Tsukuba Dust Bowl
Mt Tsukuba obscured by dust
The 1930`s in the US were not only a time of failed businesses, widespread unemployment and homelessness, but also of environmental diasaster. In fact, THE most iconic images of the years of The Great Depression are not of shuttered up shops or investors who had lost everything jumping out of sky-scraper windows, but black and white photo`s of the apocalyptic-looking dust storms which raged in the mid-western farm regions (especially the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas which came to known as The Dust Bowl). The clouds of whipped up soil which darkened the skies making people believe that the end of the world was at hand, were brought about by drought, wind AND the misuse of land.
Dust Clouds in Tsukuba march 2009
That is why I got THE CHILLS today in Tsukuba, when in an economic climate which more than anything else I have experienced in my life-time evokes images of The Great Depression (empty buildings, shuttered up shops, mass lay-offs etc), the sky was actually DARKENED BY CLOUDS OF DUST. I thought I had driven right into the cover of a Woody Guthrie album.
Dust Bowl
Yes, March is the windiest time of year in Tsukuba, and soil is often blown into the air. What has made things worse than anything I have ever seen in this area, though, are the huge tracts of deforested land which await being turned into housing developments (though these might have to wait a while as not many people are in a position to buy right now).
The Dust Bowl
Dont get me wrong. I am not comparing todays weather conditions in Tsukuba to those which created the Dust Bowl. And the economy here still seems to be much better than it is in other parts of Japan (in fact a drive through the shuttered up old shopping districts of our neighboring cities will show you that we Tsukubans are enjoying relative boon times!).
Still , todays unusual weather , coupled with the current economic climate , evoked historical associations which sent a shiver down my spine. I hope we can all pull through these rough times together. If not, many of us will be singing the words to that great Dust Bowl Ballad which goes- So long, its been good to know ya ......... got to be drifting along........
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