It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...."Flyjin"

As Japan continues to grapple with its nuclear emergency, special scorn has been reserved for the "flyjins", foreigners who made their living in the country but fled in the wake of the March 11 earthquake.

Rebuilding Japan: Special scorn for 'flyjin' foreigners who fled country
The Telegraph
Global Bussiness
4/21/2011

"You are the first foreigners I have seen in my bar in a month," said Hidetsugo Ueno, the bartender at High Five Bar in Ginza. "Are you sure you should be staying here in Japan?" he added, with a smile.

Skittish members of the financial community were the first to empty out and Hong Kong has issued around 300 long-term visas to bankers and traders who wanted to continue working in Asia, but not to live in Tokyo.

"Around 80pc of the visas are to employees at international financial institutions earning at least HK$100,000 (£7,775) a month," said Chan Kwok-ki, Hong Kong's immigration director. Five of those went to employees of ICAP, who sent traders to the island as a temporary measure.

 In addition, almost all Chinese and Korean residents in Japan have now left the country, despite no advice to do so from their home governments.

The sudden flight has dismayed the Japanese.
 
"It's not good that they all left so suddenly," said Mutsuko Izawa, a housewife who lives in the town of Ujie, 85 miles the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. "Of course this means that in the future, when a company has a choice between hiring a Japanese and a foreigner they will not hire the foreigner because they will be worried if they are going to stay.

"For senior people in big companies, I think they had a responsibility to their Japanese staff to stay. I can perhaps understand if they wanted their families to leave, but a company operating here needs people who will be here when times are more difficult," she added.

"I think this has reinforced the impression amongst Japanese that a lot of foreigners only look at Japan as a place to work for a few years, earn a lot of money and then they go again," she said. "They're not really interested in the society or the country. This isn't their real home. These disasters have really just shown how true that is."

The managing director of one British firm in Tokyo said he had evacuated only one of his staff because he had a wife and a young child.

"We thought it was only the right thing to do in the circumstances, but only because they had a small baby," he said.

"No-one else left our company and I think that was the right thing to do as if four or five senior executives had suddenly decided to jump ship then it would of course caused great resentment. There are a lot of executives and companies in Japan today who are facing a backlash against them. The feeling is they have lost credibility with their local employees because they left and I think that will cause longer-term problems."

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I fully agree with this! It's silly that practically all foreigners evac'd so suddenly after this happened when no foreign embassy's issued any sort of evacuation notice. When I was still there I checked the US embassy site everyday just so I would know if they did start issuing evac notices, and they never did. When I got the email from my program saying that they were revoking our visas and bringing us home, naturally I was a little confused. If the gov isn't evacing people, why do we have to? But what's done is done I suppose. I don't want to think of my self as one of these "flyjins" simply because I would have stayed if I had a choice in the matter.

My employer Gaba seemed to be understanding and told me to apply again in the future, so no worries there of them not hiring foreigners in the future (not that they really have a choice in the matter of hiring foreigners or not being an English teaching establishment). I don't know how many of the workers there left, but my manager wasn't surprised when I told him that my visa was canceled because one other student at my learning studio called in the day before and reported the same.

What really irks me though, is that I know at least two fellow students on different programs who were able to go back to Japan to complete their studies! Although it sounds like one of them got changed to a school in Osaka, the other one is back at Waseda. *sigh* whatever. I wish our program hadn't panicked unnecessarily with the rest of the world and these "flyjins" and made a better decision to keep us there and follow what the government was doing (i.e. not emergency evac'ing everyone).

Nowadays it's an important skill to be able to interpret the media and filter out the hysterics from the truth. Many, it seems, do not possess this skill hence the wide spread evacs of all foreigners in Japan (okay not all but a good number of them fled).  I just wish this fear mongering on the media's part would come to an end, especially in cases like this! It's already scary enough, no need to hype it up by x10.

PEACE OUTSIDE
Jamie

Japan Tsunami Survivor's Charity Event

My friend/DJ who currently lives in Fukuoka Japan is setting up a fundraiser for the Tsunami relief for Japan.

