(Continued from Journal 2011: Day 2, The Great East Japan Earthquake)

We decided at this point we needed to get to the nearest, and largest, station, which from here was Shinbashi.  A quick glance at the map near the exit of Hamarikyu Park sort of pointed the way.  So we headed out.

Along the way we found ourselves in front of a convenience store, and noticed the huge number of taxis amongst the gridlock.  And we noticed that we had a wifi signal we could use from our Wi2 300 subscription.

At this point, we weren’t really that concerned about getting “home.”  So I did a brief news check.  Hm.  Tsunamis.  Not good.  Not here.  Good.  Magnitude HOW BIG?!  Oh, *&%(%.  Yeah, this wasn’t going to be good.

Google maps on the iphone to the rescue.  We got ourselves oriented to the buildings around us, and started off towards the station.  We were headed in more or less the right direction, but the people were getting thicker on the streets.  Considerably.

Luckily for us, a pair of salarymen noticed us playing with our phones, getting our bearings and asked us where we were going.  They were also headed for Shinbashi, so we followed them.  They spoke fair English, and filled us in a little more with what they knew, which wasn’t much more than us.  We parted ways at the main outside of the station.

Nothing was running.  The trains were shut down.  Period.  The plaza full of people were gazing up at the giant screen, watching news of the fuel fire at Odaiba.  So I guess that’s where the smoke was from.   Then it started switching to the first video out of the Sendai area.  Wow.

The mood there in the plaza was almost tangible.  You could feel the uneasyness and uncertainty in the air.  If I had to relate it to anything, it would be this:  During the whole 9/11 affair, even in my small workplace there was a certain amount of disbelief and shock as we watched things unfold.  It felt kind of like that, only multiplied due to the number of people there.  They would stop, stare up at the screen for a few minutes, whip out their cell phones, make a short call, then rush off, presumably trying to figure out how they would get home.

The station PA was making announcements, and I could make out some of it.  It was all related to train lines not running.  We waited here until just after dark, and nothing changed.  The decision was made that we need to go find some dinner, so we did.

Wandering away from the station up the streets, the chaos became even more evident.  Lines of people probably a hundred yards long bordered the streets.  They were waiting at the taxi stops and bus stops along the way.  Even if we could get a bus or taxi, we’d have to endure that.  So we kept walking, and sat down in front of a shuttered shop to eat some of the snacks we’d acquired earlier.  Yeah, we got a few stares, but I really didn’t care now.  We weren’t finding anyplace to eat, and we finally decided we may as well keep going.

Finally we found an izakaya (魚八＆串八珍日比谷店) on up the way.  It wasn’t bad, and we stayed there for a while until they started ignoring us.  Which we took as our cue to go.  Not sure why, really, they weren’t that busy, and we weren’t there that long….  Didn’t matter.  At least we got some fish, pig and chicken parts in us.  It was fair, nothing to write home about (yet here I am) to be sure.  No English menu, but between my sketchy Japanese skills and our server’s sketchy english, we managed.

We headed back to Shinbashi station.  It was probably 7pm or so.  The crowd had thinned out considerably by this time.  Most everyone had given up on the trains and were either waiting on other transport or had started walking.  We briefly considered walking, but realized that it would take us hours even *if* we knew exactly how to get back.  Scrap that idea.  We would wait it out in the station.

So, we camped out near the Metro/Ginza line platform for a while.  Sitting on the steps leading down, we finally caught another signal for the Wi2, and were able to update everyone back home on our status, while we had the chance.  Our landlord Bruce had even sent us an e-mail to make sure we were fine.  (Thanks, Bruce!)

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting.  At least the station people were decent enough to let people back and forth through the ticket gates to use the bathrooms.  I think by now everyone recognized that we were all in the same boat.  Even though we did get several odd looks from people as they passed by the kids laying down on their coats, we definitely weren’t the only ones.

Then finally, some activity at the gates.  When the guy with the bullhorn shows up you know something is going to happen.  A few of the uniforms had several conversations, and then one of them waved his hand towards the trains.

There was no mad stampede.  Everyone was hurrying, yes, but there was no pushing, shoving, shouting, “I was before you” that I would expect to see if this had happened back home.  We got on the Ginza line car, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.  If we had made it this far, then we would be getting back tonight.

At least I wasn’t going to get back off of this train, I remember saying, at least not willingly.  It took probably another 30 minutes or so of waiting, but we finally started moving, and it even made a few stops before the line ended at Shibuya.

And the crossing at Shibuya….  What a difference 24 hours and a crisis like this makes.  Instead of blaring advertisements, the big screens there had the same fiery devastation as they had at Shinbashi.  There were almost no people outside at this point, and the ones that were out, were waiting on the lines of taxis and buses that were stacked up all the way back from the main bus station…..

We made it back home.  The gas was out, so no hot water tonight.  We didn’t care.  It was probably close to 10pm.  A stop at the grocery to get what food they had left (which wasn’t much, but not unusual) for the morning.  Everyone else crashed.  I stayed up and sent off a few more e-mails, tried to get more information on what just happened, and had an IM conversation with my sister in Indiana, while I finished off that $8 bottle of sake and what beer I had left.  I played the aftershock drinking game, before finally giving up about midnight.

And that, is how this foreigner survived the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011.  No real drama, no real story of great interest.  Just a lot of worry and waiting.

Next: The Day After

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