March 13, 2011

I woke up about the same time the next morning and by this time, the nuclear plant in Fukushima had started to dominate the news. I was regularly checking the news via my kindle, and found BBC to be the most reliable source as every American site I tried was reporting on pure speculation of what might happen rather than what was actually happening. I decided, however, that it might be a good idea to be able to leave in a hurry, so I packed up my bags. I figured it wasn’t a bad move as I was supposed to be moving in a week and a half anyway. I then headed out to the Kencho to see how things were progressing there and found the news running on a TV and discussing the first explosion at Fukushima which had happened the previous day. I also, found a faucet to refill my water from, which was good news as the Kencho is only two or three blocks from my Apartment.

I then left the Kencho and rode over to my school to ask about work the following day. I found the Vice Principal, Secretary, Guidance councilor, and two first year teachers there. I helped them clean as much as I could, which wasn’t very much as it mostly required Japanese reading ability and an idea of how their filing system worked. I didn’t have what was required for either. I did clean up the fallen shelves behind the third year teachers’ desks. No one had touched that area yet.

However, most of the cleaning had already been done. Below is a meeting room where teachers without homerooms get their school lunches.

So I asked the vice principal about work and he replied that the teachers would certainly be there even if the kids weren’t. Next, I went downtown to see if anything had changed on the transportation front. I found a bus parked outside the station that was taking people to Tsukuba, halfway to Tokyo. I asked how long the buses would be running and she said the last one would leave at 5:40. I then got my second bag of rice and banana from the city office, and then headed over to my company to ask about school, get their take on the Fukushima business, and see what would happen if I skipped out on the end of my contract.

They told me as soon as I arrived that school had been cancelled for me for the next two days, so I decided to take the bus to Tsukuba taking a suitcase with me to help make the move more manageable. As it was only 3:40 at the time, I had time to ride back to my place and walk back to the station and still have half an hour to spare. I rode back home, stopping only to accept a free Dixie cup full of curry udon (udon are thick noodles usually served in a broth) from some friendly people who had set themselves up on the side of the road and were handing out food to everyone. It was actually quite good. I then rode home, turning down another offer for free food from a similar operation about 100 yards later. I then picked up a suitcase, walked back to the station and had a three hour bus ride on one of the most winding routes I’ve ever taken.

The traffic was heavy and I assume most of the main roads were still out. As I say, it took three hours. I understand that usually the trip should take under one hour. I was unsure I would be able to make it out of Tokyo before last train as the trains were on a strange schedule that I can only imagine was due to the emergency. But, it all turned out well and I caught the last train out of Tokyo. I arrived in Yamanashi fairly late, and was able to go to sleep undisturbed by earthquakes for the first time since Friday.