TsukuBlog

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) announced yesterday that it has created web pages on earthquake early warning system in English.

I think it’s very important for you to read “Earthquake Early Warning Starting 1 October 2007(pdf)“ if you haven’t heard about this new warning system. The new system may only give you only three seconds for example, but those three seconds may save your life!

From JMA website:

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is providing residents in Japan with Earthquake Early Warnings, new prompt earthquake alerts to be issued immediately after the occurrence of earthquakes, in order to secure time to protect yourself before strong tremors arrive.
Earthquake Early Warning will be provided through several means such as TV and radio from 1 October 2007.

- What is the Earthquake Early Warning (or “緊急地震速報 (Kinkyu Jishin Sokuho)” in Japanese)?

- Examples of Response to an Earthquake Early Warning

- Limitations of the Earthquake Early Warning

- About Earthquake Early Warning(pdf)

Or please visit their “Earthquake Early Warning” page.

Any diehard soccer fans reading this?　A company in Mito recently introduced a wedding plan in Kashima City called…

“Kashima Soccer Stadium - Stadium Wedding“

This wedding plan isn’t just about the bride and groom holding their wedding ceremony in a soccer stadium because the bride and groom will also receive the soccer star treatment during their wedding! The bride kicks the ball to start the ceremony and walks down “the aisle” that will be placed in the middle of the soccer ground. The new couple gets to hold a press conference (to talk to their guests) in the stadium’s press room after the ceremony!

For the images and the details, please visit this company’s website:
Concierge Mito
Related site:
Kashima Soccer Stadium website

These days electrical storms have been occurring so regularly around Tsukuba that you could almost set your watch by them. The lightning flashes begin just after dark and sometimes continue, with remarkable frequency, for hours. Though these nocturnal pyrotechnics can be beautiful to watch from your window, these storms are also quite SCARY (especially for children and dogs) and dangerous. A few years ago as the thunder roared and the lightning seemed to be singling out my neighborhood for special attention, my house filled with acrid smoke. Certain that a thunderbolt had struck and started a fire, I FRANTICALLY ran from room to room searching for the flames, with my dog barking hysterically at my heels. What I found, however, was that smoke was pouring out of my lightning-surge fried computer, which of course had to be trashed. I now run to unplug my computer and television at the first sign of a storm.

Most Tsukubans these days are quick to attribute the nightly KAMINARI (thunder and lightning) to global warming. In past ages, however, the Japanese would have asserted just as quickly, and with even more confidence, that the thunderclaps and lightning bolts were the work of RAIJIN (the god of thunder and lightning) and his companion RAIJU. You have probably seen some of the famous art works depicting Raijin, an ogre in a tiger-skin loin cloth, holding the sticks to beat his drums, which create the thunderous roar. Raiju on the other hand is usually imagined as a small mammalian hybrid, part tanuki, part cat, part mole. According to folk beliefs, these usually sedate creatures, prefer to sleep within the safe confines of the human bellybutton! When Raijin wants to summon his companion for a storm, he shoots arrows to arouse the little fella and get him out of his warm and snuggly resting place.

That is why, to this day, when a storm starts up anywhere in Japan, you might hear parents warning their small kids: “Cover your bellybuttons! He’s gonna get your bellybutton! O-heso kakushitoki na! Torarechau kara ne!” I’ve certainly been hearing this curious expression a lot these days! I’ve even heard that older people turn over on their stomachs if there is a storm while they are in bed at night, just to be on the safe side.

When I asked parents about this expression, besides telling me about Raijin and Raiju, they also explained the practical sides of this belief. One, that after lightning the air cools down (is this true?), so it is better to cover up, and two, that it’s better to stay low during a storm, and crouching down to conceal your belly is a good precaution to take. The efficacy of this second point was actually confirmed when I checked the established LIGHTNING SAFETY TIPS(www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_plslst.html ).

It is also very interesting to look at the Japanese words for thunder and lightning. They reveal a great deal about how these phenomena were traditionally viewed. The word for thunder is kaminari, which literally means Kami (god(s)) nari (resounding). Simple enough. More interesting is the Kanji character for that word (雷). Rain over a rice field. This surely implies the belief in the importance of thunder in its connection to the coming of rain and watering of the fields.

The word for lightning itself is even more interesting. Inazuma (稲妻) literally means ”rice plant’s wife”! The ancient East-Asian rice cultivators must have believed that lightning was a necessary element in the bringing about of rice. As if the gods, like Dr Frankenstein, used electric bolts to instill life into the inanimate!

There are numerous shrines throughout Japan dedicated to Raijin. I have written about one shrine in Tsukuba, the Inaoka Kaminari Jinja, which had been used for generations as a place to make supplications for rain.