"We are putting together a char­ity event for the Japan tsunami sur­vivors. It will be held at Sound Bar Brick in Tenjin, Fukuoka on April 16th. 100% of prof­its will go to JEN, a Tokyo-based NGO who is doing ground work in Tohoku"

http://www.lakeshore-driving.com/lsd/japan-tsunami-survivors-charity-event

If you live in that area or know anyone who does, take the time and go! Not only will it be fun but it's for a good cause!

PEACE OUTSIDE (and inside)
Jamie 

Back home?

My mind has been in a haze ever since I arrived at Haneda Airport (actually more like ever since I found out I had to leave). It didn't feel like I was about to leave, and it still hasn't sunk in that i'm not going back (for now anyway). The airport was packed with foreigners and Japanese alike either fleeing Tokyo or leaving Japan all together. I'm pretty sure that Tokyo is now free of all Chinese people (Air China was particularly crowded).

My host family are truly amazing people. Not only did they drive me to the airport, but they bought me dinner, forced me to accept an un-godly amount of money to take back with me to America (which I will pay them back ASAP), and stayed with me until I walked through security. No other host family i've had has even gone as far as the train station to the airport with me.

I had one friend come see me off as well (since I left so suddenly it was hard for people to leave their jobs and such --which shows how much people in Tokyo aren't letting this disaster ruin their daily routines). It was hard leaving them but like I said before --i'm not a crier.

I had five bags on me; all of which were over weight. Luckily though they had a deal going on in lieu of what happened to where they were only charging for one overweight bag. Still ended up paying 16,200 yen (about $180).

All day that day we hadn't felt any tremors. Might have been because we had grown used to them and just didn't notice or perhaps because they were small enough not to notice--I don't know. As I walked through security up to the customers officer however, the whole world started a-rumblin'. The overhead lights were swinging, cell phone earthquake alarms were blaring, airport intercoms were delicately stating "An earthquake is happening, an earthquake is happening" (oh that's what that is); even the customers officer looked unsure (to which I was like, oh Jesus, you ain't stopping me from running through here if this gets any stronger). But it stopped as promptly as it started, I finished with the wide-eyed customers officer, and ran straight to the TV.


Epicenter was very close to the coast of Chiba, but only about a 6.0. No Tsunami warning (thank. god.). The tremors are getting closer and closer to Tokyo which is very unnerving but logical from what I hear (since the northern most plate had such a huge shift now all the other plates are shifting as well; rolling down the coast line). I was shaken (and stirred) and extremely upset because I had cancelled my phone an hour earlier so had no way of contacting anyone to make sure they were okay (I have many friends who live in Chiba). There was nothing left for me to do though but wait, so wait I did. Boarded my flight and had the pleasure of sitting next to an American emergency response guy whose team was heading to Hawaii.

Me: "So are they pulling you guys out because the situation is stabilizing?"

Him: *gives me an oh you poor thing sorta look "they're pulling us out because they don't want the rescuers to become victims"

Me: "oh".

Him: "there's only about 50 men left to work on those plants and they're the true heroes. They're never going to have an easy life after this".

Me: "It's that bad? Where you there?"

Him: " No, I was at the navy base in Yokosuka helping with supplies to the North. The thing is that the (reactor 2 I believe) is still surrounded by four feet of concrete so getting water to it to cool it down is next to impossible".

Me: "Thanks for calming my nerves"

He then politely asked me what I had been doing in Tokyo. Told him I was on study abroad but that in sight of what's been happening my program decided to evacuate all students. I was worried about my friends and host family and didn't want to leave like I was. He informed me that it was better that I was leaving.

That was by far the longest flight I have ever been on. I landed in Honolulu at about noon. Unfortunately I had only less than an hour over lay (about a week over lay would have been just about right to even out the tan I got in Thailand). From what I saw of Hawaii though it looked like a place I would go back to in better circumstances. As soon as I got to San Jose and saw my mom waiting there, I couldn't hold it in anymore; I completely broke down (what is it about moms?). I tried skyping my host family when I got to my mom's house but they weren't home. Verizon however is having a deal right now where you can call/text Japan for free until April 11th so I texted my host sister and she replied saying she was shopping in Ginza. Okay, now I can sleep.

