Current Situation in Japan (from my own point of view)

I was traveling in Japan from May 7th until 19th. During the trip, I visited Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Kumamoto. This is the first trip after the earthquake and the tsunami happened on March 11th. So, it is almost for 2 months since that happened.

I am writing this from my own point of view to share what is really happening in Japan at the moment after the massive disaster. The amount of information that I gathered must seem to be limited since I was working most of the daytime. But looking back, I was much more sensitive than usual to observe people, streets, and of course news and newspaper.

First of all, I arrived at Narita int'l airport. And what I noticed first was that it was very dark at the airport. From customs to the gate, it was almost the same. Their arriving terminal is always hot, so I did not feel anything different. But once I got out of the gate, I noticed that it was much darker than before. Some shops such as ticket counter for long-distance bus or kiosk were the same. But lights on ceiling were half off, that was causing the darkness.

I went down to JR desk to exchange my voucher with JR pass, which allows you to travel using any trains and buses except for Nozomi bullet trains. Once done, I asked them to book a Narita Express to Tokyo. But they immediately told me that I would have to wait until 5pm. It was 3:45pm at the time, and I knew that there was a Narita Express leaving at 4:05 or 4:15-ish. Since I wanted to go to Osaka by the end of the day, I was surprised and asked the staff if they changed the schedule.

They said Narita Express is not running at their normal schedule yet. They have much less trains during the day. I learned that it was the same to travel from the greater Tokyo area to Narita.

So, I took a normal express train to Tokyo. As it was getting dark after 5pm, I started realizing that there were much less illumination and lights on streets. You can see and recognize what towns they were, but it was apparently darker.

Once I arrived at Shinagawa station, again I noticed that it was so much darker than before. It seemed that the station finished their operation for the day. All I could see was lights from small book shop, kiosk, and sign board showing which train leaving and arriving at which platforms.

Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Kumamoto did not seem to have any energy saving activities at the time. But while I was there, the Japanese government "requested" one of the nuclear plants to stop their operation since there is still a big chance (85% or higher) for another earthquake in Shizuoka area. Then, after 2 days, they decided to shut that down until safety walls and infrastructure are implemented, which may take for about 2 years. So, there is a possibility that the Western Japan may be effected by that.

In Shinjuku (and other areas of Tokyo where I visited), street lights were off and there seem to be some foot lights instead. Or I am sure that I had not noticed those foot lights before. But since other lights are off, those small foot lights stand out. They do help people to see where they are going.

Some shops in Tokyo has turned their outside lights off to save electricity, instead they have a paper on their door saying they are open. And some shops or buildings has turn off their ACs or set higher temperature to save energy.

To be honest, it is a little uncomfortable to be warmer, and I cannot imagine how hot it would be in Summer time. But I saw on TV news or in person that people started adjusting to the new life style, though they are still concerned how it would be like. For example, there are some tools from Showa era, which is until 1989, that help people to be cooler without electricity. Fans, watering streets, blind made of bamboo, and so on. And some cool patches to insert a small bag and put it on your neck must be very nice. Some government offices implemented "Cool Bis", which is business casual attire. This is still not common in Japan yet. And some companies will implement "Summer time operation hours" at their offices and factories. They will work off time to spread usage of electricity.

People are doing their best to adjust to the difficult time as a whole nation. Of course, the Western Japan is much less effected by this, but more or less, people are aware of this difficulties and seem to be willing to corporate.
By having less electricity, I may hope that "heat-island" phenomenon may become much less than last several years, which will help people to get by the intolerable summer heat.

At my parents home, they were naturally switching off and on frequently to avoid any waste of the power. I felt a little strange in the first place, but I also got used to it very quickly. I thought that people had been too dependent on using electricity before the earthquake. And it may be a good opportunity to re-think what their life style should be like. And many news sites tells you what percentage of usage of power they are at at the time. So, it must be helpful to kept aware of it.

So, other than situation of electricity and saving of it, it seemed that they lives are back to normal. Many people told me that there still have been many after shocks quite often, but luckily I did not get any of them myself.

Radiation is the most difficult thing for me to evaluate. I know that Self Defense Force and specialist still have been working on settling down the situation. But instead, they found that melt-down had happened almost right after March 11th. It seems that TEPCO doesn't really know what to do. And it seems nobody knows what to do, since they have not understood what is really happening and what has happened by now.

It seems that people in Tokyo are extremely interested in this topic, of course. But at the same time, it seems that people don't know what to do, how to react to it, or try to ignore until they have solid information. Before I left for the trip, I was wondering if people might be cautious of what they eat or drink. But as far as I saw, nobody seemed to be that cautious, though I guess they are still deeply concerned about it.

It is because, I believe, the government has not been taking any strong leadership and initiative and control of information. At least, I myself did not see anything from the government to guide people about food and drink. They including TEPCO kept repeating that there would be NO IMMEDIATE EFFECT etc etc. Ok, then if it is not immediate, what is it like in 3 months and 3 years? People are scare of what would happen. They really need to stop hiding information or being indirect about this anymore. One thing I though was that, there were nuclear specialists came to Japan from US, France and maybe other countries. But I was wondering what they did. They stayed only for a few days or a week, and they left. What did they do in Fukushima???

Politicians also do need to stop attacking the prime minister and other people who are working on it. And now is the time to work together to make the best out of it. You are not working for your generation, you are working on the future generation. Stop thinking about yourself!! And do what you have to do, and do what you can do.
It was so painful to watch that things are not going well in terms of safety. People in Fukushima are still suffering by not being able to go home. Farmers have to let their cows go because they are radiated. Tea farmers (including my home town) will start suffering very soon, because they also detected radiation from tea trees. Some hotels that have long history had to shut down because of bad reputation of the area as being radiated. And children who moved to other part of Japan and go to schools there are often discriminated from coming from Fukushima area.
These are all unreasonable and upsetting!!

