Umm... Can I go home now?

I have to admit, I'm getting genuinely worried about the state of things here. I'm only getting the news in bits and pieces, but everything new I hear just makes me feel worse. This Friday, Akemi and I were supposed to go out to dinner together, but last night I got a text message from her that we couldn't go.

Me: Oh? Are you busy?
Akemi: No, it's the gas...
Me: Gas?
Akemi: ...oh, that's right, you can't listen to the news. The gas stations are running out of gas, and what gas they have, they won't sell.


I asked my teacher who lives in Midori City (30 minutes away), but she seems, for the moment, unconcerned about the gas shortage. There was apparently some report that gas was being brought over from Tokyo to fill the gap.


Today we had our first blackout. It didn't affect me at all because I had four classes in the morning, and worked right through the entire thing. Other than a little extra darkness in the classroom, things were normal. In the teacher's room, however, I heard that things pretty much came to a stand-still. One of my English teachers was kind enough to print me out a schedule of the intended blackout periods. I've already been doing my best to conserve energy; I sitting in the dark with nothing turned on except my computer.


I was pretty shocked when, after lunch, the Vice-Principal stood up to make an annoucement: he had just received word from the Board of Education that, due to fear of the radiation leak in Fukushima, all the students were being sent home. Radiation leak? What radiation leak? I looked at my teacher blankly when she told me. Last I heard, they were spouting poetic about how there was no radiation leak.


How quickly things change.

Explosions Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and now Tuesday... doesn't bode well for tomorrow. Officially they were only warning people 19 miles/30 kilometers from the plant; I live at least 200 km away. However, I also read that radiation in Saitama, only 50km away, is already up 40%. The mere fact that, by the end of the day, the BoE decided to cancel school for tomorrow so kids could be kept inside at home freaks me out. Of course, the teachers still have to go.


The thing that scared me the most was going to the grocery store. Apparently they made some comments on the news about stocking up on certain items. When I got there, the entire sections for rice, bread, instant noodles, milk, water, and toilet paper were just gone.


[If instant Star-Trek-like trasportation were possible] I'd really like to tap my heels and head home for a little while.


worried Baer

EDIT: I got a ton of worried emails and messages after posting this blog. I'm sorry for worrying all of you. Just to be clear, I have no immediate plans to come home unless things get a lot more dangerous. Leaving Japan has huge complications attached to it, so it is truly a last resort. As I mentioned above, we are still technically safe in Gunma. Nobody in my office even seems worried except me! So... yeah, I'm stressed out but... I'm still OK.