I've learned the symbols for people, big and Aomori out of all of this.
Oh, Japan.
Why on earth, why did you decide to have a triple whammy disaster while I was on vacation?
It was the worst vacation I'd ever been on. Constant checkings of the internet, watching NHK and NHK world like it was food - my mind never stopped racing about my soon to be new home. I lost contact with EVERYONE for days that I knew. The school's HQ is located in Sendai - I still haven't heard from the recruiting woman I've talked to this whole time. Google Person Finder saved my sanity, though it took DAYS to locate the recruiter, a friend on here and a few others working within the company. The earthquake and tsunami were sad but this nuclear CATASTROPHE is frightening and only today did I decide that.
Japan's shady. They are. Or, TEPCO is. Hardly giving out information on a nuclear meltdown is just beyond stupid. Don't wanna cause panic? Well, then I guess sacrificing hundreds of thousands of people is worth it to them. And what the hell - why hasn't the government sent shitloads of generators to help in this cooling process? Send them by boat. At least admit if it's deteriorated to the point of "Okay, yeah, people within this amount of miles should kind of freak the hell out." ASK FOR HELP. FROM THE WORLD. Dropping water from a helicopter? Wow, we are nearly throwing in the towel with that idea. Get thousands of people to help build a power line to the plant! Okay, apparently, one's nearly finished that will significantly help this mess, but you can't speculate on when you'll give it a whirl? UHM, WHY?!
The poor people in the north. I'm moving there, that really bothers me. Not because of my city - in fact it's completely untouched. No damage or deaths. Or injuries. But power was out for a while; I don't think the mail's been delivered and the bullet train, possibly any for that matter, can't run. Anyway, these people can't get food, water, medicine, supplies; no power, no water - NOTHING because of apparent damage and the terror of Fukushima (which is justifiable. Obviously). Why the Japanese government isn't dropping supplies from helicopters to help these people is beyond comprehension. Or the Red Cross... or anyone.
And this leads me to me. I'm only afraid of the radiation - at first, up until today, I wasn't remotely concerned. But today it changed. They've lost control and they need to admit it. Granted, it's seemed at times they had, but apparently regained control. Now it really seems hopeless in preventing a meltdown of at least one reactor. Japan's denying they've run out of water in reactor 4, and they've never upgraded the danger level past 4 (which this is clearly not anymore). The prime minister freaked out at the head of TEPCO in a meeting the other day, shouting "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Yep, I think it's completely acceptable to panic - within at least 50 miles... and if the wind is blowing from Fukushima's position.
Look, Aomori-Shi is untouched. They're nearly 300 miles away from Fukushima (I believe). But the problem, even if nuclear particles never reach the city, is food. You can't eat anything from the areas affected and who knows how large that could be. That's what scares me most - what will I eat? I'll have to get food all locally grown/raised in Aomori-Shi or other areas known to be unaffected. Do they have symbols for that? I'm sure of it - I must learn those immediately. And what if particles fall with the rain - can that happen? I'm sure it can.
Flights are a complete disaster. The bullet train doesn't run from Tokyo to Aomori-Shi, which was my transportation once I arrived in Japan. Instead I'll have to fly in directly to Aomori Airport and you cannot do that unless you connect from a city in Japan (Osaka or Tokyo) or S. KOREA. That adds serious travel time.... the Osaka options include an OVERNIGHT LAYOVER and I really don't wanna blow money on a hotel. Not to mention these flights are a bit more pricier and travel time is overall longer. The very last thing anyone would want moving to a new country where you can't speak/READ the language is to experience these things. I mean, honestly. I sit here and I wonder.
What am I going to do?
I feel compelled to help. I even e-mailed the Red Cross and told them I'd be willing to travel to the hard-hit areas to deliver supplies and basically support the people. But I cannot pay for the train/bus fare and I refuse to go anywhere NEAR Fukushima. This has already been such an emotional roller-coaster for me. My mood changes with every news story, especially dealing with the reactors. I have people working for the schools in Japan telling me not to worry about the country, and everything will be normal (at least in my city) when I arrive. Um? Is really NO ONE worrying about Fukushima? Or the toll it could possibly take on FOOD? Or how the Yen could be a complete disaster - making it really hard for me to pay student loans in America? And dear God, if another disaster strikes - ANYTHING at this point - how afraid and ALONE I would be?
Scared. I'm scared. There's nothing I can do and so much is unknown. I don't want to go over there if Fukushima is not under COMPLETE control. I don't want to go over there if a complete meltdown affects a shitload of miles. I don't want to eat their food. Where was my visa sent? If it was sent to processing in Sendai, I'm fucked. It's gone. The thing only arrived in Japan on March 1st, so it could have easily been there, waiting. Do I now HAVE to come to Japan when I get it - even if Fukushima has destroyed sections of the country?
This was supposed to be a dream job. I was so excited. Really, I was looking forward to this and I wanted it. The pay was great. The city is beautiful. The job seemed fun and somewhat easy, since I've been a teacher before. I was going to be forced to grow up and survive and I knew I could do it. I'd get to go to all kinds of soccer matches. I'd hopefully meet cute Japanese guys (okay not a priority, but yeah, I wanted it to happen). And now I'm not sure I should do this. I feel sick to my stomach. NHK has been blowing by Fukushima's crisis today and I feel like Japan's either in denial or unaware of how serious it's gotten.
I want to cry for the workers trying to save the country from nuclear fallout. They're going to die from this. It's a suicide mission and they are so brave there are no words to describe them as individuals. Imagine the stress and fear they must be going through 24 hours a day - it's unfathomable. What heroes.
