My First Hanami

Noong nakaraang Linggo ika-sampu ng Abril 2011 ay nagtungo kami sa Shinjuku Gyoen Garden upang masilayan ang mga namumukadkad at naggagandahang cherry blossoms o sakura. Ang nasabing aktibidad ay tinatawag dito na Hanami. Hanami is one of the most popular events of Spring in Japan. Crowds of people - families, groups of friends, and groups from companies sit under the fully open cherry blossoms, usually on plastic tarps, and have a picnic celebration. The picnic fare consists of a wide variety of foods, snack foods, and sake (rice wine) or other drinks.Ito ang unang beses na nakapag-hanami ako. Sa kabila ng krisis na nangyayari ngayon sa bansang Hapon e hindi na namin pinalampas ang pagkakataong ito para mag-hanami. Mahirap na baka wala ng kasunod. Sa unang pagkakataon ay nakumpleto kami ngunit sa kasamaang palad ay ito na rin ang huli. Nagresign na kasi ang isa naming kasamahan sa trabaho at sa katapusan ng buwang ito ay pupunta na sha sa kung saang lupalop man sha dapat pumunta. Sikretwu itwu :P Nagkukuripot pa ang lolo at ni singkong duling ayaw gumasta para sa kanyang farewell party. Anyhoo...

Paborito ko ang panahon ng tagsibol dahil sa ito lamang ang panahon na lumalabas ang mga sakura. Yung larawan na nasa header ko ay isa mga kuha ko nung linggo. Ang ganda nila no? Feel na feel ko kapag humahangin kasi nagbabagsakan ang mga talulot ng mga sakura. Parang nasa isang Korean teleserye lang ^_^ Actually yung dati kong background pic ay larawan din ng mga sakura. pero that was last year. Anyway nais ko mang maglagay ng maraming pektyurs e binigyan na naman ako ng reminder na lagpas na ako sa limit at kung gusto ko daw ng mas malaking espasyo e magbayad daw ako. Kahit tamad ako e nakuha kong magresize ng pics makapaglagay lang ng kahit konti. Kung magkaibigan tayo sa pesbuk e tignan mo na lamang ang aking album na Hanami 2011. Happy viewing ^_^

Sendagaya Gate of Shinjuku Gyoen Garden

Gutom na kami

all-white sakura ^_^

my pinakamatinong pic (^_^)v

sakura petals on the ground

white magnolia - nakita ko lang sa gilid ng daan pauwi ^_^

Flash Report

*Ginulantang na naman kami ng isang malakas na paglindol nung 1st monthsary ng March 11 earthquake. Lunes. April 11. past 5pm. Akalain niyo bang nasa inidoro ako ng mga panahon na yun. Nung naramdaman kong hindi na guni-guni yung pag-uga na nararamdaman ko e biglang umurong ang dapat umurong, pinunasan ko kagad ang dapat punasan at dali-dali akong nagbihis ng aking pants sabay karipas ng takbo papunta sa aking upuan. isolated area kasi ang comfort rooms namin meaning kailangan mong magswipe ng card para makalabas sa area na yun. takot ko lang na biglang mag-shutdown/maglock ang mga pintuan at ma-trap ako sa toilet area. Ewan ko ba. pagkatapos ng ilang araw na pamamahinga ng mga lindol e umaariba na naman sila ngayon na para bang nakainom ng energy drink.

*Itinaas na sa Level 7 ang Nuclear Problem ng Fukushima Daiichi Plant sa rating ng International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). The highest in the scale. Same rate that was given to the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident in 1986. Nanlumo kami lahat nung narinig namin ang balitang ito. It seems like merong tinatago ang Japanese government/TEPCO sa mga tao. Hindi namin alam.Tokyo is located 200+km from Fukushima but we're still worrying about the radiation shit because it is airborne. Malapit na ang tag-ulan and once dumating na ang summer the wind will be blowing southwards. May isang bagay na lang akong hinihintay at pag nagkataon malapit nakong mag-Hello Pilipins. Promise.

In the Lord I take refuge.

pray.pray.pray. Oyasumi!

Save.Help.

The first time TEPCO announced the scheduled power outage, people started again to panic buy. This time flashlights, batteries, rechargeable lamps and the likes easily vanished in stores. Even candles were not spared. We were able to buy a small flashlight and a pack of candles from the 100yen shop. We tried to minimize the usage of the candles by alternately using our laptops as source of light. I even used my kindle. Scheduled brownouts usually last for 2-3 hrs. So it was not really that bad.

When TEPCO and the government asked everybody to save electricity everyone responded. These are my observations.

-       Lights from the vending machines are turned off (leaving only the lights of the selection buttons on).