I contacted my school and have decided not to take Spring term so as to get my life back in order. I absolutely hate the fact that I had no choice in this matter of being evacuated but then again I actually got lucky compared to another student I know on a different program. She had gone down to Kobe to escape everything and enjoy spring break. Her program however promptly called her the day after arriving there and said that they had set up a flight for her for the next day. Couldn't return to Tokyo to close her apartment, grab her stuff, or say goodbye to anyone. Needless to say she's a bit angry and sad and lost (like all of us are but perhaps just a bit more than the rest). Luckily she lives here in Campbell California so I'm going to hook up with her later and have a little support group. I'm so mad about a lot of things. I had just started my job at Gaba that I had worked so hard for. I had just gotten into the music scene in Tokyo and was scheduled to play some more gigs. My Japanese skills were skyrocketing, I was making lots of neat friends, and life was just so great.

This disaster is so horrendous and has displaced so many people that it's hard to complain about my petty problems. I just wish (as does everyone else) that it hadn't happened and that I was still snuggly immersed in the city that I had loved to hate (I'm not a big city kinda person so me and Tokyo had a lot of disagreements, but at the same time a lot of found memories). Got to start looking for a job, car, and apartment in Portland now. Hello, life.

If any other students out there are feeling lost/angry/sad, and just want to talk to someone who's feeling the same then feel free to contact me.

Email: weloveme006@yahoo.co.jp
If you email me I can give you my cell number as well.

Here's to all those brave souls working on getting that plant under control
Jamie

帰りたくないわ (I don't want to go home)

I'm like a dog when it comes to riding in the car. I happily agree to go when the question "do you want to come with me?" is raised --no matter if we're just running down the street to the store. I love to just stare out the window and watch the world go by, and have all the windows down when the weather allows it (can you picture me with my tongue hanging out my mouth as the wind blows my face into weird shapes? lol). I find riding in the car very relaxing (even when it's me who's driving) and I often just like to hop in my car and drive to places I've never driven through before, to calm my stress.

This car ride is going to be different though.

My host dad volunteered to drive me to the airport whenever I get my flight info (which should be sometime today) today (I'm leaving at 11:59 pm and will arrive in San Jose at 9:45pm tomorrow night) and for once I am not looking forward to it.

I'm not a crying sort of person (except for in the most private of matters, in the most private of company) and I haven't broken down (that doesn't get you anywhere anyway). But I have a feeling that I'm not going to be able to contain myself (already I feel it coming on in my chest as I write this) and even the prospect of a nice long car ride through territory I've never driven through before, won't be enough to calm my nerves.

I understand that it's better if I leave this country. Although the nuclear power plant crisis won't affect Tokyo (although Japan might become a little smaller by losing Fukushima-ken) in a health related issue; power and supplies are going to be the tough part. Having one less mouth to feed, one less person to give water and power to is going to be a huge help in the long run. Even though I would like to stay and give assistance to the people in Tohoku I have to face the fact that I'm not trained in anything that will be of help to them, so just leaving is my best option. Although I want to stay and help out my host family (emotionally, etc); since my program cancelled they will no longer get a monthly stipend (and I've already quit my job). I hate to run, but it won't be forever. I'll be back (granted it's still here) so I won't say goodbye.

So here's to a better future; these past few months have been grand.

See you soon
Jamie

My head hurts

I don't know what to feel anymore...

relieved? scared? sad? 

I have no clue, all I know is i'm being wrenched out of my life here in Japan and thrown back into American society. I know I'll have my friends and family to support me but the shock is going to be great (having a year to prepare for the reverse culture shock is what I was preparing for but now...) 

I am worried for my host family, but they're taking it in strides (even cracking jokes like this one from my host sister: "I bet North Korea is laughing now").

I'm going to miss them terribly and worry about them so much. I wish they could come with me.

-Jamie 

ummm, say that again?

I just got an email from my program director back home and it's official.

All Oregon students are being evacuated.

I guess included in our insurance is emergency evacuation so looks like I don't have to worry about a ticket to buy home.

I can't believe this.

I have never been this lonely in Tokyo

So i've come to the tough decision that I am in fact going to stay in Japan until an official says that I need to "get the crap out now".

