Since the earthquake and tsunami...

While we are far from the disaster area we are still a little affected by it.  Last week we went to a big supermarket but they were out of tissue (kleenex) and it can be difficult to find bottled water here. People are panic buying for themselves and to send to family up north.

Because of the disaster, there are rolling blackouts in the areas and prefectures (states) surrounding Tokyo. My friend lives in Tokyo and she was talking about this. It is not so bad now as it is spring but in the summer this could be hell as it is extremely hot and  humid in Japan in the summer.  Of course, it is hard for her to find some things as well...bottled water, some foods etc though apparently it is getting better.

 And in Urayasu  city-best know for Disneyland- they are having many problems. While they are quite far from the epicenter, because the city was basically built on reclaimed land the ground basically liquefied causing all kinds of problems. They don't have running water, sewer pipes have just popped up and many building are not "attached" to the ground anymore. This video is amazing...but it won't let me embed it so here is the link.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rVDKK3yoWs

One thing that I found to be strange is that on TV there are almost no commercials (companies feel it is in bad taste to advertise their products-even after 3 weeks). Instead they have these "good manners commercials". They talk about things like don't be mean to  people,  help people etc. My younger students are quite unhappy about seeing them all the time and complain to me every week (they are starting to get on my nerves as well). Here are a few that are on all the time.

This first one says not to forget that touching says more than words. Touching people is not part of the Japanese culture so I think this one was interesting to watch.I might have mentioned it before but I once had a student who was embarrassed to admit that she still  hugged her grandchildren who were 8 and 10. And I have never seen my husband hug or really touch his parents.

  

This next one is pretty easy to understand.

This one is about remembering to be polite and say "hello", "bye", "thank  you", "I'm home" etc.




Well...that should give you some more ideas of what is going on here in Japan. My friend in Tokyo is very optimistic and told me that she  believes Japan will come out of this stronger. I think she is right.