and not a nation-ending catastrophe like it would have been in many, many other places.)

Graphs courtesy Ishida-san. The data is pulled off of here. JAIST is the "Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology". All graphs are updated once every 30 minutes.

Radiation in Tokyo, By Day

Note that 0.035uSv/h is the normal amount. This means that Tokyo is still experiencing almost thrice the usual amount of radiation.

These graphs also feature values recorded at Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. (Ibaraki Prefecture is where the Contaminated Spinach was discovered)

Radiation in Tokyo, By Week

Radiation in Tokyo, By Month

I am in Sapporo now. Despite news of radioactive iodine traces found in tap water, I do not believe that Tokyo is actually dangerous to be in at this time. However, having left Tokyo for Sapporo, the fears of most friends and family outside Japan have been allayed greatly. Quite frankly, these fears themselves, and repeated pleas that I flee the country have been a greater cause of anxiety than the actual events themselves.

There is far much more alarm felt overseas, I believe, than within Japan itself. This is understandable - in a way, the international media has exacerbated the panic felt outside of Japan, especially as far as Fukushima is concerned. Some headlines from this week that talk of the situation in and around Fukushima read as though they also apply to Tokyo, and in some cases, the whole of Japan as well. It's very true, for example, that quite a few emergency workers at the plant are risking their lives by exposure to high levels of radiation - but in Tokyo, where the readings are still too small to pose any long-term risks, the current level of panic is not justified. It's triggered by ignorance that in a way cannot be helped - it's very difficult to explain technical details objectively, given that we're talking about nuclear power plants. If one has an objective look at the numbers, the panic seems both exaggerated and in a way, disrespectful to the people who are actually risking their lives at the location of the reactors. As of Sunday, the situation at the reactors is looking up, if anything.

MEXT (The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) publishes readings by area:

According to this, taking a chest X-ray is far more dangerous than being in Tokyo even at the time of the radiation spike (approximately 9:00 AM last Tuesday).

Tokyo University publishes readings measured at the Campus as well.

Sweden, apparently, has regions where there are higher levels of natural radiation.

NHK World and Kyodo News provide faster and more accurate updates (in English):

• NHK World
• Kyodo News
• TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co.), the operator of the troubled plants in Fukushima, provides regular and detailed updates in English.

Meanwhile, here in Sapporo I have access to television, which I did not have in Tokyo, having only just moved to a new apartment. Things are not great, but they are not as bad as the international media makes them appear. And, at the present moment, they are getting better. Will things get worse? If so, what exactly is the worst case? I found this summary of background information very useful (Thanks, Curt). Read from the section titled, What in the hell is going on here? It's recommended if you started on Wikipedia with Chernobyl and found it too technical to read through. I only wish I found it before having spent a few hours on Wikipedia myself.

To sum it all, I'm not planning on leaving Japan. And that is not just about solidarity, it's more about common sense and practicality, at this point. I do have a holiday planned, towards the end of April / beginning of May, and I'm hoping to stick to that, though. In any case, I am sufficiently far from both Fukushima and Tokyo (Sapporo is about 500km North of the reactors). People are upbeat, cheerful, and there is news of reconstruction everywhere. Sapporo City has already begun issuing temporary housing to evacuees from Fukushima (as of the day before yesterday).

Today's earthquake is apparently the largest ever recorded in Japan.

Once things settle, I will post in another blog about my general disappearance from the blogosphere. But first things first:

• I was in Tokyo, in Office, on the 8th floor when it struck.
• I am safe, and so is everyone I know - almost - I have yet to speak to my landlady.
• The shaking lasted for several minutes, and a good component of the vibrations were on the vertical axis. There were at least two, long (of the order of several minutes) large spans of violent shaking, and continuous tremors till nearly evening.
• Trains are not running. As a result, the streets are filled everywhere with millions of commuters walking back home. For some, it may take well over six hours to get home.
• JR (Japan Railways) has offically stopped all operations until morning.

This link on YAHOO! Japan with funny cat pictures was brought to my attention. YAHOO! Japan has a contest for the best photos of cats sitting in a certain funny (squatting) way:
The title reads "Sko-suwari contesto, neko gentei" (in Japanese: 「スコ座り」コンテスト【ねこ限定】). In English, if I dare try:

"Scottish-fold-style sitting contest, for cats."

Suko-suwari got me curious, and after googling it on a few Japanese blogs, I learned that it is a made-up phrase that refers to the peculiar sitting style of Scottish Fold cats.

I'm flying to New York tomorrow, barely in time for classes. I will be in grad school for a minimum of one and a half years, and it appears likely that I may not even return to Japan in that period (though I am trying to work out a summer break where I can work in Tokyo).

