We are Radioactivists

It's been a while... although I haven't exactly been busy with this blog I have been productive. Together with my good friend Julia I went back to Japan in order to make a documentary.
Please check out radioactivists.wordpress.com

Thank you!

ginger and blonde go fuji

ginger and blonde spend a day in kawaguchiko, a place from where you have a nice view onto fuji san. they explore the surroundings and have a lot of fun.

ginger and blonde go fuji from ginger blonde on Vimeo.

My very personal earthquake weekend V: Epilogue

Naturally, I slept in late the following day. The weather was nice, though, so I decided to go for a walk in order to check out the day-after-atmosphere in Shinjuku (plus, it was my last weekend after all and I felt like I should make the best out of it).

I was surprised to see that the first stores I passed on my way to central Shinjuku were still closed.

Another thing that I found to be impressive:

In central Shinjuku, most stores would be open. Nevertheless, there were less people than usual in the streets. The shops were emptier. And even in the center a lot of them would be closed.

All the paper signs on the shop signs put up in order to tell customers that those shops are temporarily closed...

This golf shop was actually open that day but the staff apparently didn't have the time to fix the display...

So, again, there was this weird contrast I was talking about in my earlier posts: on the one hand life seemed to go on like on a normal saturday afternoon (and why shouldn't it, I thought); but on the other hand, there were still these small things (like closed department stores and shops, things that had tumbled down during the earthquake the day before or the simple fact that there were less people in the streets compared to a usual saturday).

And I get used to the fact that these days it's harder to get my beloved Onigiris...

(although, by the end of the day, I had visited enough convenient stores in order to find out where chances would be highest to find some (7/11-stores!!!)).

There were constantly more aftershocks. As you don't notice them too easily while you're walking, I'd ask myself every time whether it was me (the hang over?) or the earth moving (seems to be a common question, though). But I got used to it...

After hours I walked back to Waseda. I went to Julia's dorm in order to pick up my suitcase, that I had left there while we had been travelling. 

Up until this point I hadn't watched any news or checked the internet. So it was my friend who first told me about the problems in Fukushima and that they made her actually consider going back to Germany for a while. I hadn't been worried earlier, but having grown up in the aftermath of Tschernobyl in Germany, a potential nuclear disaster made me more nervous (than the earthquake). 

I got back to my guesthouse and found everybody cramped in the common area, where the lights were switched off because they were waiting for a 3 hour black out that had been announced on TV. Not a very comforting impression either...

But my flight would leave the next day anyway. There wasn't a lot to do until then, so I packed my stuff and went out for dinner and beer.

In the end, Julia got a ticket for the following day and we went to the airport together. Kind of as a souvenir we took the following memorable picture, which should be my last picture from Japan...

My very personal earthquake weekend IV: A night out...

Walking past Harajuku, I'm still trying to call my friend Julia, but the connection always fails. 

If she and her friends still wanted to go out, I would have preferred to stay in Shibuya right away (instead of taking that 2 hours walk to Waseda and then walk back to Shibuya). 

Finally I get her on the phone and she tells me that they were still going to Shibuya.

The two of us meet up in Harajuku (she took the bicycle) and try to find some dinner (some shops are open, but in the end it's not that easy to find an open place that would also have some vegetarian options). We go to a Hawaiian place. As we sit down over dinner and tell each other our earthquake adventures, it becomes obvious that we are exhausted over the events of the day. 

I ordered something that turned to be a very small dish, so when we get out, I look for a convenient store to get an Onigiri (tasty rice balls I got addicted to). In the first one I enter, all the Onigiris seem to be sold out, so I try to get some in another one. 

Also in the second convenient store I don't find any and it occurs to me that people have been panic shopping (I know even people across the ocean have learned about this on the news, but I hadn't watched any so far and had to find out the hard way...)

So, no Onigiri for me. We still don't know whether our friends are coming to Shibuya or whether Beat Café (the Bar we go to) will open. In contrast to the many people in the bigger streets, Shibuya is strangely empty for a friday night.

for comparison: Even on any other rainy friday night it would be more crowded:

In order to give our friends and Beat Café more time, we decide to get a coffee somewhere. And again: it's not that easy. There are tons of coffee shops in Shibuya, but even if there are people inside and it seems to be open, it turns out it's the clerks sitting in there chatting because they can't go home but the shop is closed. Even McDonald's is not open. 