Politicians, I don't like to push everything to you. But there are things they need to take a lead on. Secondary or thirdly level damages have already started. They and we all do need to start taking actions.

I still don't know what I can do from the other side of the ocean. But at least I know that "indifference" is the worst.

パイレーツ・オブ・カリビアン/生命(いのち)の泉 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

ディズニーの大ヒット海賊映画の続編「パイレーツ4」です。

女海賊アンジェリカ（ペネロペ・クルス）と再会したジャック・スパロウ（ジョニー・デップ）。しかしジャックは、アンジェリカが不死の泉を見つけ出すために自分に近づいたのではないかと疑いを抱く。アンジェリカと史上最強の敵である黒ひげ（イアン・マクシェーン）と共にリベンジ号で船出したジャックだったが、そこには予想だにしない冒険が待っていた、というストーリー。

よかったのは、人魚が出てくるシーン。 生命の泉を取るためには、人魚の涙が必須。 そのため人魚の群れをおびき出し、捕らえようとします。 人魚のCGや、美しい人魚が一転して襲ってくるところなどはすごかったです！
それと冒頭にロンドンの町をジャックが馬車を飛び移りながら逃げるところも、前作からの「パイレーツ」の楽しさを彷彿させるものがあってよかったですね～！！

ただし！！
それ以外はかなりクソ映画です。
1、 アクションシーンが全っ然面白くない！！ アンジェリカと再開するシーンで剣を交えるシーンがあるのですが、天井の梁に上がって戦うところがありますが、これって1でオーランドブルームとすでにやったじゃないか！！ それにそれ以外の戦いのシーンでも1や2みたいに工夫されたあとはまったくなしです。 ただ剣を交えるだけだったらフツーの映画でやってます。

2、ストーリーもぜんぜん工夫がない！！ 今までの3作のようにナゾかけや駆け引きみたいなものがなく、全然面白くない！！ 特にジャックは、前作までは各キャラクターの欲しいものなどを利用して駆け引きし、自分の求めているものに近づいていく、というパターンでしたが、まったくそれがなく、ただ淡々と生命の泉に近づいていくというとてつもなくつまらないキャラクターになってる。

3、キャプテンバルボッサが詰まらん！！ 前作までは彼ほどうまく「海賊」っぽさを出してた役者もいなかったのに、今回はイギリスの雇われ船長（？）のようになってしまっていて、全然面白くない！！ 最後の最後で、黒ひげの船を奪いまた海賊の船長として航海に出ますが、ここでやっと「野郎ども！！」と檄を飛ばすのですが、「おっ！！ やっと海賊っぽいシーンだぞ！！」と思ったらそこでエンドクレジット。 なんだよ～･･･というカンジでした。 がっかりにもほどがあるって･･･。

4、劇中，イケメンの宣教師が出てきて，後半人魚を守ろうとして必死に戦うのですが，ストーリー的にまず見え見え。　かつ演技もヘタクソ，そして人魚は何故か人間のような感情を持ち宣教師と恋に落ちる，となんともお粗末で見え見えな展開！！

そもそもこの映画は「カリビアン」で、カリブの海賊のはずなのに、カリブ海まで行ったのか？というカンジです。 撮影はハワイでなされ、かなり突貫で作られた映画のようですが、まさにその通り！ 特にストーリーと脚本、監督はがっかりです。 はぁ･･･。 またやってくれたなディズニーっというのがぴったりかな、と。

前作3作が好きな人はみない方がいいでしょう。 今回は試写会でお金を払わなかったのが救いですね･･･。

グリーンホーネット Green Hornet

テレビドラマを映画としてリメイクした「グリーンホーネット」。

新聞社の若き社長ブリット・リイド（セス・ローゲン）は、夜になれば全身グリーンのスーツとマスクで身を包み、グリーン・ホーネットとして街中の犯罪者と戦うヒーローだった。ハイテク装置満載の愛車を駆って相棒のカトー（ジェイ・チョウ）と共にギャングの支配者、ベンジャミン・コドンフスキー（クリストフ・ヴァルツ）を追い詰めようと、自ら悪役になり彼に接近していく、というストーリー。

ブリットの役どころは、厳格な父親にコンプレックスを持ちながらも、カトーのチカラを狩りながらヒーローになろうとするというもの。 コンプレックスに対する反発からか、正確はちゃらんぽらん。 確かにセスローゲンでよかったと思うのは、役としてはウィルファレルの顔がちらつくほど、ウィルファレルのコメディの役どころに近いからです。 「青年社長」ということで彼を選ばなかったのだろうとは思いますが、ナイス決断でした。

カトーはカンフーの達人、メカを自分で全て作る天才、という面白い役どころ。 演技も多少感情を抑えつつ、でも時々ぱっと感情的になるところがよかったですね。 ジェイチョウ、何かで見たことがあるような気がしますが、なかなかグッドです。 グリーンホーネットの相棒だとみなされているところに反発するところなんか、なかなか面白かったです。

改造したクルマに乗って悪者をやっつけるのですが、このクルマの代わりが何台もあって、映画中でも一台オシャカになるのですが、あんまりありがたみがないですね･･･。 一台しかないから、大事に乗ってやっつけられないようにするんだと思いますが･･･。 やっつけられちゃったからまたもう一台買えばいいや、みたいなノリですよねー。

ただ残念ながらあんまり華がない映画です。 ぱっとしなかったのも納得です。 キャメロンディアスが出てたのもまったく知りませんでした。 頭のいい社長秘書の役だったのですが、なんか浮いてるな～という印象です。