The nuclear situation isn't going so hot but my host family reassures me that everything in Tokyo is fine. The trains are still a pain in the ass but I've got to brave them tomorrow at 5:30 am in order to hopefully make it to Tokyo station by 7am (not that i'm counting on any students to show up but hey, there might be that one).

Went out to drinks with one of my friends (who is actually going back home to America to appease her family for the last two weeks of spring break. Hopefully she'll have a country to return to afterwards). The Izakaya (Japanese style bar) we went to is one of those everything 270 yen (about $3.00) places that are usually packed and you can't get into on a normal night.

silence

We were literally the only two customers there. It was so silent that we could hear the cooks talking to each other (probably saying things like "stupid white girls coming in for a drink at a time like this). 

But taking a walk around the neighborhood today (I was beginning to go go stir crazy staying inside watching the news and the paranoid updates on facebook from my friends) everything seemed to be back to normal. School kids were walking home like usual, laughing and having a merry time like there was nothing wrong in the world. The only thing to distract me from this fantasy was the fact that all the convenience stores still had nothing in them (silly of me to think that I could go and grab some onigiri--rice balls--for lunch today) and a truck drove by making announcements about how to prepare for the black out. 

7 out of 13 students in my program have gone home (with plans of returning after the break granted there's something to return too) and three of us are stuck abroad in some other country (2 in Taiwan, 1 in China). Us remaining 6 are going to throw a survivors party tomorrow (ha, we'll see about the surviving part) 

PEACE OUTSIDE (And inside)

Jamie

6.0 after shocked

Rocked me outta bed and to the TV early this morning. After making sure that it didn't cause any damage or create any tsunami I went back to sleep. These after shocks though are really horrible for the nerves and they won't let up.

My university back home emailed today asking ME if I think I should fly home.
My house is still standing, I don't live near water and all my friends and family here are safe so I don't see any reason right now to leave. I mean, there's really nothing for me to complain about while I still have everything and all those people up north have nothing. So what if only 40% of the trains are running? Who cares if we have a black out for 3 hours? Everything that's most important in life is safe and secure and I couldn't ask for more.

Here a link to CNN that lists more sites where you can donate:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/impact.your.world/?hpt=T1

The Japanese are tough people and they'll pull through this, but they'll need a lot of help from everyone.
-Jamie

(P.S. i'm not posting any pictures of this disaster because it's too much to handle looking at for me). 

No More Toilet Paper!

No more Anpan!? What am I going to do for breakfast??

I went to the drug store today to buy shampoo and contact solution and was not surprised to find the place completely pack; line queuing out the door. I felt a little silly because everyone around me was buying survival gear and cleaning the shelves of all ramen flavors while I was just there for hair products and contacts. At least when shit  goes down I'l be looking great and with full vision right? Haha (have to laugh in the face of stress don't we? Otherwise i'd have an ulcer right now).

Took about 20 minutes to get through

This poor guy could barely keep up.
I would have just opened all the boxes and left them out for people to take at will. 

In other news, I've seem to have brought back with me a bunch of bitting little buggies from SE Asia (that's what I get for staying at cheap guest houses). They find me particularly delicious and now I look like I have the chicken pocks (seriously, the little buggers even got my face!). So I went to the doctor today after bombing my room and washing everything twice and got some steroids to calm down the itching (it's gotten to the point where I couldn't sleep last night because it itched so much it hurt). Amongst everything else that's going on this is a very minor problem I know, but it doesn't help my stress levels. 

My area also got put on the black out list from 4:30-8:30pm so my host sister is running about trying to find batteries (good luck sister) or candles (something that Japanese aren't in the habit of buying unlike westerners; host sister couldn't give me a reason why other than she thinks it's because Japanese aren't Christian --to which I informed her that neither am I but it doesn't stop me from buying shit tons of different smelly candles every year). In the meantime we're preparing for the black out by charging our phones and using the least amount of electricity as possible (it won't be that bad though, just four hours). Host sister also informs me that all toilet paper was sold out at the store and that we're running low at the house. Perfect. 