My flight leaves Narita at 11:00 AM Japan time. I have a few hours to finish packing, and apart from two suitcases I am carrying with me a guitar and a bicycle. The last few days have been far too busy for any last-minute nostalgia, but I'll probably miss Tokyo very much anyway.

My next post should be from New York. Once I get settled in, that is.

My parents visited me in Tokyo for a few days last week. I've been here close to 5 years now, and this was their first visit.

• Bikkle turns out to be a big hit with Mom and Dad.
• Dad also liked Calpis

  From Wikipedia
  In English-speaking countries the beverage is sometimes called "Calpico," because "Calpis" may sound like "Cow Piss".

• Predictably, Kyoto did not excite them too much. Ryokan food, while delicious to the initiated, is in hindsight not the easiest way to introduce authentic Japanese cuisine to first-time visitors.
• I learned that to leverage the JR Rail Pass to be able to ride the overnight, undersea, and scenic train called the Hokutosei that connects mainland Japan to Hokkaido, one must book tickets well in advance. Both the Hokutosei and it's luxury counterpart, the Cassiopeia, were booked out for weeks.
• Surprisingly, Hokkaido food was a big hit: Lamb Shabu-shabu, Hokke, even Soup Curry.
• Unsurprisingly, 'Soft Cream' (on the drive to Lake Toya, venue of the G8 summit) was a bit hit.
• Onsen! Not the best hotel we'd been to, but a pretty good introduction to the whole hot-springs experience.
• Oddly enough, my father (a hands-on electronics veteran) was largely unimpressed by Akihabara. This, despite the fact that I showed him all the tiny component shops.
• I realized that the JR Rail Pass is not very useful unless you travel like crazy. By train.
• Tofu was a hit with only Mom.
• Tokyu Hands, Loft and Mujirushi were naturally bit hits with both my parents.
• Other than Kyoto and Sapporo, we did not get to have too much local food. Luckily, mom and dad were suitably impressed by the western food available in all three cities: We had a great lunch at a mom-and-pop run Yoshoku-ya-san (Yoshoku is western-influenced food with a Japanese flair, that became popular in Japan during the Taisho era) in Kyoto; went to Royal Host in Sapporo, and in Tokyo my mom and and dad discovered that Turkish and Italian food is great.

If you happen to be curious about Strawberry Cones, a Pizza delivery chain in Japan, not unlike Dominos - my advise to you would be to curb your curiosity! Their pizza is terrible and overpriced. They call themselves

"The worlds best pizza and ice-cream since 1983."

Of course, if the caption did not mention pizza then nobody would figure out what Strawberry Cones actually delivers. I don't know about the ice-cream (gelato presumably) but the pizza is simply bad.

I made a mistake today that I always feared I would. I walked into an Izakaya this evening, expecting that I could order the same sort of things they serve during lunch - Soba and Tempura set menus.

Many Izakayas transform into simple restaurants serving regular inexpensive meals during the day, especially during lunch time on weekdays. Though I had noticed that about this place, I had only so far been there during lunch time, so nothing stopped me from walking in at 9 PM hoping to get myself some Soba/Tempura.

This can be awkward on many levels: dress-code is never explicit in such places, but one still stand outs out wearing a T-shirt and jeans, when everyone else is still in business attire after a hard day's work. The other thing is that Izakayas are not just about drinking, but the group ritual of drinking together. I was the only person there by myself, and only because it would have been too rude to walk out right after walking in.

Still, it had been a while since I'd been to one; mostly because of the relatively low profile I have been keeping at least where the social life around work is concerned. Izakaya food, which is basically healthy, small-plate dishes usually meant to accompany drinks, is very innovative and one requires a certain amount of knowledge to be able to order properly, so I had to sort of wing it.

That awkwardness behind me, everything was simply delicious, not surprisingly the Tempura no Moriawase. I accidentally ordered the Wafu-Shumai, which was rather amazing too. Not a mistake that I am regretting too much at this point.

I have no idea why Bikkle seems to have become my favorite drink these days. Bikkle is a yogurt-like drink sold (apparently) only in vending machines in Japan; there seems to also be a version sold in a conventional PET bottle in the convenience stores, but while I can't explain why, I am sure that the glass-bottle vending-machine version tastes much better.

Having discovered that there's a 100-yen vending machine nearby that sells it, it's been a constant rate of two bottles a day. It also seems that I'm not the only Gaijin who is a big fan of this drink: I could list a few people, but maybe I'll simply hope that Google leads other Bikkle lovers to this page.