Finally we find an open coffee shop and get coffee. The atmosphere around us is not exactly thrilling, though. The place is packed, most people seem to be stranded, some try to sleep. The woman next to us tries to make some calls, but it doesn't seem to work. On the one hand, there are people waiting for a free table, on the other hand, the ones who are seated don't want to give up theirs. 

Julia checks the news on her Iphone...

... doesn't make our mood better.

We get out of the coffee shop and decide to give Beat Café one more chance. But really, we get used to the thought that we would just walk home and have a good night's rest.

We get to our favorite bar and find out that it had just opened! We are the first customers, but we don't mind. A nice Gin Tonic seems to be the better option next to a 2 hours walk! 

So there we sit, still feeling the after shocks as we lean against the wall, watching the place fill with more people, mostly Gaijins, seeking a good night out after this eventful day. Our friends also drop in one by one and the night seems to turn into a good one...

It's a very human thing to make jokes about things you really don't know how to deal with. This particular human attribute makes this night especially fun. Having had a couple of drinks, feeling another aftershock and getting aware of the fact that this building doesn't seem to be the safest, even "at least we die in Beat Café" seems to be hilarious. 

Another good one: Playing Earthquake Jenga...

My very personal earthquake weekend III

My earthquake friends and I went to a small café on the 2nd floor of the building in front of the gallery with the Sanne Sannes exhibition. We were their only customers, but I was already surprised that they were actually open. The two women running the place told us that - because of the earthquake - the gas was shut off, so they couldn't make certain things. But they had beer, so I was happy.

One of my earthquake friends went to look after her gallery, because she was worried about some fragile pieces in there. She was gone for a while.

In the meantime, the younger sister of the other earthquake friend arrived. The two young women obviously were very happy to see each other. The sister was working in Roppongi and as she couldn't call her older sister (still because of the missing cell phone reception), she decided to walk to Ebisu, where her sister's gallery was. She met a friend in the street and that's how she knew we would be in the café. 

The earth would still shake on and off. Sometimes it would be small aftershocks that we learned to ignore after a while. A couple of times they were a little stronger and the conversation would stop and people would look around, staring at the moving objects in the little place, like those hanging baskets above the counter:

Finally, the other earthquake friend came back from her gallery. She took so long because, as she was checking her pieces, a customer arrived in order to pick up something he had purchased. Apparently, he wasn't impressed by the earthquake at all and even had her pack the thing nicely. 

I will get back to this point later, but let me just point out that this is one of the examples of how life would be interrupted on the one hand, and on the other hand, there are those people, shops and companies who would just go on as before the earthquake.

Around six o'clock my earthquake friends wanted to go home. The two sisters show me the way to Meiji Dori, one of the main roads that would lead me back to Shinjuku.

And there were the things, that didn't go back to normal after the quake:

For example, at first, I was wondering why those people were standing in line:

You can still see in this picture that the line goes on around the corner of the parking lot. 

When I was passing the parking lot, I saw that it actually went all around this (fairly big) parking lot: 

As there were no trains running and not everybody had the luck to live in walking distance (which in my case meant a 2 hour walk), this, in fact, was the line for the taxis. 

Since, generally, the cell phones didn't work either, there were also long lines in front of the phone booths:

Because of the same reason, all of these people were in this shop of a big cell phone provider, trying to do something about the failing service. 

And there were many many people in the streets everywhere. 

But the amount of people in the area around Shibuya station, from where usually a lot of commuter trains leave, was very impressive:

I get to Harajuku and there is this weird contrast again. Some shops are open, like this shoe shop (with a lot of people inside)...

But a lot of shops are closed and still remind of the reasons for their closure. 

In this TopMen, the mannequins in the back tumbled down.

In this Forever21 the customers left their shopping bags at the entrance as the shop was evacuated:

Also in this store the display fell:

But on the other hand there were some Ramen Bars open and people standing in line outside in order to get dinner.