Some people might remember how YEARS AGO in Tsukuba, a group of teachers (was it 3 or 5?) had called in sick at school and went off to play golf (in the days when that was a real luxury). When the rain started they took refuge under a tree. When lightning struck they were all killed. That’s why I always get an uneasy feeling when I’m outdoors during this season’s storms. It is then that ISSA`s haiku comes to mind-

稲妻を浴せかけるや死ぎらい
INAZUMA　O　ABISEKAKERU　YO　SHINIGIRAI

Lightning flashing all around
I don’t wanna die!

If you’ve got a surge protector, it can also be fun to watch the lightning monitor at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) website.

Though the vernal and autumnal equinoxes have been designated national holidays in Japan (it is around these days that it is customary to visit and clean the family graves), the winter and especially the summer solstices usually go by without any notice. Those with this year’s Japanese calender might notice the characters 夏至 (geshi, summer solstice) on the square marking June 21st, and that is about it. This contrasts sharply with the countries of Europe (especially the northern ones), which host a variety of festivals and ceremonies marking the day with the longest daylight hours of the year. This situation seems curious indeed for a country and a nation which pays such close attention to the flow of the seasons and the progression of natural phenomena.

One reason for this might be that the GESHI falls smack in the middle of the rainy season (梅雨, tsuyu), and is marred almost every year by gloomy, overcast weather. In fact, though there is almost a five hour difference in the length of daytime between the GESHI and the 冬至 (touji, winter solstice) in the Tsukuba area, the sun SHINES unobscured for many more hours on average on the shortest day of the year!

There is now a way to make your summer solstice MEANINGFUL, and certainly more fun than it has ever been for you in Japan before. For several years a movement has been growing which promotes turning the summer solstice into CANDLE NIGHT. As a way to promote energy conservation and environmental awareness, people around the world are asked to refrain from using electricity between 8 and 10pm. There are many ways life can be enjoyed without the help of the Tokyo Electric Power Company. You should try it!

For more information and plenty of ideas check out :
www.candle-night.org/english/

Of course you should conserve energy EVERY DAY ! This festive way of living without electricity for a few hours is a good place to start, especially for giving awareness to kids.

Have a happy 夏至. Enjoy the daylight! IT ONLY GETS SHORTER FROM TOMORROW!

Did you know that there has been a series of crimes in Tsukuba that made national headlines lately? A 32-year-old man was arrested last week for aggravated assault. This man went to a 20-year-old Tsukuba woman’s residence at night, and begged her to make him her slave. He then tried to grab her through a gap in the chained door when she refused. This man said that he had fallen in love with a 20-year-old woman at first sight about a month prior to this bizarre case.

…OK, guys. Hang in there. Japan’s infamous muggy weather is too much to handle, even for a Japanese guy obviously, but it’s going to get worse. If you are new to Ibaraki or Japan, you might want to note that the season after the rainy season is actually the 暴走族 (bou sou zoku) or motorcycle gang season. Several days ago, some people, possibly high school kids were setting off bottle rockets… at two in the morning! These kinds of troublemakers come out when the weather gets nicer, and they’ve definitely become the unwelcome seasonal tradition of Japan.

On a more serious note, there was also a murder in Tsukuba last week. The owner of a pachinko parlor in Takamihara, which is the area adjacent to Ushiku City, was murdered last Tuesday night. The killer is still on the loose.

What may affect many of TsukuBlog readers is a series of motorcycle thefts in the area. As Shaney wrote in her post “Increase in Bike and Motorcycle Theft in Tsukuba,” bike and motorcycle thefts are on the rise at an alarming rate. Three Namiki residents found their beloved motorcycles stolen last Tuesday morning. Four other motorcycles were stolen in Tsukuba between June 15 and 16. All were large-size motorcycles such as Harley-Davidsons (very popular targets!), and all were safeguarded against theft. The police suspect that a professional motorcycle theft ring(s) is behind these cases. This website, “バイク盗難 情報局 (motorcycle theft information),” is also cautioning all motorcycle owners in Japan about the recent motorcycle theft cases. The website is specifically warning those motorcycle owners who live along/near the following Routes: Route 17, Route 16, Route 14, Route 246, Route 408, Route 125, Route 4, and Route 354. As you know, Routes 408, 125 and 354 go through Tsukuba.

Some of you may already have signed up for this, but the Ibaraki Prefectural Police launched a service last month that informs Ibaraki residents of crimes and crime prevention information by e-mail. The service is called ひばりくん防犯メール(Hibari-kun bouhan mail), or Skylark Crime Prevention Mail. Skylark is the prefectural bird of Ibaraki, by the way. My son’s school handed out letters about this new service a couple of weeks ago, but I was too lazy to sign up. However, the recent motorcycle thefts in Tsukuba got me to sign up for this service because just the thought of a professional theft ring roaming around in my neighborhood made me sick and made me very worried about neighborhood safety.

