Thank you for your concern

Yes! We had rather big earthquakes yesterday.
Actually we have tremors every day and get used to them
Please check this site. You'll be surprised how frequently we have tremors!
http://www.jma.go.jp/jp/quake/quake_local_index.html

So I was a kind of surprised at receiving mails to ask how I was.
But thank you very much for your thought!!

When I saw the news yesterday, it was M6.1 and the epicenter was off Chiba prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.
It was actually big but after 311, our nerves are a kind numbed.
Many programs about earthquakes are on TV everyday which remind us of always getting ready for big ones.

Under this current situation, I'm thinking of my career.
I may end the career as a tour guide.
It's not only because I have no tours but also I'm getting scared at escorting foreign tourists in this current situation.
The longest tour is about 2 weeks and we travel all over Japan.
I can't guarantee even my safety so I can't guarantee others.
I'm sorry but this is my honest feeling now.
There are other guides who are waiting for tourists' coming back.
But I think and feel I did enough.
I like to move on the next stage.
I'll update my situation in this blog or by mail.

Thank you very much for having been my guests!
Our friendship will be forever.


 

White Day

March 14th is the White Day in Japan.
Do you know the Day?

It is the Day when boys and men who received chocolate on the Valentine's Day return something sweet to girls and women.
I guess it's Japanese tradition created by confectionery companies.

For students, it is another very important day!
The Valentine's day is a Very Special Day for girls whose love is one sided.
Those girls decide to give chocolate to a favorite boy and tell her love for him.
Then his answer will be heard a month later on this White Day with something sweet like candies and cookies.
If he doesn't love her, nothing will be returned. Poor girls....
It's very unique tradition maybe only in Japan.
Japanese girls and women are patient enough to wait for a month to hear the answer.

Male office workers also return something to women if they got chocolate on the Valentine's Day.
Men are often ostentatious and try to return something more expensive than what they received.

Except for the Love and the Chick cookies, these are from my friends who traveled in Paris and LA.
So much cute sweets in my room!!!
Have a Sweet White Day!!!

A year has passed

A year will have passed since Eastern Japan Great Earthquake.
It was 2:46pm, March 11th.

It was raining past 2 days as if Japan was being purified.
It is a beautiful day today although sun can't be seen clearly yet.
I could wake up and am writing this article now.
Like this, the fact we can do daily things without thinking is actually very happy, which people often forget.
Whenever I can't find happiness and feel stuck, I come back to that day and think what I like to do if I know my world would end soon.

Many survivors still live in a small temporary house.
People who evacuated from the Fukushima nuclear power plant can't go back home and can't bring their things with them because they don't have enough spaces to keep them and also their possessions are contaminated.

And many family members live separately because they evacuated in separate shelters and they didn't think enough time to try to live together. Of course, the house is not big enough.

We can't solve the power plant problems yet.
Our government decided all the nuclear power plants should be stopped by this April.
But some people and organization disagree, saying what about our economical growth when all stop.

But I like to ask them what you will do if Japan disappears due to these power plants.
Peace should be placed before economical growth.

Right now, many experts are working on free and clean energy.
If we can use energy free, the authorities which have got profit can't get anymore.
But the period when only a few can devour profit is over,
The new period when we can coexist peacefully is coming.
We are pursuing and building such a world right now.
I believe Japan will change dramatically in the next decade.
The meaning of happiness is going to be changed soon and people really start enjoying their life truly.

It is a peaceful day today because all the Japanese have peace in our mind and send love and compassion to the survivors and the devastated areas.
Our country is filled with love and peace.

I heard the repeated local announcement while I was writing, which said
This is the first year since the disasters.
Please check and walk the evacuating route.
Talk about what we will do when disasters take place with family members.
Prepare and check the emargency items.

It was truly terrible and sad but we try to move on and make the most effective use of that experience.

Not only for Japanese but also Everybody all over the world, we never know what will happen next moment.
Please live each moment like this is the last moment.

Keep love and peace in our heart and thought and ACT!!!