Japan Exodus - Day 25: Small Surprises But Nothing Dangerous

Natural disasters. People for the last two days are very concerned, and rightfully so. Many of them have homes that the government said are now too dangerous to enter, and are consequentially displaced to live in gymnasiums and tented fields. There is a water shortage, some food. Simple things like going to school or taking a shower, now require a special sort of planning. And, to add panic to injury, there is a large storm on the day, predicting to bring rain and strong wind over this already fragile region.

At the same time, and as disheartening as this sounds, what I have seen is nothing compared to what is happening in Ecuador at the moment as well. With, at the time of this writing, a death count of over 500 already. Relatively, the conditions of people in Japan are doing well, as am I. I do not feel in danger at all. That is due to the preparedness of the Japanese government, their emergency resources and response, and an ability and practice to resolve the myriad of problems that come along with natural disasters. Ecuador...well, the times are much worse. So do not be impressed with what you see here, go read about how people live in South America when resources are, and organization is, skim.

Drops along every bridge and overpass where the earth has sunk in a few centimeters after the big shake. Cars, motorbikes, and everything on wheels come to crawl to pass over this once smooth surface.

You want to know what fear is? Go cross a shaky bridge over a large river after an earthquake. I don't care if you don't believe in a god, God, chakra, or karma - you are begging to someone or something to get you across that bridge safely.   

As if I had any doubts about the kindness of strangers. Food and water shortages all around, people are hording and rationing their supplies, and still people are kind enough to share. I tried to explain that I would be ok, that in a day or so I would be out of the worst of it and back to where trucks could make deliveries and where restaurants are not completely lopsided with destruction. Still, food got placed in my hands and well wishes on my shoulders. 

Even this small crossings come with new speed bumps, courtesy of Mother Nature. 

The old houses are some of the most beautiful in the World. They are also the quickest to fall in a natural disaster sense they were built long before building codes and regulations. This leaning house is the least damaged house that I happened to run across, from all the older style houses that I saw today. Which, leads me to another point: I am not a reporter. I saw many things that I did not take a picture of (in efforts to not somehow glorify the damage), and many things I will not write about (in part because I have no idea how these people should, if they even wanted to, be represented.) If you want, ask me about what happened here individually. 

From the way the bikes where laid out, one can not be sure if the bicycles fell over this way because of the quake, or the managers felt they would be safer laying down than standing up. Though, probably the former. This store is one of the "lucky" ones, the big glass window between me and the bikes is still intact. How many car dealerships did I pass today who will be cleaning up display glass shards for days. 

Water mains were sage neither, as water flooded the streets in some areas. 

And yet somehow still, a man finds peace. On a bench, facing a lake, shaded by two large trees, a breeze, and the chirping of birds. Maybe this picture stands out to me more than the rest because of the contrast it conveys against all the natural destruction seen today. 

Fire trucks and police cars run in packs across the busy streets like hungry wolves, weaving between and through obstacles to get where they need to be. The sounds of their engines and sirens became so accustomed that one hardly paid them any notice anymore. And if you can see in the far left distance, an ambulance travels down the road. You can understand why I point this out, yes? If you have fire trucks and ambulances shooting off in different directions, you know that the city of Kumamoto has its share of problems...literal fires to be put out. 

Two days have passed since the big quake hit here. Smaller aftershocks keep people sharp, but not unreasonable. As I was climbing a hill on to a hill that would take me over to a next town, I saw something strange in the distance. A full parking lot. Now, for this time, that is strange. 

Could it be? did this supermarket have food?! You can bet green money that it did. I made the necessary detour to get over and out. If there was groceries, there might also be water. 

When I got to the store, you could see a little panic in everyone. People were not sure what to get, what to live on for the next how many days, or where to start. Lucky for me the people of this town seemed to have gas, sense they bought raw fish and meet to cook with. The dry noodle section was completely gone, as was the dry rice. Didn't bother me, I don't have a stove. Unfortunately, water was all sold out. Figures. 

I managed some baby cherry tomatoes, cheese, some deli meat, and a soda. Not great, not bad. Lunch for the day as mediocre at best, and the best I have had in a while. 

I went on to cycle for most part of the day. That is the routine these days. Wake up and pack, cycle until I get hungry, drink some coffee and cycle some more, eat lunch, cycle until its time to stop and eat dinner before doing a little work and responding to messages if I can find Internet. Before I know it, the night has come and I can't keep my eyes open. Funny, I never feel like I am overdoing my work out on the bike, I never struggle. At the same time, cycling all day really can take it out of me. 

Therefore, when little surprises come, and they sometimes do, they turn into huge chunks of thankfulness. For instance, tonight when I pulled into my planned rest area, there was an area to buy some good, unprocessed, delicious, food. Colorful too, no? That's Japanese food for ya, cute. 

Did I come off overly cynical today? Something about all this natural disaster stuff puts me in an off center mood, I'll think about it some more and check back in tomorrow. There have been a few aftershocks since I've touched down for the night, we'll see how much sleep I get.

Love,
-A