20.6.11

Shigeki

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Shigeki Kamata is a 31-year-old high school math teacher. Thin and immeasurably kind, Kamata is a passionate devotee of classical music and devout violin player.


Though he lives in Tokyo, Kamata is from the Sendai, a city on the northeastern coast of Japan’s largest, and centrally located island, Honshu. The city was devastated by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011.

When the earthquake struck, Kamata was in Tokyo, using his Twitter account. In his words, it was “the strongest quake I have ever had in my life.”

“Everything was swinging back and forth in very slow pace for about one minute. It was hard to stand still,” he continued. “It felt just like I was trying to stand on a deck of a ship in storm. And this is the story in Tokyo, which is about 200 miles away from the most damaged region.”

In the immediate aftermath of the quake and tsunami, Kamata’s first thought was simple. He had to get in touch with his mother, who lives in Sendai, and his sister, who lives with her husband and children in Shiroshi, jut outside of Sendai.

“The first contact was rather easy. I could talk to my mother by cell phone on the 10th try. So it was about 30 minutes after the quake.”

During that first conversation, Kamata and his mother spoke of the devastation on the ground in Sendai.

“According to my mother, the quake was OK. It did not destroy the house. The tsunami was not,” he said. “It was stronger than anyone had expected.”

Neighborhoods with one and half miles of his mother’s home were completely destroyed, the homes dismantled or swept out to sea by the tremendous power of the tsunami. One local resident, 60 year old Hiromitsu Shinkawa, was found on the roof his floating house nearly ten miles from the coast.

Back in Tokyo, Kamata spoke with his mother one more time in the aftermath of the quake, not long after their first conversation. Then, he endured two days with nary a word from either his mother or sister.

“The second call was right after the first one. The third one was two days later,” he said. “I heard the phone lines were jammed like a traffic jam. Everyone was trying to find out if their family or friends are OK. The phone lines were not capable enough to deal with this many calls at once.”

After two days of no contact, Kamata made a decision. He would drive from Tokyo to Sendai to find his mother and sister. He left Tokyo at 3:00pm on March 13 with a trunk full of food and water.

“I heard that all the lifelines -- electricity, water and gas -- was shut. That meant most of the stores would be closed. So I thought there would be shortage of food after a few days,” he explained.

Just before he left the Japanese capital, Kamata received a text message from his brother-in-law’s phone. The battery on his sister’s cell phone had died, and there was nowhere to charge it in the wake of the devastation.

“I received the text message from my sister that said they all moved to my sister's house in Shiroishi city, south from Sendai. So I drove there,” Kamata explained.

“About an hour after the quake, it became almost impossible to call anybody in Tohoku region. So until I got to Shiroishi all the communication between my sister and me was done by text messages.”

To reach his family, Kamata traveled on National Route 4, the longest ordinary highway in the country. The road spans a 462-mile swath of Honshu. The government reserved Tōhoku Expressway, a high-speed thoroughfare that runs parallel to National Route 4, to all traffic save emergency vehicles and the personal cars of members of the Japanese National Safety Forces.

At intervals throughout his northward journey, Kamata spotted sections of National Route 4 that had clearly been ravaged by the earthquake, scars in the road that spoke of the portentous event. Yet, in keeping with classic Japanese efficiently, the road had already been repaired.

Bypassing the center of Sendai, Shigeki drove straight to Shiroishi to find his family. He spent a handful of days at his sister’s house, reconnecting with his family and finally dealing with the disaster in his own terms.

“I still can not believe that is actually true,” he said. Yet along with his disbelief is a measure of anger. Kamata broke his perennially genteel manner when talk of the radiation fears from the nuclear plants in Fukushima arose.

Kamata is “pissed about the situation of the nuclear power plant."

"We cannot move to the ‘getting better’ phase because of that,” he said.

“The interviews done by the spokesmen of the government and TEPCO, the electric company in charge of the power plant, on TV did not provide us a list of options of what we should do such as whether we should evacuate further,” Kamata explained.

“They only talk about what is going on now, and do not tell us what are the possible outcome of the current situation and what is the worst case scenario. They’re being ridiculously optimistic…and near sighted.”

Though he believes that the Japanese government and TEPCO are not handling the situation well, Kamata has been able to find solace in an unlikely source.

“The internet has been very useful. Right after the quake, the timeline in my Twitter account moved very quickly and told me the magnitude, the center of the earthquake, possibility of tsunami, etc. I would have been very scared if I had not the Internet access.”

Will Japan be able to move on from this disaster?