The registration process is VERY simple. Just send a blank e-mail to add[AT]mail1.police.pref.ibaraki.jp and click on the URL in the message sent back to you. It won’t ask you to enter your residential address. All you need to do is to click and choose the city, then choose which information you’d like to receive. I picked Tsukuba, and selected both “crime prevention information” and “traffic accident information” to be sent to my e-mail account. The only message I’ve received so far since I signed up for this service last week was about a suspicious man in his 50s in Mito who’s been approaching kids. Subscribers will receive traffic accident information, break-in/purse snatcher/bicycle theft reports and announcements from the Ibaraki Prefectural Police. Watch your bikes and motorcycles… and kids!

Tepco, the company that provides electricity to the Kanto region, sent out a flyer on Friday asking people to conserve electricity due to the shutdown of the seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant as a result of the recent earthquake in Niigata. In particular, they have asked that we try to conserve electricity at both home and work during the peak hours of 1pm to 4pm.

Here are some suggestions that they give to help reduce the amount of electricity we use.

• Raise the setting on your air conditioner.
• Use curtains or blinds to reduce the amount of sun that enters your room.
• Turn off appliances that you are not using.
• Turn off lights that you are not using.
• Close the refrigerator door quickly after opening it.
• Don’t overstock your refrigerator.
• If you are not watching your television, turn it off at the main switch (not just the remote control switch).
• Reduce the operating hours of elevators and escalators.

Moving back to the US? I found this in The Japan Times: some information on movers.

Allied Pickfords — phone (04) 5651-2747, fax (04) 5664-7134 or check out www.alliedpickfords.co.jp

Economove — call (toll-free) (0120) 981-862. Web site at www.economovejapan.com/index.htm

Econoship — phone (toll-free) (0120) 222-111, mail info@econoship.net or check online at www.econoship.net

Japan Express — call (toll-free) (0120) 228-322. Online at www.japanexpress.co.jp/hikkoshi/eng.htm

Japan Luggage Express Ltd — phone (toll-free) (0120) 48-0081 or check www.jluggage.com

Nippon Express — call (toll-free) (0120) 150-422 or find them online at www.nittsu.co.jp/english/e_index.htm

Premier Worldwide Movers — phone (03) 6402-2371. Web site at www.premierworldwide.com

Quoz — call (03) 5932-7777. Web site at www.quoz.biz

Shipmates — call toll-free on (0120) 225-188 or check www.yourshipmates.com

Shipping will generally take a week to 11 days, depending on the destination, and cost varies quite a bit depending on various factors such as where you are shipping to, what you are sending and so on.

Tsukuba City Hall has published a 144-page document with various statistics related to the city. The document is only available in Japanese, but it is a treasure trove of information about the city.

For example, there is a diagram on page 15 (of the pdf file, page 5 of the paper document) that outlines the history of merges that created the city. I knew that Tsukuba was created out of Toyosato Town, Oho Town, Sakura Village, Yatabe Town, Tsukuba Town, and Kukizaki Town, but I did not know that Toyosato was originally Kamigo Town, which itself was originally Kamigo Village.

Page 25 (page 15 of the paper document) lists statistics on the weather from 1998 to 2007, including annual average temperatures, annual high and low temperatures, annual average humidity, annual average wind speed, annual precipitation, and hours of sunlight. It also lists the monthly amounts of the above variables for 2007.

Page 26 (16), says that the area of Tsukuba is 284 km2 with a population of 206,661 (as of October 1, 2007). The population density is 727.5 people per square kilometer. The average household had 2.5 people. There were 5.7 births per day and 3.5 deaths per day. 37.2 people moved into the city per day, and 30.3 people moved out of the city per day. 3.6 couples got married per day and 1.0 couples got divorced per day. As of October 1, 2007, there were 7154 foreigners living in the city, representing 127 countries.

