Tuesday, 29 Jan

The Real Thing Begins!

Another day had started, and our story continued. So we should be advanced to Fukushima today, yes! But first thing first, we got our first lecture, and now, the real thing had begun! We made our way to the Tokyo Station Business Centre TKP, Tokyo to meet with Mr. Nogami Tatsuya of the Meiji University. I was very excited, as I would meet a real lecturer! This Mr. Nogami Tatsuya must be a great and educated man.

Lecture time! It was quite disappointing because I failed to get the front seats, the boys grabbed them first. I loved the front seats as I tend to not sleep and pay more attention, but never mind. I received the lecture’s PowerPoint outline, so it should be okay.

The lecture actually caught my attention. I mean, lots of it. There was loads of new information I obtained and that was not all, it succeeded to make my heart more eager to go to Fukushima. I wanted to see for myself, this Fukushima.

So, what did I learn? Firstly, about the March 13 earthquake and tsunami. The strength or the power of the earthquake is measured by magnitude internationally. But, magnitude only shows the earthquake’s power so Japanese eventually creates another unit, ‘shindou’ or seismic intensity that shows the level of shaking of the earthquake. The seismic is measured by observing the community’s response to the earthquake. The seismic intensity is quite an interesting way to show the earthquake’s scale, if you ask me. Instead of using a machine to measure the strength of the earthquake, they used people’s reaction. It is way much more easier to understand and keep people aware all the time. This is a must share information!

0,1 and 2 is the common earthquake in Japan. 6 lower, 6 upper
and 7 is the seismic intensity on the March 13th earthquake, the worst!

Yes, it may seem like Japan is very dangerous. But surprisingly, the main cause of death in Japan on the March 13 was NOT the earthquake, but mainly caused by the tsunami. That is unbelievable, right?

How did they do it?

This is how. Japan is the most advanced country in technology, so it is not quite a surprise. Since Japan is an earthquake prone country, it is logic for thir engineers to design new and strong building structures! They had designed building structures that are quake resistance so death caused by earthquake could be prevented.

The brilliant engineers came out with the ‘Taishin’(quake-proof) design to reduce the effect and damage caused by the earthquake. ‘Taishin’ structure is made to strengthen the structure so that the buildings can endure the earthquake vibration.

Most of the buildings in Japan already have ‘Taishin’ as their structures so that should lessen our worries. But now, the engineers are making improvements and eventually a new building structure was created, which is ‘Menshin’ (base isolation).’ Menshin’ is to put isolation system between the base and ground to result in damping vibrations, and in the “vibration control,” also called ‘seishin’ is a damper system used steels and rubbers are put in walls, pillars, and on rooftops. Now, the base is tougher than ever!

That is why most Japanese died because of tsunami in the 2011. I repeat, NOT because of earthquake. 92.4% died because of tsunami! A 15m high tsunami! Sure, nobody can escape that.

Taishin and Menshin

A Thank You note by the representative of the group (Syafiq)

The lecture ended. I was frustrated because I did not get any chance to ask questions because the time was so limited.

Next stop is the shinkansen (bullet train)! One thing that slapped me right in the face when I was waiting for the shinkansen was this.

Waiting for the shinkansen.

Can you see the man with the red uniform? It is not clear, but you can see him, right? I think he and his friends are the workers at the station. Every time when the shinkansen stopped at the station, they would wait outside the shinkansen, holding a plastic bag, and all of the passengers of the shinkansen will threw rubbish into the plastic bag.

That was fantastic, don’t you think? Wow, Japanese really are extremely hygienic people. Malaysian should really make them as a good example.

We went to the Ten-ei village by the Yabuki Kotsu bus. Well, I readied my eyes for the aftermath of the disaster. There were images of destruction floating on my mind about Tene-ei village. But when I arrived there, what did I see?

Plainly, a beautiful village with no, extremely NO signs of defects at all!

Beautiful village, with minimum defects.

Their recovery process was amazing! Japanese all over Japan must have given them plenty of support. Now, that’s what I call Kizuna(bond)!

At the Bunkano Mori Ten-ei, we had our brief orientations and a welcome reception from the Ten-ei villagers. They were so sweet, sacrificing their time for us. I must ensure that our presence here would gave them good memories and plenty of help. 

And I must say, their cultural performance which was their traditional drums really shook my heart. If I was not mistaken, they played three songs, which are Da Ichi, Syokkiri and Inazuma. The loud sound of their drums shook my heart crazily. I was very impressed, because the team was made up of young but talented children. And their strength were very powerful, until the music swoop straight into my heart. Not everyone could did that to me. Not to mention, they really looked cool, with their uniforms. I felt like I was in the anime world!

Cool and charismatic kids, aren't they?

Everyone was checking out the pension.

That was our pension. Lemon no ki(Lemon Tree). It was really beautiful and comfortable. Time to sleep!