“I think the current atmosphere in Japan is similar to the one after the World War Two,” he said.

Kamata expressed a belief that, once the Japanese government deals realistically with the problems in Fukushima and addresses the fears of its citizens, the country would move on and begin the process of healing. When the nuclear fears are settled, Kamata feels, there will hope for the future.

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18.6.11

Vincent


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Vincent Cassell holds two masters degrees, speaks three languages and works for a major international corporation. Like the movie star shares a name with, Cassell is French. He lives the expat life in Tokyo, where he works for his company’s Japanese headquarters by day and is lead singer and rhythm guitarist in an underground rock band by night.


Cassell is intelligent, precise, kind, funny and, like many of his countrymen, is not one to mince words.

When the earthquake hit on the afternoon of March 11, 2011, Cassell was at work in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, a center of the city’s nightlife filled with dance clubs, sleek hotels, cramped and ubiquitous apartment buildings, and two of the Japanese capital’s most recognizable land marks, the Tokyo Tower and Roppongi Hills, a 40+ story shopping mall and office building.

“During the quake, we felt it was much stronger than anything most of us had experienced in the past, so we ducked and hold under our desk while everything was shaking,” Cassell said.

Following the first large aftershock, company security gathered employees in the core corridor of the building.

“We held still there for about 2 hours, if not more, while the giant building was being checked out for any damage,” said Cassell.

“In the Japanese scale meter, it was said to be a ‘strong 5.’ To compare, the level felt in Sendai was 7. Not only was it very strong even in Tokyo, but it was also extremely long, the two main quakes lasting for minutes,” he explained.

Though Cassell maintained a cool head in the immediate aftermath of the quake, fears of radiation affected his perception of the situation.

“Quakes are punctual and there is not much that can be done about them. Radiation, on the other hand, is controlled by a company that has been lying through their teeth for years,” he said, in no uncertain terms. “It seems the Japanese community is not half as concerned as they should be, while the foreigners are borderline paranoid.”

Not long after media outlets reported the fear of a nuclear meltdown, Cassell and his Japanese fiancée left Japan for the Philippines.

“I actually had vacations planned already, and just decided to go Philippines one day earlier, after the French embassy highly recommend their nationals to go,” he explained.

However, the decision caused problems with Cassell’s work situation, which as an expat is already a minor Gordian knot of competing national identities and multinational corporate policy.

“My company, unfortunately, did not feel like the situation was dangerous, and didn't do anything to help their workers feel safe. Although we have robust systems allowing us to work remotely, no one was authorized, at least in my division, to work from abroad,” he told us.

Cassell’s response to this conundrum is frank.

“People have to take vacations, there is no other alternative. Personally, I feel it was inhuman to have people work under such circumstances.”

From the Philippines, Cassell was afforded the opportunity to assess the situation in Japan from a new vantage point, one informed by both the Japanese and foreign media. When asked whether he thought the Japanese government was lying to its citizens, he answered in measured cadence.

“In a nutshell, I wouldn't be surprised if it were the case - this is a pretty opaque government after all, and they probably want to avoid having 30 million people flee from Tokyo at the same time.”

Cassell’s perspective on the earthquake, tsunami, radiation troubles and the aftermath of all of these exigencies is divided: there is the micro version, the human toll, and there is the macro version, the assessment of Japanese society and the Japanese people at large.

When Cassell first saw the images of the devastation in Sendai and the surrounding area, he felt “deep sorrow for those who lost families and friends, and genuine concern for the survivors whose fate seems to be still undecided.”

Regarding the manner in which the Japanese people will respond to the disaster, the expat had as many questions as he did answers.

“Will they be willing to sacrifice themselves like their parents and grandparents did after WW2? Or will social inequalities rise exponentially? Or maybe it will be finally time for Japan to reconsider their social model altogether...”

On March 22, Cassell returned to Tokyo. Though he is decidedly pragmatic in his assessment of the situation, the Frenchman was able to find positives in the situation, in particular the fear of nuclear meltdown.

“One main question that will need to be answered by Japan is one regarding their energy plan,” he said. He explained his position with an anecdote.

“I was talking to a taxi driver yesterday, and he was saying the media thought there will be energy shortage for the next couple of years. I guess it could actually be a good time for Japan to reconsider their use of electricity, the most obvious being the air-conditioning in subways, malls and offices: extremely hot in winter, freezing cold in summer.”

What will Japan’s response to the disaster be?

“Japan has proven, after WW2, they were able to survive the unimaginable, so they probably can overcome this as well. One interesting point will be to see how the youth reacts to this - more and more young people grew a profound hatred to the social system that has seen their fathers lose all sense of private life to the benefits of their companies.”