Before I leave Harajuku behind I try to call my friend Julia once more. In the morning we said we would go out in Shibuya that night but now I'm not sure whether that's still happening after the events of the day....

to be continued 

My very personal earthquake weekend II: After the quake

Right after the quake

As mentioned above (or rather below (referring to the last post)), people reacted very differently to the earthquake. 

Of course, there were the ones who would express that they were actually scared...

...but most would just stand there and wait, not knowing what to do...

...or try and contact their loved ones (this woman was lucky to have a home phone handy)...

I'll go on and broach the issue of people's reactions, but in order to not leave things unfinished, at this point, I pick up things from where I left them in the last post:

My very personal earthquake afternoon

Because of the doubts I was having about what you're actually supposed to do in case of an earthquake, I ask this question to the guy from the gallery (the one who told me that this had also been his first big earthquake) and he tells me that you were supposed to go to a park just down the street. 

The quake was over, but being new to all this, I'm not sure whether life would simply go on and I should go back to the gallery and look at orgasm faces. Knowing that there is a big chance of after shocks, I decide to check out the evacuation area. I find it quickly...

... but apparently, not a lot of people went there during the earthquake. At first glance, it actually seems to be deserted...

... then I see a few people. Mostly families with children who were probably already there when the earthquake started.

I guess the park wouldn't have looked a lot different on any friday afternoon, except usually people wouldn't forget to look after their children over checking their cell phones. At least I hope so...

At last, after having walked around the block, I decide to go back to the gallery, as things seem to get back to normal. 

After shock

Mother earth only let me enjoy the pictures for a few minutes and the house started to move again. This time, people react more consciously and a lot of them actually go to the 'temporary gathering place'. At least, when I get back there, the park is actually crowded.

There are announcements informing us over loud speakers that there had been 'an upper scale earthquake' (oh, really??) and that we should stay in the gathering place until further notice. 

Here we are, our phones not working, not knowing whether the buildings in other parts of Tokyo are still standing (like around us), not knowing how strong this quake actually was, where the epicenter was, whether there are more quakes to come, how friends and family were. Not knowing how long we're supposed to stay there.

So, here I really start to study people's reactions. And there is this weird contrast between the worrying and the acting as if nothing serious would have happened. Between the desperately trying to call somebody and the joking around. A contrast, by the way, I would find more times later on in the city.

And there's me, the only Gaijin around, taking pictures as though this was just another tourist attraction.

A woman comes up to me and asks me whether I want to join her group. I recognize some persons I had seen in the gallery earlier and as she introduces them to me, I learn that they all either run galleries or are artists working in the area.
These are the three young women i now call my earthquake friends:

I am happy to be with them, especially because the further announcements are made only in Japanese.
I begin to think of what time it is in Germany right now and whether news have already gotten there. It's in the morning, but my mother is probably up already. Knowing her and her mother instincts and not knowing what the news would be like, I try to think of a way to let her know I'm okay. Finally I send a message to my boyfriend's email adress telling him he should call my mum (instead of using short message services, it's common in Japan to send MMS to email adresses that are connected to your phone, but you can also send messages from a phone to normal email accounts). I also try to call my friend Julia and surprisingly it works. It seems like, this time, it pays off to have a strange phone company that people wouldn't know and hardly anybody would use... Julia is at her dorm and okay and she tells me that she couldn't make out major damages in the area where she lives (and where my guesthouse is, too). It's also her who first tells me that, up north, the earthquake had actually reached an 8 on the Richter scale and that there had been a Tsunami as well. But even knowing these bits of information it is impossible to make out the actual degree of devastation that had taken place.

When it's starting to rain, my earthquake friends decide to go inside and have some coffee. Despite of the  incertitude of whether it's safe to go back inside I join them because I don't want to get wet either. But instead of coffee, i'll have a beer...

to be continued...

