Daily Archives: March 18, 2011

Yasaka with Hirata-san

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Chie and I had planned to have a quiet dinner at home, but Hirata-san called her and asked us to come to Yasaka. Not only because we are such a lovely company but also because his wife was out with some friends, and this because were they live they had a blackout this evening.

Yasaka had been quite empty the whole week, and the owner had got a lot of cancellations. But tonight it was full. And it looked like business as usual.



Probably the only exception from a normal dinner at Yasaka was that we were watching TV news on Chie’s cell phone.

Saving Energy

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By now you probably have heard about the cyclic power outage to prevent from overloading the electricity power system. But many I have spoken to have not had their power shut down even though they have been included in one of the groups.



One reason may be that people and companies are doing what they can to save energy. Like at the Shinagawa station where the escalators were closed down. People were referred to the elevator should they have difficulties taking the stairs.

A little better all the time (It can’t get no worse)

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It seems that since yesterday and during the whole day today the radiation at Fukushim #1 power plant has stabilized. The situation is not getting worse by the minute, which is an improvement in itself 😉

Lunch Time

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Just came back from lunch. I used the lunch in a very good way today. First stop was at the Mitsubishi UFJ bank where I transferred money from my account to an account at the Sony Bank as a donation for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Sony, as promised, have to donate the same amount so my money is now doubled 🙂

Besides that, I also had time to eat. Then I bought a cup of tea, and sat outside in the sunshine reading a book and drinking my tea. Life is quite good after all 😎

BTW, if you want to donate money for the victims of the earthquake an easy way to do so is via Google Resources or directly via Japanese Red Cross Society (English, Japanese). It is also possible to donate via your local Red Cross organization or via the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

(Ab)Normal

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Going to the office today I observed a two things, one abnormal and one normal. The abnormal thing was long lines of cars waiting to get to the gas stations. Both along Meguro-dori just around the corner from where we live, and one gas station just a few blocks from my office in Shinagawa.



The normal thing that I observed is that people are getting ready for Sakura just as usual around this time of the year. Along Meguro-river there is usually a lot of light. This morning I saw that they are putting these lights up this year as well. It was nice to see, though I wonder how we will cope with the cyclic power outage. Maybe just put them up without lightening them? Anyway, it was a nice feeling to see something normal for once 🙂

Come to think of it, there was another thing that was normal… I was riding my bike to the office 😉