And how will Cassell react?

“To be honest, this is probably to early to answer such a question. Am I traumatized? Certainly,” he asserted. “But did this change my love for this wonderful country and inhabitants? Certainly not.”


Author's Note: Vincent spoke on condition of anonymity. If you know who he is, please don't say anything.
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17.6.11

Midori

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Around 2:45pm on March 11, 2011, Tokyo native Midori Hayama was at work at a clothing store in the northeastern part of the city. This is when the earthquake struck.

Though the 9.0 quake directly impacted Sendai, the capital of the Miyagi prefecture, some two and half hours north of Tokyo by train, the effects were felt in the capital. Said Hayama of the quake, “First, I thought ‘Its just another small earthquake,’ but it got bigger and bigger, and I couldn't walk straight.”

“It was the biggest in a long time,” she explained. “All the lights on the ceiling were shaking so much. Water bottles we sell fell… some girls were screaming.”

In the immediate aftermath of the quake, Midori was faced with dealing with the store’s customers; such is the service-oriented nature of modern Tokyo.

“I had to take care of customers. I took them outside, to an open space, for their safety,” she said.

Not long after the earthquake a massive tsunami devastated northeastern Honshu, Japan’s largest island. Images of the devastation found their way to every media outlet available, from television and newspapers to cell phones and the Internet.

“It looks almost like watching a movie. I still can’t believe what’s happening there. Just horrible,” said Hayama.

The aftermath of the earthquake has presented a number of fears and a vast amount of confusion and fear. Tokyo has experienced many aftershocks, some as powerful as a 6.0 earthquake. And there is the fear of radiation from the nuclear power plants experiencing reactor trouble.

“A few weeks ago, we didn’t need to worry about the future of our country. Now, we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Hayama. She continued, “It’s scary…the radiation is something you can’t see. People are worried and trying to figure out how to deal with it. I think we have to be careful not to get in a panic.”

The wealth of largely contradictory information presented by the Japanese and foreign medias hasn’t helped clarify anything for Midori or countless other millions of Japanese people. As Hayama put it, there is simply “too much information.”

“Media tends to tell things more dramatically. Sometimes I almost think they are just trying to scare us,” she said. “Now, from the stores, water is gone. You can’t find water anywhere. Because the government and media announced the amount of radiation in water here is more than the OK level for babies under 1 year old.”

When asked whether she felt the Japanese government was, as the United States government insisted, lying about the radiation levels, Midori replied, “I don’t think the government is lying but they should tell us more details. And explain better.”

She continued, “I want to ask those experts talking on the American media to come here to help, instead of debating on TV.”

“If foreign media and Japanese media are saying something different, it makes people here confused and worried,” she concluded.

When asked whether she had considered leaving Japan in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami, Midori answered frankly.

“Yes, a little,” Hayama replied. “I heard many people from other countries left here but…they have somewhere else to go back. This is my home.”

Despite the confusion and fear that pervades in the aftermath of the disaster, Hayama stresses that, at least in Tokyo, the situation on the ground is not as bad as it may seem.

“Things are getting back to normal here,” she reported. “I’m trying to get over the shock from the earthquake, though we are still having aftershocks, and they bring back memories. I know a lot of people here who have had a trouble sleeping since the earthquake. Including me.”

But she points out that “Japan is a country who has recovered from a lot of disasters.”

“I believe that after this disaster, people will be more united and will help each other to get over.”

As it has for more than a millennium, life in Japan goes on. Though there will be trials and tribulations, and the path to recovery a difficult one, the extent of which is unknown at the present, the Japanese people have no choice but to continue living.

“Things are tough but a lot of people are trying to be positive and calm,” Hayama asserts. “I think a lot of people are worried, but still there are more hopes here.”


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Japan Interview Series


An article posted on the New York Times website today (6/17/11) attests to a well known fact: just because the media stops paying attention doesn't mean something isn't still happening.

The radiation fears brought on the meltdowns in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake and resultant tsunami in March 2011 have yet to abate in Japan. Here in the states, we don't hear much about it these days.

In the wake of the quake and tsunami, I interviewed three friends of mine who were living in Tokyo when it all went down. I created a short series of articles based on these interviews, though local media outlets in Omaha deigned such news unimportant and passed on the pieces.

Out of respect for the people who were kind enough to respond to all my questions and help me craft articles based on their experiences, I'd like to make these pieces public. I'll be posting one a day, starting today and concluding on Sunday, June 19th.