-       Grocery stores also lessened the number of lights in use. Same with the convenient stores. Even the temperatures on the coolers/chillers/refrigerators were set higher than the usual. There is this one store (Maruetsu) which has an escalator still unoperational. Kawawa tuloy ang mga thundercats.

-       Lights on the displays of some shopping malls are turned off. Electronic billboards are not in full operation.

-       Government offices use less numbers of elevators as well as the number of lights switched on.

-       In our office 50% of the elevators are temporarily not being used. Lights on the hallways are switched off. Nakakatakot tuloy lumabas sa gabi. Ako na matatakutin.  I think they also turned off the warmer for the seat covers of the toilet. Lamig tuloy sa pwet hehe.

Siyempre pahuhuli ba naman kami ^_^


- There are nights when I sleep at Ate Joy and Kuya Roel's room so we just have to use 1 heater.
- We eat at the same time so that we can turn off the lights in the kitchen as soon as the chores are finished.
- Before we sleep we turn off our heaters or set the timer for an hour.

What I do not like about the system of the TEPCO is that when they see that the supply of electricity is enough they cancel the brownouts 2 hours before the scheduled time. This is a problem in our company. Just like what happened last Thursday and Wednesday. The company decided to transfer the Saturday and Sunday rest days to Thursday and Friday because of the scheduled brownout. Thursday and Friday came but no brownout happened. TEPCO decided to cancel them. Hassle. Sayang. I know they have been thinking a lot about the nuclear plant problem but I hope they can fix this issue.

      Bottled mineral waters are starting to be available in supermarkets but selling is restricted to 1 bottle per person. The ban on giving tap water to infants was already lifted. However we still refrain from drinking tap water. Palipasin muna namin ang 1 linggo. Nag-iingat lang kami. So aside from bottled water I'm taking sports drink and Calpis water. Yun na lang kasi ang available sa grocery the last time I went there.

    Thank you very much for the words of encouragement. For the positivity. For the prayers. With God on our side I believe this too shall pass. ^_^

oyasumi nasai!

magnitude, MW, microsieverts and becquerel

Little by little basic commodities like rice, bread and cup noodles are starting to appear in some grocery stores. Last Saturday the 10-kilo rice from Ate Joy's friend arrived and some of us picked-up the rice that we asked from a Japanese friend to buy for us. Alleluia! I guess food supply is starting to be normal again. Mejo nakakahinga na kami ng maluwag hanggang sa narinig namin sa NHK news at nabasa namin sa NHK World ang balitang....

High levels of iodine in Tokyo tap water

Radioactive iodine has been detected in Tokyo tap water in levels above the safe limit for infants.

The Tokyo Metropolitan government says 210 becquerels of iodine-131 were detected on Tuesday in one liter of water at one of its purification plants in northern Tokyo. Read more here...

na sinundan pa ng ganitong balita...

Tokyo shoppers rush for mineral water

Supermarkets in Tokyo are crowded with shoppers buying mineral water after a radioactive substance in unsafe levels for infants was detected in Tokyo tap water.

At a supermarket in eastern Tokyo, stocks of plastic 2-liter mineral water bottles sold out in 20 minutes, immediately after the Tokyo Metropolitan government's announcement on Wednesday about the detection of iodine in tap water. Read more here..

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! E sa gripo lang kami kumukuha ng tubig para inumin at pangluto (pero siyempre finiflter muna namin). anakngteteng. panic buying na naman ang mga jinayupaaaaaak! Kaya kong hindi kumain ng bigas for 1 week pero kapag tubig na ang involved e ibang usapan na ito. Call us paranoid but we're talking of radiation here. Ayoko naman na tatlo ang kamay ng batang iluluwal ko. According to the news rain might have put iodine in Tokyo water. Umulan lang naman nung Lunes at Martes at naulanan kami. Kumusta naman yun.

Up to now we're still experiencing aftershocks. Yesterday (Tuesday) we felt 5 earthquakes. 3 while we were in the office (between 9AM to 7PM JST) and 2 while we were already in the apartment (between 7PM to 11PM JST). Kausap ko pa si Basuraman kagabi sa skype when the 5th earthquake happened.This morning we felt a small quake before leaving the apartment. Kung kelan naman mejo napapanatag na kalooban namin dahil dumadalang na ang lindol e bigla na lang bumawi ng bonggang-bongga ang mga aftershocks.

Wala kaming pasok bukas at sa Biyernes kaya papasok kami ng Sabado at Linggo. Epekto ng mga scheduled brownouts. Ang haba ng working days namin next week. Hanggang kailan ang mga nasabing brownouts? hindi rin namin alam.

Nakaka-frustrate. Just when we thought everything's getting better it turns out to be getting worse. Hindi namin alam kung may mabibilan pa kaming bottled water bukas. Uulan pa mandin. God help us.