I can't get a hold of my work (Gaba) either to let them know that my trains aren't running so smoothly and I don't know if i'll be able to make it to work tomorrow (Although I think they'll figure it out, i'm just saying it'd be nice to talk to someone). I take Seibu Ikebukuro line and it's running, it's just that officials aren't letting the trains get super crowded so it's holding people up and the trains stop for longer than usual too (for obvious reasons). I might be able to get to work but getting back home would be the issue (host sister says I might have to walk from Nerima because she fears that the trains will stop operating after a certain hour). Yamanote is running just fine and all the subways are too from the looks of it. I think i'll just stay home though, just in case (I don't know the area well enough to walk home from a different station). 

Here's to hopping things start to look up~

Jamie

Black outs (*edited)

Are going to be happening throughout the Kanto region tomorrow, but I didn't see my area on the list that got sent out. Lets hope it stays that way.

here are the links to the lists:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/images/tokyo.pdf
http://www.timeout.jp/en/tokyo/feature/2530/japan-earthquake-live-report

The second one also gives a list for places of refuge in the Kanto area for people who get stranded tonight and in the days to come because a lot of the train lines are stopping at certain hours (JR line has reported no more service tonight). I think it's best to just stay home if you can (although it's going to be a pain with Monday work tomorrow).

Here's the list for Tokyo:
In Tokyo:
Unicef House has limited space available (Takanawa); Westin Hotel lobby (Ebisu); Answr & Public/Image.3D(Ikejiri/Mishuku area); Aoyama Oath, Shibuya; Dommune club (50 people max); Eiji Press (Ebisu) is offering toilet, telephone, internet; Yotsuya Sophia University; Hiroo University of the Sacred Heart; Roppongi Butagumi Shabu Ann (the owner is handing out curry and onigiri for free); Sasazuka Bowl; Seikei University (Kichijoji & Mitaka area); Waseda University (Building 8, Waseda Campus, Takadanobaba) Shinjuku Bunka Fukuso Gakuin (NOW FULL); Ueno Tokyo Bunka Kaikan; Takashimaya Times Square Shinjuku (NOW FULL); Tsukiji Honganji; Shinbashi Daiichi Hotel lobby; Ikebukuro Rikkyo University; Shinagawa Prince Hotel lobby; Shibuya & Omotesando Aoyama Gakuin University gymnasium


*Here's a good website to keep up to date on what's happening in Tokyo as well
http://metropolis.co.jp/ Thankx Jessi!


Good luck everyone
Jamie

Panic attacks won't get me anywhere

I'm sitting here in my room, TV off because I can't handle it anymore, contemplating plane tickets online. Should I book a plane ticket home for the end of my program, or tomorrow?

I can't tell if the news and government are down playing the seriousness of this or if they really have it under control. Friends and family have been sending me local news reports that all state different opinions, my own host mother doesn't know what to do, and my school/program coordinator hasn't gotten a hold of me (or any of the other students here).

It's so hard to judge because Fukushima is pretty far from Tokyo (about 160 miles or so which in retrospect isn't really that far away) and they've only evacuated people within a 12 miles radius of the plants (or at least as far as they've told us).We're still feeling after shocks (a couple hours ago a 7.0 hit a northern prefecture) and all the "officials" on TV looked just as scared as I'm starting to feel (though it's not so much that i'm scared but more unsure).

*Some related stories: http://www.katu.com/news/national/117868844.html <--what does partial meltdown even mean?!
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20110312/UPDATE/110312014 <-- even Oregon is worried!?!!?
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/12/explosion-at-japan-nuclear-plant-disaster-death-toll-rises/?icid=main|main|dl1|sec3_lnk1|205878

I don't want to expose myself to possible health issues (but I don't want to run away if it's really under control) and I don't want to leave my host family behind (will they all fit into my suitcase!?!)

I just don't know what to do but don't want to freak out unnecessarily. Anyone out there got any ideas? Should I wait it out? Should I run? Can I even get a plane ticket back home at this time??  My life has never been so complicated.  

I'm in shock (*edited)

After the earth quake happened yesterday (level 8.9!!) I had no idea how bad the situation was until I went downstairs (I had fallen back asleep for three more hours due to jet lag) and switched the TV on (in which every single channel is stuck on these devastating images from Sendai and the north of Japan).