Thanks for reading.
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10.3.11

Publication of Statistics Creates Domino Effect

16/35/11 – Cyberspace

Political group Duh!Mocracy created a domino effect last week when it published a set of statistics highlighting racial, social and economic inequity in the United States.

The statistics were posted in chart form on the organization’s website alongside an article admonishing the extension of the Bush tax cuts. The words “astonished,” “indefensible,” “liberty,” “democracy,” “American people” and “demonstrable” appeared multiple times throughout the article.

In the hours after the publication of the statistics hundreds of thousands of social media users posted the chart on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Exclamatory comments such as “is this democracy?” and “the truth, kids…” often accompanied the chart, as did the occasional Dadaist quip, i.e. “Why does Stephen Hawking talk like a speak and spell?”

Nelson Scott, head researcher at Duh!Mocracy, was intrigued by the proliferation of the chart on Facebook, particularly the related commentary.

“I was honestly, like, really sort of amazed by how many peopled shared the chart, you know? Especially with all of these comments like ‘Oh my god! The government is evil!’ So I decided to do some follow-up research,” said Scott via telephone interview.

The researcher sent out a questionnaire to those who posted the chart along with said commentary. The responses to these questionnaires lead to another set of statistics showing that 88 percent of posters identified as white, 97 percent as upper middle class, 81 percent as over educated and 3 percent as dumb as a box of rocks.

Three days after the publication of the initial statistics, Duh!Mocracy posted these new statistics on its webpage. Again, a rash of social media users posted the chart and again Scott was surprised.

“Well this time it was like, ‘Who the hell is posting this?’ So I sent out another survey. Especially with all the accompanying, like, totally sardonic comments like 'Apparently Yale doesn't teach reality' and 'ha!', you know?”

The second survey showed that 65 percent of those posting the second chart identified as African American, Latin American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Samoan, Siberian Husky or Other and 97 percent as working class or lower.

Responses to the question “Why did you post this chart?” ranged from “Can’t stand me some ignant-ass crackas” (interestingly written by an individual self-identified as “White”) and “Welcome to the jungle.”

Taking all of this information into account, Scott decided to take a third approach to the presentation of information.

“It occurred to me that the information presented by the first set of statistics, which showed racial, social, gender-based and economic iniquity, was only shocking because it was taken out of historical context.”

To rectify the situation, Scott created a line graph charting the treatment and social progress of the socially, racially, ethnically, sexually and otherwise oppressed peoples. The graph is more or less a straight line, despite minor fluctuations.

“Well, I looked at all societies, all periods in history, all types of oppression and exclusion, and that’s basically what it looked like,” said Scott.

The new chart, entitled “Blacks, Women, Jews, Gays, the Poor and More: Fucked in the Ass Since of the Advent of Human Society,” is available for download from Duh!Mocracy.
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3.3.11

Vegan Pasta A La Chloe – Cooking with Dinosaur Jr.

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The dish's namesake looks on...

This is tasty, simple, relatively healthy and inexpensive pasta dish I recently started making with ingredients almost exclusively from Trader Joe’s. I’ve named it “Pasta a la Chloe” in honor of my dog, who sits patiently by while I make it then darts into the kitchen and starts eating it from the stove the second I leave the room. Well, that’s life.

Things You’ll Need (This fed two people and there were enough leftovers for lunch):

  • ½ and onion
  • 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 thing of soy chorizo
  • 1 bag of spinach
  • 1 box/bag of wheat rotini (or any other pasta that you prefer)
  • Salt
  • Olive oil
  • Thyme

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There's a red scare in my kitchen (A) Ingredients (B) Thyme (C) Chorizo (D) Wood spoon baby!

So this is an extremely easy dish to make. I’m gonna go through it step-by-step, ‘cause when I first became a vegan I really didn’t known how to cook at all, other than noodles, rice, things that going into microwaves and eggs (which proved totally useless, as you can imagine).

First throw some water on to boil. You’ll use that to make the noodles. I’m not going to go through the process of cooking noodles – you’re on your own for that one. You’ll want to start the noodles around the same time that you start heating the olive oil.

I cook with a cast iron pan, which consumes oil like a muscle car. Start with enough to coat the bottom of the pan and turn the boiler to medium/medium high heat. When the oil is hot enough to spit back at you when you drop water onto it, add the onions.

If you’re cooking on cast iron, be very carefully – food burns very quickly and oil disappears like a thief in the night. Add oil continually as needed and adjust the heat similarly.

