The title is referring to cell-phones and nothing else 🙂 And the reason for it is that they wake you up when you least want it. Just before midnight yesterday someone with an “Unknown ID” called my phone. Then very early morning an earthquake alarm was sent to the cell-phone, and although the earthquake never affected Tokyo the damage was already done. I was wide awake and could not have a good sleep after that.
We are still having after-quakes along the north-east coast of Japan. Though the frequency and magnitude are in general going down. This afternoon there were two earthquakes at 6:25 pm and 6:30 pm. Both made the building I am sitting in swaying gently.
This was I don’t know what number of after quake, though CNN showed a summary of after-quakes yesterday and the number was up to almost 700. Luckily for us we do not feel all of them here in Tokyo.
Maybe you have heard about the increased levels of radioactive iodine in Tokyo tap water. Yes, the levels have increased but are still far below the threshold. In Sweden the threshold for radioactive iodine in liquids is 500 Bq/kg. In Tokyo tap water 2.9 Bq/kg was found, which is well below the Swedish threshold and even well below the Japanese threshold of 200 Bq/kg.
It was only one village with extremely high levels (more than 3 times the threshold) in the tap water where they have recommended people to not drink the water. This village, I forgot the name now, was basically within spitting distance from Fukushima #1 plant, or at least partly within the evacuation zone.
Chie and went to Il Lupone for dinner. It is about 5 minutes walk from the apartment, and it is one of our favorite Italian restaurants. We had a lot of nice food and a fun time 🙂
If we have dinner at home we return too quickly to the news on TV. And though the earthquake news have been mixed now with news from Libya it is still too much in the long run.
This morning I got an email and an automatic phone call from the Swedish Foreign Ministry telling me that the Swedish Radiation Safety Agency recommended all Swedes within a radius of 250 km from Fukushima #1 to take iodine pills. And if you could not get hold of it they were provided by the embassy.
So better safe than sorry, I got on my bike to Meguro station from where I took the Namboku line to Roppongi-Ichome. While I was riding the subway cell-phones suddenly started to beep in the cart. And the train stopped with the driver explaining that we stopped because of an earthquake. My first while in the subway, though I could feel nothing.
Arriving at Roppongi-Ichome I have to pass through a garden terrace before I could get to the embassy. A plum tree was in full bloom looking like a pink lollipop 🙂
In difference to the US Embassy almost next doors the Swedish Embassy has no guards and is always open. The only person there was a single guy sitting behind glass in the reception. I showed him my passport and I got 10 iodine pills.
Then I went home. Stopping only at Tokyu Store to buy water and strawberries, and then a final stop to get a haircut.