Mel aux Drama

It's weird that the Tohoku earthquake (and follow-up problems thereafter) has gotten me MORE on track. I've gotten in touch with people I haven't talked to in YEARS, and now...look! I'm even back on Dreamwidth posting my first entry since OCTOBER! ^^;

For anyone out there who's wondering: Japan is NOT about to break into little pieces and disintegrate into the Pacific. Nor is it likely to stop using nuclear energy--I'm pretty sure no country's government is quite that evolved just yet.

On the other hand...Japan *may* be about to fly into a panic about contaminated food, depending on whether you count the situation as "about to" or "already." Since the quake, Japanese people have flocked to the supermarkets to snatch up emergency supplies...which would be fine, except that this panic (taking place in parts of Japan that are really not in any danger) has caused shortages for those who actually NEED that supplies. *facepalm* The Japanese government is trying to get them to stop. I say, give it a week, and everyone will calm down.

In related news, PM Kan said that people should stop buying spinach and milk from Fukushima, due to rising radiation levels. Good to know. ...That is, it's good to know that both spinach and milk can be so immediately affected by radiation, 'cause I sure as hell had never thought about that before. Guess I'll have to pay more attention to where my groceries come from.




Kyoto, at approximately 600km from the epicenter of the earthquake, is pretty much in the clear unless the nuclear power plant melts down, kicks up another earthquake, and forces Fuji to erupt. People are already back to their daily routines, save the small addition of dropping a few thousand yen in the box of the corner collectors (who are like, on every corner) on the way to or from work...or both. One thing I gotta say for the Japanese: they really know how to take care of their own. I kinda feel like the only person in this country who's not worried about the survivors up there bouncing back from this thing. The Japanese are very, very good at being generous--most of all for domestic disasters. (The animals who've lost their homes in this are a different rant story entirely.)



And in case anyone's wondering, my coworker and I actually felt the earthquake from our office on the 7th floor...which is crazy. That's like being able to feel a San Francisco earthquake in LA. Crazy, crazy stuff.