Why on earth, why did you decide to have a triple whammy disaster while I was on vacation?
It was the worst vacation I'd ever been on. Constant checkings of the internet, watching NHK and NHK world like it was food - my mind never stopped racing about my soon to be new home. I lost contact with EVERYONE for days that I knew. The school's HQ is located in Sendai - I still haven't heard from the recruiting woman I've talked to this whole time. Google Person Finder saved my sanity, though it took DAYS to locate the recruiter, a friend on here and a few others working within the company. The earthquake and tsunami were sad but this nuclear CATASTROPHE is frightening and only today did I decide that.
Japan's shady. They are. Or, TEPCO is. Hardly giving out information on a nuclear meltdown is just beyond stupid. Don't wanna cause panic? Well, then I guess sacrificing hundreds of thousands of people is worth it to them. And what the hell - why hasn't the government sent shitloads of generators to help in this cooling process? Send them by boat. At least admit if it's deteriorated to the point of "Okay, yeah, people within this amount of miles should kind of freak the hell out." ASK FOR HELP. FROM THE WORLD. Dropping water from a helicopter? Wow, we are nearly throwing in the towel with that idea. Get thousands of people to help build a power line to the plant! Okay, apparently, one's nearly finished that will significantly help this mess, but you can't speculate on when you'll give it a whirl? UHM, WHY?!
The poor people in the north. I'm moving there, that really bothers me. Not because of my city - in fact it's completely untouched. No damage or deaths. Or injuries. But power was out for a while; I don't think the mail's been delivered and the bullet train, possibly any for that matter, can't run. Anyway, these people can't get food, water, medicine, supplies; no power, no water - NOTHING because of apparent damage and the terror of Fukushima (which is justifiable. Obviously). Why the Japanese government isn't dropping supplies from helicopters to help these people is beyond comprehension. Or the Red Cross... or anyone.
And this leads me to me. I'm only afraid of the radiation - at first, up until today, I wasn't remotely concerned. But today it changed. They've lost control and they need to admit it. Granted, it's seemed at times they had, but apparently regained control. Now it really seems hopeless in preventing a meltdown of at least one reactor. Japan's denying they've run out of water in reactor 4, and they've never upgraded the danger level past 4 (which this is clearly not anymore). The prime minister freaked out at the head of TEPCO in a meeting the other day, shouting "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Yep, I think it's completely acceptable to panic - within at least 50 miles... and if the wind is blowing from Fukushima's position.
Look, Aomori-Shi is untouched. They're nearly 300 miles away from Fukushima (I believe). But the problem, even if nuclear particles never reach the city, is food. You can't eat anything from the areas affected and who knows how large that could be. That's what scares me most - what will I eat? I'll have to get food all locally grown/raised in Aomori-Shi or other areas known to be unaffected. Do they have symbols for that? I'm sure of it - I must learn those immediately. And what if particles fall with the rain - can that happen? I'm sure it can.
Flights are a complete disaster. The bullet train doesn't run from Tokyo to Aomori-Shi, which was my transportation once I arrived in Japan. Instead I'll have to fly in directly to Aomori Airport and you cannot do that unless you connect from a city in Japan (Osaka or Tokyo) or S. KOREA. That adds serious travel time.... the Osaka options include an OVERNIGHT LAYOVER and I really don't wanna blow money on a hotel. Not to mention these flights are a bit more pricier and travel time is overall longer. The very last thing anyone would want moving to a new country where you can't speak/READ the language is to experience these things. I mean, honestly. I sit here and I wonder.
What am I going to do?
I feel compelled to help. I even e-mailed the Red Cross and told them I'd be willing to travel to the hard-hit areas to deliver supplies and basically support the people. But I cannot pay for the train/bus fare and I refuse to go anywhere NEAR Fukushima. This has already been such an emotional roller-coaster for me. My mood changes with every news story, especially dealing with the reactors. I have people working for the schools in Japan telling me not to worry about the country, and everything will be normal (at least in my city) when I arrive. Um? Is really NO ONE worrying about Fukushima? Or the toll it could possibly take on FOOD? Or how the Yen could be a complete disaster - making it really hard for me to pay student loans in America? And dear God, if another disaster strikes - ANYTHING at this point - how afraid and ALONE I would be?
Scared. I'm scared. There's nothing I can do and so much is unknown. I don't want to go over there if Fukushima is not under COMPLETE control. I don't want to go over there if a complete meltdown affects a shitload of miles. I don't want to eat their food. Where was my visa sent? If it was sent to processing in Sendai, I'm fucked. It's gone. The thing only arrived in Japan on March 1st, so it could have easily been there, waiting. Do I now HAVE to come to Japan when I get it - even if Fukushima has destroyed sections of the country?
This was supposed to be a dream job. I was so excited. Really, I was looking forward to this and I wanted it. The pay was great. The city is beautiful. The job seemed fun and somewhat easy, since I've been a teacher before. I was going to be forced to grow up and survive and I knew I could do it. I'd get to go to all kinds of soccer matches. I'd hopefully meet cute Japanese guys (okay not a priority, but yeah, I wanted it to happen). And now I'm not sure I should do this. I feel sick to my stomach. NHK has been blowing by Fukushima's crisis today and I feel like Japan's either in denial or unaware of how serious it's gotten.
I want to cry for the workers trying to save the country from nuclear fallout. They're going to die from this. It's a suicide mission and they are so brave there are no words to describe them as individuals. Imagine the stress and fear they must be going through 24 hours a day - it's unfathomable. What heroes.