Monday, April 11, 2011

The earthquake = no milk and more!

There was just another aftershock- 6.something. The aftershocks  won't stop and neither will the effects from the earthquake.

When the earthquake and tsunami hit no one could have imagined it would mean a shortage of yogurt, cola, milk, magazines, manga etc. But that is the reality.

The problem is the packaging. The companies who make yogurt and other containers are either shut down or working at a lower capacity for a number of reasons...gas/power and/or raw materials. My hubby went to the 7-11 today and there is no cola, yogurt and other items. A lot of items that require certain kinds of packaging are hard to find. 

For example:

Milk
natto
canned food
dressing/condiments
books/magazines
shampoo etc
laundry soap
diapers

Here is a little chart to show the Japanese people what products will be affected.



Another thing I found both interesting and sad is the power issue.  I'm guessing most reading this don't know that unlike most countries Japan has 2 different power systems. From Nagoya up to Hokkaido they use the German system of 50Hz while we here in the south use the American system of 60Hz.  So...imagine you are living in New York and you move to Florida...you bought a fabulous fridge in New York so of course you want to take it with you. It's no problem, right? Not here. If you live in Tokyo and you move to Fukuoka (where I live),  you CAN NOT  bring your large electrical appliances.... they won't work!!!  Companies here in Japan have to make 2 slightly different versions of the same product so that they can be sold throughout the country. Hard to believe isn't it?  That is why we here in the south can't help the people up north.  That is why there will be rolling outages in Tokyo and surrounding areas. Turning off lights and conserving energy here does nothing to help those in need. It is so hard to imagine.

While the earthquake and tsunami are completely nature made, the nuclear problems and this power divided country are man made problems and  that is just sad when you think about it.

6 comments:

Claytonian said...

I think you may be mistaken. The power grids are different, but conversion does take place, albeit at a slowed pace. So saving electricity down there can still help up here.

I don't know about larger appliances, but my electronics have all worked in both areas.

FromJapanWithLove said...

Hi! I've been told by numerous people that they cannot take power from us here in Kyushu to help up north. I hope I'm wrong! And yes, I believe it is just big electrical appliances like refrigerators, washing machines etc.

Japan Australia said...

Sorry to hear that the shortage of essentials continues. Things like milk and diapers are daily necessities and it must be hard for families with children.

Japan Australia

Aries said...

Hi, I have an award to pass on to you, come over my blog and claim it. Hope this would cheer you up. I enjoy reading your blog. Hope everything goes back to normal in no time.

Anonymous said...

Like reading your blog too!
Just a question for Claytonian, are you stuck in the south?
Just out of curiosity, also I just recently started a blog and it's about Japan...or at least that's what I'm trying to do.But I don't quite understand the entire situation just yet with all those different rumours going around ><;
So I was kind of hoping to gain more knowledge from other blogs around Japan, in the hopes to share some of the news on my blog too.

Seireina said...

You'd expect people to know better than to build dangerous structures on such unstable land!

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