Tokyo came out scratch free compared to Tohoku (the north eastern part of Japan where the epicenter was closest to). My friend said that he was in the grocery store when it happened and said  that all the glass of  the Pachinko (japanese slots game) building across the street shattered into the street. Nothing so drastic happened in my area (thank god) and since I was comfortably in bed when it happened, I didn't see anything fall or crack. Sendai and pretty much all the east coastal regions, Fukushima and Chiba are the main points of damage.

*Here's a map of the area and where the earthquake hit. As you can see, Tokyo is pretty far  from the epicenter. (map taken from Mikaela)

Fukushima's nuclear power plant had an explosion and now they're concerned about a meltdown (I can't tell though if they have it under control and that they're just preparing for the worse or if they really are concerned about a melt down happening). But my host mother just informed me that they're probably going to be turning off all power and water in the Tokyo area to help out the north east so she's filled the bath tub and brought out extra blankets in preparation of a cold night. I hope I'm not going to be witness to a Japanese Chernobyl.

Chiba's oil refineries caught on fire and now they're saying that if you go outside, bring an umbrella and rain coat and to cover all your skin in case it rains because the rain will bring over the shit from the refineries (*shit from the nuclear plant coming over is the concern) and it'll be trouble if it touches your skin.

It makes me want to cry seeing all the images from the Tsunami hit areas and thinking how lucky I am to be in the area I am and that it didn't hit closer to home. I heard that there are a lot of relief funds already going and I beg everyone to help with what they can. American's should remember how they felt when Katerina hit (because this is on par with Katerina) and how people in the south needed all the help they could get (and they still need it too). So please do what you can, this is truly a terrible instance that no one was prepared for (and how could we be? No one can predict mother nature). Death count is almost up in the thousands (last reported was 700+ and counting; every ten minutes or so the give the latest count) and hundreds are missing. Many people can't get a hold of their families due to phone lines being down and I have a couple friends who haven't heard from their parents since last night so have no idea if they're okay or not. All my friends seem to be safe and I hope it stays that way (and I hope their parents and loved ones are like-wise).

*Lady Gaga offers bracelets: http://www.ladygaga.com/news/default.aspx?nid=34654
and http://www.globalgiving.org/ is also a legit site that you can donate to. Red Cross ain't bad either (just make sure the place you do donate to is legit and not a scam). Thankx Mikaela!

We're still feeling little after shocks and there's fear of another big one hitting (please no!!).

Trains are up and running for the most part. I had to make a little run to Takadanobaba today to pick up something from a friend who's hopefully leaving tonight for the southern part of Japan (smart move), otherwise I wouldn't have gone out at all. I'm supposed to start back at work on Tuesday so hopefully nothing happened to the building (and hopefully nothing will still happen to it). So long as another quake doesn't hit and the power plant gets under control then Tokyo will be fine. Tohoku will take a long while to get back together and I hope for the best.

I'll be posting about my trip soon (it will be in pieces because I have a lot to write about). Likewise pictures will be going up.

My heart goes out to all the people who've lost everything (including loved ones) and hope that nothing else happens so we can start fixing everything.

PEACE OUTSIDE
Jamie  

Riding the waves~a welcome home

Not really (my area is only in the moderate Tsunami warning zone) but that was one doozy of an earthquake!
I didn't realize how serious it was until my host sister ran in and was like "R U OKAY? I thought we were going to have to evacuate!" to which I was like "Yeah...i'm fine...". See, I was taking a nap as I just returned to Japan today and was very tired from my journey and as the earthquake was happening I was like;
"...should I get outta bed?"

*shaking gets more intense*

"This seems like a pretty good one..."

*SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE*

"...I think I'll just lay this one out".

But once the natives (aka my host sister) start freaking out that's when you know you should probably start panicking (well not really, like I said my area is only in a *moderate* tsunami warning zone).

Still experiencing after shock but it's seemed to calmed down around here. *typing this as a pretty big after shock rocks my house* Well, maybe I should still be on guard.


Hoping all my friends in the high alert areas are okay!!
Jamie