TsukuBlog

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!

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.

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.