ST Alpha - "so my mom's account of the last few days in japan was kind of interesting." (Reading a Post)

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so my mom's account of the last few days in japan was kind of interesting.

Posted by mafic Mar 17 '11, 08:13

she had a lot of trouble getting from kyoto to tokyo, took about 36 hours, then from tokyo to narita. tokyo was apparently like a ghost town when she got there. nobody out on the streets, and everything incredibly quiet.

says there are a lot of blackouts, a generally interrupted power supply, and a fairly croppling gasoline shortage. communications are spotty, so people who don't speak japanese can't really get much access to news, and generally end up operating on rumour translated third-hand from japanese tv. she said at one point she heard the entire fukushima complex had exploded, and that the US carrier group had turned around because of a radiation cloud over the pacific.

she ended up paying extra to get on a flight to LAX, where they went over everyone with geiger counters as they got off the plane, and their luggage took two hours to arrive, she reckons because of extra screening.

when they arrived at narita, some emergency workers asked them when their flights were scheduled to leave, then issued them pillows, sleeping bags, and little cardboard mattresses when they found out is was more than a day away. there were also free phones set up all over the airport for calling anywhere in the world.

Responses:

that airport stuff is soooooo japan... - x Mar 17, 08:47 2
- That sounds like a fairy tale. I almost don't believe you. :) -- nm - Don Homer Mar 17, 08:50 1
  - seriously. it was really weird....nm - x Mar 17, 08:51
The day after the quake, my boss's commute in a taxi from downtown Tokyo to Narita took 9 hours. -- nm - Mop (208 lbs) Mar 17, 08:36 3
- "now turn around and take me home!" -- nm - mafic Mar 17, 08:45
- how much did that end up costing? nm -- nm - groiny Mar 17, 08:37 1
  - I think he said it was around $500. -- nm - Mop (208 lbs) Mar 17, 08:45
Yikes. Scary. Glad she's well. -- nm - Blinky the Three Eyed Fish Mar 17, 08:21
Did she ping the geiger counter? And yay for mamafic! -- nm - Amy Mar 17, 08:19 3
- nah. she doesn't think anyone did. at least nobody got pulled out of the line. -- nm - mafic Mar 17, 08:38 1
  - althought the counters now could just show the level on a display and have the volume turned off. -- nm - zork Mar 17, 08:40
- that's a great name for her. -- nm - zork Mar 17, 08:20
wow. -- nm - Andie Mar 17, 08:16
The free phones thing is awesome. kudos to them for that. -- nm - decline - Go Pitt Mar 17, 08:16 41
- I'm positive we can't be getting the whole picture, because Japanese culture or not, is it really believable that any population would be this calm? - Name Withheld By Request Mar 17, 08:21 24
  - it's almost entirely cultural. outside the train stations in tokyo there tend to be thousands of bicycles, and no one locks them... - x Mar 17, 08:43 3
    - and if you leave your ATM card in teh machine, you might very well go back the next day to find it still there, or sitting on top, untouched. -- nm - znufrii Mar 17, 08:55
    - and the people are very polite about imposing on you, including imposing your emotions on others. -- nm - zork Mar 17, 08:51
    - huh. -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:46
  - I was assuming it was because 1) the japanese view authority with more respect than we do and 2) the threat of radiation encouraging staying home -- nm - con_carne Mar 17, 08:33
  - In addition to what mara said, it's also about the level of trust people have in public institutions to do the right thing. -- nm - Roger More Mar 17, 08:31
  - totally believable. she said they're clearly really shaken up, but everyone's basically just carrying on as best they can. - mafic Mar 17, 08:27
  - i think so, yes. -- nm - Andie Mar 17, 08:27
  - It's more about the lack of disparity between economic classes, I think. When sizeable portions of your population aren't carrying resentment against - mara Mar 17, 08:23 15
    - Great point, mara. -- nm - Don Homer Mar 17, 08:29
    - I dunno. I relate it to every instance of these disasters and how Canadians always appear ot grumble if the gov't isn't moving fast enough.... - Name Withheld By Request Mar 17, 08:27 12
      - my mom said the embassy emergency numbers were useless, but also didn't think it was the government's job to get her out. - mafic Mar 17, 08:36
      - there's grumbling, but i don't think we'd riot or loot either. -- nm - Andie Mar 17, 08:28 10
        
        Riot, no. Looting... Depends how widespread. But there would be far more expectations. Of that, I have no doubt. - Name Withheld By Request Mar 17, 08:31
        
        Well, we might loot. Politely. Leaving IOUs. -- nm - Beryllium Mar 17, 08:29 8
        
        heh. -- nm - decline - Go Pitt Mar 17, 08:31
        
        I think I'd loot. -- nm - Amy Mar 17, 08:30 2
        
        What do you need with all those shoes?? -- nm - Don Homer Mar 17, 08:33 1
        
        And all the stuff I'd take from salons and spas! -- nm - Amy Mar 17, 08:42
        
        i shouldn't say we wouldn't loot, i'm sure there would be some, especially if there was no food, etc. -- nm - Andie Mar 17, 08:30 3
        
        people tend not to call it "looting" when it's food and medical supplies. -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:32 2
        
        Um... yeah, sure. -- nm - Yahoo photo captioner Mar 17, 08:33 1
        
        and of course, it depends on the race of the people doing it. :) -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:34
    - this is a very good point. -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:27
- the sleeping bags and pillows particularly impressed me. -- nm - mafic Mar 17, 08:18
- sounds like it was handled a whole lot better than people trying to get out of Cairo or Tripoli. - loosilu Mar 17, 08:18 13
  - she said ticketing at the airport was total chaos. a family of four in front of her payed $30,000 to get tickets to london. - mafic Mar 17, 08:22 2
    - what's going on? this is the fifth time in a week that people have used the "word" payed. -- nm - zork Mar 17, 08:32 1
      - it's late and I've been at the pub all night! -- nm - mafic Mar 17, 08:34
  - First World vs Third World -- nm - decline - Go Pitt Mar 17, 08:19 9
    - egypt and libya aren't third world. -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:26 8
      - by the original (though now obsolete) definition, they both were. -- nm - mafic Mar 17, 08:30 2
        
        so is Saudi Arabia. -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:34 1
        
        in many ways I consider it to be. socially, culturally, human rights, etc... -- nm - decline - Go Pitt Mar 17, 08:37
      - according to nationsonline they are -- (link) - decline - Go Pitt Mar 17, 08:29 4
        
        I stand corrected! thanks. -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:30 3
        
        although those are just labels ( but I think you get my point :) ) -- nm - decline - Go Pitt Mar 17, 08:30 2
        
        woooo. you won the Loosi Game. -- nm - zork Mar 17, 08:33
        
        I do. But looking at the map, there is a whole lot of disparity among the countries in those regions. -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:33
- yeah, that's awesome. -- nm - Andie Mar 17, 08:16
wow. Glad she's back safe. that's a hell of a story. -- nm - loosilu Mar 17, 08:15

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so my mom's account of the last few days in japan was kind of interesting.

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