Cook the onions for 3 to 5 minutes, or until brown. You can chop them however you’d like. I cut them into very small pieces as I don’t like the overwhelming taste of large pieces of onion. But really, it’s your call. While the onions are cooking, chop the garlic then crush it. To crush it, put the knife flat on top of the garlic and hit it with the heel of your hand.

Add the garlic once the onions brown. Cook the garlic and onions for 2 or 3 minutes before adding the broccoli and soy chorizo. Trader Joe’s soy chorizo cost about $3 and is very tasty, but also VERY messy. You don’t want to have nice clothes on when you cook with it and you’ll want to roll up your sleeves.

The soy chorizo is double packed, first in standard plastic wrap, secondly in a tube. I use about 33 percent of the tube when I make this dish, so I get three uses out of each tube. If you’re cooking for yourself, that’s almost ten meals! Not bad…

Squeeze the chorizo onto the pan. It’ll come out in one big chunk. Use your wooden spoon (I only roll wooden spoon) to mince it – it breaks down quickly and easily.

Cook the onions, garlic, broccoli and chorizo for 3 or 4 minutes on medium heat. Add some salt and stir regularly.

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(A) Chloe would like some... (B) $3.99-for-a-six pils (C) The finished product


Now we add the noodles. Just dump them all on in there once they’ve been given a chance to drain. Rotini is good to use because the little chunks of soy chorizo work their way into the spiral of the noodle. Penne serves this purpose as well, though doesn’t have quite the same effect.

Cook it all until the noodles have heated to the temperature of the rest of ingredients and are coated in the juice of the chorizo.

Finally, add the spinach and thyme. I use half a large bag of spinach and a pinch or two of thyme. The spinach will cook down quickly. Once its wilted and dark green, you’re good to go.

Turn off the burner and serve.


Enjoy!


Chloe and I listened to Dinosaur Jr. while cook this, so we give you one of our favorite songs of theirs (and on a serious note, onion is incredibly toxic to dogs. Chloe only got one tiny bite of this dish before I got her off the stove. If your dog has ingested large amounts of onion or other toxic foods like grapes, chocolate, or coffee, contact the ASPCA Poison Control.):


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27.2.11

Important Event Happens

2/31/11 – Important Foreign Locale

Today, an important even happened in an important place. Important people have gathered to comment on the gravity of this event, and stress its importance. Experts report that the event is the result of direct action of the plebeian class.

After weeks of rising tensions between the ruling class and a number of dispossessed and impoverished agricultural and industrial workers, the important even occurred. The event has been alternately described as “erupting,” “exploding,” “boiling over,” “detonating,” and, in two isolated instances, “vomiting” and “spewing.”

Myriad think tanks, nonprofits, NGOs, academics, purported experts and self-anointed social media demagogues are busy analyzing the importance of the event from every conceivable angle.

Important First Name Important Surname Professor of Important Discipline at Renowned University believes that this event may well trigger a domino effect of like events in similarly crucial locations.

According to Important Event Watch, an influential NGO, this occurrence may well affect gender and racial relations in microcosmic communities within the affected nation, assuming that anticipated political result C will arise from the collision of Party A and Important Event B.

Dylan Hughes, a Brooklyn resident and central Ohio native, wrote the following on his Facebook before lauding the sound quality of the latest in a long string of 180-gram vinyl Obscure Band re-releases: “The Revolution Will Be Televised! Rise up, people of Important Place.”

Corey Budowski, a sort-of friend to Hughes and renowned Facebook cynic, commented on the post thus: “Easy for you to say. More than half of the participants in the Important Event have been jailed and tortured and no on cares.”

Privileged American liberals and conservatives alike are believed to be preparing rhetorical quips and witticism re: the Important Event and storing them on note cards. Experts posit that these quips will be awkwardly inserted into conversation at Important Social Event or used in similarly rhetorical conversations amongst like-minded privileged Americans and token foreign people at expensive and vaguely ethnic restaurants.

Despite all major global media outlets running heroic photographs of the common people of Important Place holding court against the typical powers that suppress them, it is believed that the event will in no way positively impact the lives of the poor who orchestrated it, in the long term.

When asked about the importance of the event, an uncouth local participant with little education and suspect dental hygiene responded, “I will be back at my horrible job tomorrow, working a solid ten hours of back breaking labor.”

When asked what he did for a living, he spat in the sand and replied, “I make shit for assholes.”

Did he mean objects literally for assholes, like butt plugs or enemas?

“Shove it up your ass,” he spat. The man then inexplicably mentioned carrion and vultures before defecating in a nearby bush.
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