My very personal earthquake weekend I

It's been about two weeks that I got back from Tokyo and I had some time to get used to the fact that when people come up to me and say "It's so good that you're back. So, how was it?" they usually don't refer to my almost six weeks long Japan trip - the things I've seen, the experiences I made or the people I met - but merely to my last weekend and how I've experienced the earthquake that took place friday, march 11th.


So, before I go on and bore readers with pictures from those six weeks (that were no boring at all, by the way!), I'll start with that last weekend and tell about it in this post. Maybe there are still some people I didn't tell about it, maybe I won't have to tell another 100 times (and get to tell other stuff from Japan). Either way, it's gonna be more interesting with some pics anyway. In this first post I'll tell you what I did, when the earthquake took place and how it was. Over the next days I'll post more pictures from after the earthquake.

First of all, I want to answer a few questions I've been asked a lot of times:
1. whether you could actually feel the earthquake in Tokyo. Answer: Oh yes!
2. How does it feel? Answer: Pretty much like being in an airplane going through turbulences, except it's slightly more worrying when it's actually the concrete underneath you moving. Like in the airplane metaphor, it's also troubling that you can't tell whether it's going to get stronger or when it's gonna stop.

My very personal earthquake day...

That friday morning at 6:30, my friend Julia and I came back from Osaka with the over night bus, which means we hadn't slept very much. I tried to sleep a little in the common area of my guesthouse (since I didn't know whether my bed from the first weeks was already taken) but as more and more people were getting up and talking I decided around noon that I had slept enough and I should get outside and enjoy the beautiful wheather and my last weekend in the biggest city of the world. I did some research and decided to go to Ebisu and Roppongi in order to see some photo exhibitions.

First I went to a small gallery in Ebisu that was showing photos of Sanne Sannes, a Dutch photographer who, besides other things, realized a project called "The face of love" in the 60s. So I stand there, looking at those black and white pictures displaying the faces of women in the midst of having an orgasm, when I hear a cracking sound coming from the wooden floor and ceilings of the small house I'm in.

The house I was in when the earthquake started

After seconds I realize that the wood is making sounds because it's moving and I'm wondering which metro line is passing underneath the small building (this misconception is due to the guesthouse we've stayed at in Kyoto a couple of days before which was shaken by the passing trains every 10 minutes).

So, this is what an earthquake feels like...

The shaking is getting stronger and even I realize that it's actually an earthquake (retrospectively I came to think that there aren't a lot of things that would have been better suiting than looking at people who are having their sexual climax when an earthquake kicks in...).

I'm looking at the other few people in the gallery in order to find out what you are supposed to do in this kind of situation. There aren't hardly any tables to crawl underneath and the little wood house is starting to move a lot (and loudly), so, despite my knowledge obtained at the emergency drills at the Ikebukuro Fire Department Museum three weeks earlier (after which I should have stayed inside underneath a table), I decide to follow the others outside.

Outside, looking at the moving power poles, I remember why you're not supposed to go outside (because of the risk of one of many power cables breaking and hitting you - or the entire pole falling (on you)) and try to keep an eye on the power lines, so that I could at least try to react if one of them came towards me. Still, a lot of neighbors seem to make the same mistake of coming outside and gather in the small streets.

power poles and cables in the street next to the gallery

Reactions

I don't really know how strong this earthquake is, due to missing earthquake experience growing up in the middle of the Eurasian tectonic plate. When the thought crosses my mind that it could actually be the expected "huge one" in Tokyo, I think "Are you shitting me? On my last weekend?". It seems bigger than the ususal ones, but all the buildings are still there, so i guess it's okay...

I'm only surrounded by Japanese people who react in different ways. Most of them are cautiously looking around, one is actually making a video with his cell phone. People seem to be surprised, but generally calm. Only once, when there is one stronger move, two young women start to scream and it makes me feel all different at once (as long as other people didn't seem to be too scared I didn't panic either... hearing natives, who should be used to that (more than I am at least) scream, makes you feel all different...).

After some time, the earthquake was over and the guy from the gallery came up to me and asked me in English whether I was okay and whether I was only visiting. I told him that I had been in Japan for five weeks but that this had been my first earthquake. His answer, that made me aware that this actually had been a really big one, was: "Mine too."


to be continued...