Day 502:
It was a beautiful day in Tokyo today. Things actually started to feel normal. With my girlfriend arriving safely in France and her mum departing to Kyoto, all my loved ones were in a better place.
This tsukemen is for you.
After work I stopped by Ramen Nakamura since The Bush was closed.
I had to sit outside because they were packed.
Their Seabura Tonkotsu Miso Negi Ramen is considerably heavy, but worth the feeling of fullness.
I love basa. But with everything you love, you have to learn to let go. For better or for worse.
To address a comment in my last post. It's not solely about the radiation that's making me consider leaving. Obviously you don't live in Tokyo. Nevermind. I don't want to waste my energy to explain my situation and our situation. *yawn.
in fact i did. i lived in tokyo for over a year, actually been to basa couple of times, but after work i'm low key, so no "woah! hey! love your blog!!! picture time!!" from me, even though your blog is real nice.
ReplyDeletebottom line is that we all need to focus on tohoku or STFU. the guys i tohoku have it real real bad right now. some people in tokyo are crying over a decrease in cup noodle supply or that your electricity gets turned off for 3 hrs a day in the outer areas.
wow. tell that to the people that live in f-cking shelter! they would LOVE to have this kind of problems. they have nothing. husband dead. house gone. job gone. no money. to cry about a minimal increase in background radiation, at absolutely peak times at 1/20 the amount of a CT scan is a real luxury problem compared to tohoku.
ps: if it's not for the radiation why would you want to leave then? what has changed in kanto? nothing has, if anything things will change for the better and this will bring people closer together. heard lots of stories about people giving each other rides when the trains didnt run, apple allowing employees + family to sleep in their shops. shows that japanese people stand together in times of crisis and if people remember that in the future this can only be a good thing.
ReplyDeletetohoku will be rebuild. this will generate a myriad of jobs and might just kickstart the japanese economy again.
also, keizo, it seems that you somehow felt offended by an earlier post of mine. that was NEVER my intention. So sorry for that. all i'm saying is: situation is horrible in the north, but tokyo is fine and from now on things will only get better.
and in order for this to happen people need to work together. this is done now. so everybody needs to help: firefighters need to fight fires, politicians need to make policy, gas station attendant needs to fill gas etc. and right now your place is society is to run a restaurant, so that people can enjoy tasty food. that is important and cannot be abandoned, just as the train-conductors cannot just leave. rebuilding japan will only work if people work together. and especially after lots of expats fled the city you as a foreigner become more important. i think people thinking 'ok, haafu guy is still making awesome soba! didn't run' is exactly the right kind of signal now.
so again: no offense. i'm a fan.
You gotta do what you gotta do. Take care.
ReplyDeleteDitto to Lulu. Take care Keizo. Will always be looking forward to your ramen encounters on your blog whatever you choose to do. Cheers
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: First of all thanks for being a fan. I understand what you are saying and thinking. I agree that it's unfortunate that the devastation from the tsunami and earthquake has been overshadowed by the npp mess. That's why a part of me has not left. That's also why I've decided to give all proceeds from my upcoming book (if it ever gets finished) to relief and rebuilding efforts. Anyway, let me share with you why I contemplated leaving. I'm not an expert on tsunami's, earthquakes, or nuclear reactors and I'm sure I'd be barking the same words you are if I was outside of Tokyo. Yes, Tokyo will probably be fine but there's always the 'what ifs'. Imagine sitting on a train track not knowing if a train is coming. If you don't move you know you'll get hurt. You feel the vibrations, you can see some lights in the distance, you know something is coming but you can't quite make it out. There's thousands of people screaming at you to get off the tracks, including loved ones that are pleading to you with tears. Nobody knows the train is coming, but if it does come it could mean many different consequences. Sure people were overreacting here in Tokyo and stocking up on way too much stuff (how would you even cook instant noodles without water or electricity anyway), but it starts to get to your nerves when conbini shelves begin to empty and there's no water, a shortage on gas, threat of blackouts, people around you start freaking out, and you start wondering who to believe. Aside from my basa fam, everyone that i know close to me that was living in Tokyo have all left. Cousins, aunts, uncles, brother, sister, girlfriend, friends. Dude, you don't understand how 'alone' that makes me feel. Plus, I get countless amounts of emails, blog comments, fb posts from friends, family, and even complete strangers telling me that I NEED to leave Tokyo and feeding you with their fears and scary information that nobody knows is really true. Sure the minimal amounts of radiation in the air and now starting to show up in our water supply may not hurt us, but you wouldn't just go get a CT scan for the hell of it would you? Anyway, I'm not trying to prove something. It's pointless and a waste of time to talk about stuff we both already know. All I want to do is feed people ramen and eat ramen myself. I'm not afraid but if I do end up leaving it would be more for my loved ones than me. Thanks again for being a fan and I hope you continue to do so. I love japan and it hurts to see all the suffering. my next post might clear things up a bit too. Anyway, thanks for the comment. But please, don't call me haafu. I'm full.
ReplyDelete@Lulu: Thanks Lulu.
@Dennis: Thanks man. I will share with you my plan in the next post. It's something I had planned even before the earthquake hit. Cheers!
in the wise words of a poet,
ReplyDelete"See, the difference with me
When I do what I do
I do what I'm doing
But I'm doing like
I'm doing it for TV."
-mase
keizo: understood.
ReplyDeletei think i understand that you are under quite a lot of psychological pressure. i left tokyo more than a year ago and really everybody knows that but i got 10+ mails of people pleading that i don't kill myself and please please go. in fact even my dad got his fair share of mails telling him he should make me leave the deadly place that is tokyo. not a joke. so with you being in tokyo and the blog and all you probably get like "pls don't kill yourself!" messages a day.
also, i can kinda understand why people freak out. i mean a near-meltdown nuclear plant. when if not now would be a better freak out time. only thing that you may wanna keep in mind is that there is no place in the world (!) with more nuclear plants than france, lots of them not exactly new. in fact france is selling nuclear energy across europe. it might be the most nuclear place in the world. also, a 10 hour flight gives you approximately 100 micro-sievert, that will likely end up being approximately 10-20 times more than you got in tokyo.
so, in the end, people will overcome this. there will always be a chance for a new earthquake and a new tsunami and who knows: in the next years they will wall up everything and make it 9.0 proof and 10 meter tsunami proof and feel real safe, and then one day 9.1 will hit and 11 meters and we have the next meltdown.
japan is an insanely safe place with regards to everything but natural disasters. i mean: would you eat chicken sashimi in the states? hell no! would you walk through the bronx at 2 am?
so in the end, there is a tiny risk for a new natural disaster. but i am willing to buy in to that risk: living in tokyo with an incremental chance of being killed by an earthquake sounds A LOT better to me than living in some lame place with a 0 % chance of an earthquake ever. and maybe this will calm down your gf: now that "the big one" has happened, you will probably not live to see the next 9+ anyway.
ok, i will end my random thoughts so keep up the good work and sorry again- i see that my older posts sounded quite rude, so sorry again.
it's all good. i'm going to france to raise awareness and do something positive as well as be with someone i care about. your opinion was welcome and its good to have these discussions and have other people see these discussions. And i'm glad you understand my perspective. you are forgiven as long as you go slurp a bowl of ramen soon. take care.
ReplyDelete