Tokyo Today: When it rains there’s a lot of reflections. Hence I took the above photo of my building’s reflection. There was a heavy rain during the night and the damp carried on into the day. The sky was gray with low hanging overcasts. The light rain and crisp winds made this March day chilly. Clouds skirted the top of my building. I went to back to my office. It was the first time were were allowed back since the earthquake. Only a few of our floors were open and most still worked from home. The building’s condition was unchanged.
It was built to sustain the earthquakes and it did exactly what the architects and engineers demanded. During the tremors it tilted and swayed in an unreal manner. I can still remember hearing the creaking sounds of the substructure under the stress. It was a loud low pitched moan that moved with the stress points as the building bent. It’s known as Tokyo Midtown Tower. The tallest building in Tokyo and sits on a large complex of gardens. There are a few sculpture gardens, Koi fish pond, traditional pavilions, a Japanese garden, cafes, restaurants, bars, and a large open mall with a vast overhanging glass canopy.
The main building stands at the center and is very modern in design with art integrated into the common areas. Usually tourist groups visit this site as well as people shopping at the high end designer stores. Today, the building was a ghost town. At midday there were only a few people. Most major lighting was turned off with only emergency lights left on. In the main lobby concourse the uniformed women greeting visitors sat behind their dim podiums under patches of light from table laps. It was a limited and voluntary black out.
The elevator banks ran less elevators and on the upper floors most of the lights were turned off. Anything non essential was deemed wasteful. It’s all part of a nationwide contribution to reduce the consumption of power in our area so that they can divert capacity to the North East. Like clockwork, Japanese come together and contribute. When I arrived at my company I went past the receptionists, they were surprised to see me. Both asked me why I was still in Japan as most of the foreigners in my company have left Japan.
My company in its sincerest concern offered to pay for the relocation of any of our Japan employees. More than 85% of the foreign staff accepted the offer and left. Few if any of the Japanese went any farther than the outlining areas of Tokyo to look after their parents. I told the receptionist that if I left during such a time of crisis would be ashamed of myself. This is not a time to walk away from my Japanese friends and extended family here. I would be going out of my mind if I was afar watching these events. I’m not leaving Japan until Japanese start leaving Japan.
They seemed moved by my actions, I sensed that I earned more acceptance. This same conversation occurred repetitively as met other people. As Japanese are usually reserved, today all of our conversations were unusually candid. We all of us shared the same frustrations, fear, and we reflected upon the previous week. Since it was a three day weekend, I believe people had more time to think about and accept what had happened. None of us could seem to decipher what the warnings and or levels of the nuclear situation was. We carried on, stayed here, went to work today on blind faith and blind trust. It was not an emotional day. It was good to starting taking the first steps towards a normal routine.
There is still a lot of uncertainty. We heard that they have connected power to the reactors and will try to bring the cooling systems online. As for radiation reports , we heard that there is contamination near the reactors. The weather is worse and tonight will be cold for those in shelters. A long tough night ahead. As for earthquakes, we felt several this evening. Most of them with epicenters north of Tokyo. It’s getting better because nothing is getting worse. I joined a volunteer group today, I’m going to try to find ways to assist. We shall see. There’s a long way to go. So on this note I’ll leave you with a great expression here that Japanese use in the midst of a challenge. ” がんばって!”(Ganbatte) It means be strong, keep going, have fortitude, do our best. ” がんばって!がんばって!日本!!!” (Ganbatte Ganbatte Nippon!!!)
Linh Vien Thai is Amerasian, born in Dalat, South Vietnam, where he continued to lived during the war. He left for the U.S. and is now an American living in Tokyo. He enjoys adventure traveling and doing what’s right to make the world a better place.