Page 27 (17):
4388 books borrowed from the library per day
1452 people used community centers per day
1.5 cars per household
19 ambulances sent out per day
0.3 fires per day
4.1 traffic accidents per day
207.5 tonnes of garbage produced per day
177,910 yen of municipal tax paid per person
108.3 city hall staff members per person in Tsukuba (1878 staff members in total)

Page 28 (18) has a chart that puts Tsukuba in perspective in Ibaraki.
4th in Ibaraki for size, but 1st for residential land
2nd in Ibaraki for population
14th for population density
7th for youth population
2nd for working-age population
43rd for senior age population
6th for births
51st for deaths
4th for incomes (3.7 million per person)
21st for number of hospitals per person
3rd for number of medical clinics per person
1st for number of doctors per person
10th for number of nurses per person
4th for number of traffic accidents per person
4th for number of traffic fatalities per person

Page 31 (19): Population
More men than women
Drop in population every March, influx every April
More people in the city in the daytime than the night
Page 48 (36) has a breakdown of the foreign population

Page 51 (38): Industry

Page 72 (57): Land

Page 79 (60): Residential

Page 85 (63): Parks

Page 89 (65): Water and Sewage

Page 93 (67): Security
1489 traffic accidents in 2007, 15 fatalities, 1955 injuries, 6505 instances of damage to property

Page 99 (71): Environment and Sanitation

Page 105 (74): Consumption

Page 108 (76): Welfare and Social Services

Page 116 (81): Education

Page 122 (85): Elections

Page 126 (86): Finance

Page 134 (91): City Hall Employees

It all started with noble enough intentions. Installing electricity-generating windmills at
elementary and junior-high schools throughout Tsukuba City in order to make them energy independent. Excess energy would be sold to power companies. Greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced. This would stimulate the local economy as well as instill in Tsukuba’s school children environmentally friendly values. It all fit in perfectly well with the progressive image that the Science City has been trying to create for itself.

The city government then forked out millions of dollars to a Waseda University subsidiary company to construct and install the generators. Excitement ran high at Tsukuba’s schools as students planned to gather daily data on power production and the benefits of GREEN ENERGY.

The windmills, which when erected looked like giant eggbeaters stood upright, proved to have one, FATAL flaw. They DIDN’T MOVE! Well sometimes they did when fierce winds picked up in March. But most of the time, it was as if they just not made to rotate. As you can imagine, everybody was disappointed. Especially the kids! Science project plans had to be scrapped. When guests came to visit, the schools, in order to cover up the embarrassing truth, used electricity (LOTS OF IT!) to artificially turn the blades!

As might be expected a political scandal ensued, with various citizens groups accusing (rightfully so!) the city government of WASTING TAXPAYERS’ MONEY. The city responded by suing Waseda University (rightfully so) for selling them useless windmills. The story was reported in the national and international press. This not only brought shame on the government of Tsukuba Science City, but also presented possible ammunition for all the enemies of alternative energy use and GREEN undertakings in general.

The strange thing is that, though completely useless as generators, the windmills were seen by some (including myself) as objets d’art, possessing enough aesthetic and symbolic value to merit letting them stay standing. Their unmoving presence was certainly an everpresent reminder to school children to THINK CAREFULLY before doing any expensive shopping!

Unfortunately, these Waseda designed disasters have proven themselves so poorly designed that they cannot even be left standing as monuments to a failed idea. On April 1, 2008, the blades on one of the windmills at Yatabe Minami Elementary School came to life in a strong wind. Just after noon the blades, which had until then hardly moved at all, broke away from the base and came crashing down! Luckily, there were no injuries (it was spring vacation).

Because of this incident, the city decided that it was necessary to dispose of all the windmill blades. More money to be spent!

For the politicians, making these embarrassing symbols of government incompetence (and possible graft) disappear will come as a great relief.

For those of us who believe that the windmills should stand as a strangely beautiful reminder of this long and absurd episode in Tsukuba history, there is nothing but a feeling of loss.

Recently, the court decided that Waseda had to pay back 70% of the money it received. However, even though Tsukuba City has won in court, there is still no closure. Waseda has vowed to fight on and has appealed the ruling (I cant imagine how they have the nerve to do that since not only did the windmills not work, but they broke, endangering school children!)

When this case finally ends, I hope the lawyers turn their sights to the company that sells the nets to Tsuchiura’s lotus root growers. In that case, not only are the taxpayers being bilked out of millions, but the nets are slowly killing thousands of wild birds as well, while the fields go unprotected.

————-
118
————-

Yep, that’s THE number to call, not 119 (medical emergency/fire) or 110 (police). As with 119 and 110, dialing this number won’t cost you anything.

Dial 118 if you
- are in or witness a maritime emergency
- discover an oil spill
- witness a suspicious vessel
- hear about the smuggling

From the Japan Coast Guard /Marine Ranger’s page, three very important tips to save your life.
1. Wear a life jacket at all times
2. Ensure a way to call for help: buying a waterproof cell phone or a waterproof bag/case for your cell phone is highly recommended
3. Call 118
If you have kids, you might want to watch this movie from 政府広報オンライン (“government publicity online”) with your kids.

Other helpful/related sites:
Japan Coast Guard website (English)
- also available in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Russian
Ibaraki Coast Guard Office (Japanese)
3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters (Japanese)
- The list of all other regional coast guard HQs