Fear and Trembling in Yokosuka, Part III: My Japanese Friends

Within a few hours of the earthquake, I succeeded in contacting each of my children.  Simply hearing their voices nudged a surreal day back toward normal, emphasis on "toward" since I suspect it will be weeks and perhaps months before life here feels normal again.

The Ancient Mariner called to verify my continued existence.  This is the first time we have spoken to each other by telephone during a deployment since December 24, 1998.  Most people find my moratorium on telephone calls odd but I have never been able to bear saying goodbye to him over and over and over again.  He humors my quirks, bless his heart, but was forced to break the moratorium thanks to lessons the Navy learned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when they were unable to account for the whereabouts of countless family members.  It was a job-related telephone call so I'm not counting it against him.  And I must admit it was reassuring to hear his voice.  Emergency physicians tend to have the sort of voices people like to hear during disasters.

Then began the long process of checking on the well-being of my friends in Japan.  Most of the Americans had posted on Facebook within a few minutes of the earthquake so I knew they were okay.  A couple of them made me laugh, especially Sherri who was driving to her off-base hilltop house when the earthquake hit and simply assumed something was wrong with her car.  A couple of them were borderline hysterical.  I didn't know what to do about that.

My Japanese friends took longer to surface.  They suffered power outages to which those of us fortunate enough to live on an American military base were immune.  Eventually their stories began to dribble in.  I'm sharing a few because I think you have come to care about these people almost as much as I do.

Nagasaki lives in Hayama.  Her grandchildren were riding the train home from school when the earthquake happened.  Their train was halted at the Kita-Kamakura station, about 15 minutes from Nagasaki's house.  It was 7:00 pm by the time she learned of their predicament.  It took Nagasaki and her husband two hours to reach their grandchildren due to traffic jams and power outages (no traffic lights).  They loaded their grandchildren and as many other children that could fit in their car and drove them home.  They did not arrive back at their house in Hayama until 4:00 am.

My friend Sayuri is married to a retired Navy Master Chief Petty Officer who now holds a civilian job on base.  Sayuri manages a building owned by her elderly parents.  She lost electricity, water, gas, internet, and telephone service for most of the day following the earthquake.  Since cell phone service was also down immediately after the earthquake, she felt compelled to drive to her parents' home and building to make sure they were okay.  She says, "It was the most dangerous drive I’ve ever made because almost all the traffic lights are off and no cops were controlling the traffic.  On top of that, it was the time for lots of kids to go home after school.  Running across the disordered traffic roads.  I really hope those kids got home safely.  Even though I had a lot of flashlights, candles, and emergency food in the house, no water was not easy....you know, no flushing."  Sayuri has concluded that we might be too dependent on electricity.  "My parents who are survivors of the Tokyo bombing handled this situation much better, I think. Well, it was not their first rodeo, you know!"  I forgot to mention that Sayuri's husband is a Texan...

Yoshiko was the Ancient Mariner's secretary when was Commanding Officer of US Naval Hospital Yokosuka.  She retired in December 2007 and moved across Tokyo Bay to Chiba Prefecture with her husband, Kaz, and his father.  They lost telephone service on March 11 but neither they nor any of their neighbors suffered damage from the earthquake.  She was scared once the sun went down.  They live pretty close to the Isumi river and are watching the water level closely.  The river rose by more than three meters during the tsunami and almost all the floating piers were washed away.  She tells me not to worry about them because they have a local cable broadcasting system and will be able to act quickly to evacuate if any emergency situation comes up.

My friend Kazumi called Saturday afternoon to tell me there had been an explosion in a nuclear plant in the disaster area.  She instructed me to close my doors and windows and to turn off any fans.  If I absolutely had to leave my house, she told me to cover myself completely.  She emphasized wearing a hat.  She also told me to not to even think about leaving the house the next time it rains because those raindrops will likely contain residue from the chemical plant that exploded in Chiba during the earthquake.  That was the fire we saw across Tokyo Bay throughout the night following the earthquake.  Kazumi's Japanese husband, a civilian helicopter pilot, was summoned to the disaster area Friday night but was unable to obtain information on where to land.  Kazumi thinks this is because too many media helicopters are in that area.  He came home to sleep and returned to the disaster area the following day.

Everyone in Ishii's family is fine (especially her brother who they were surprised to learn was in Memphis, Tennessee, on a business trip when the earthquake occurred).  Ishii's son-in-law is going to the earthquake area to help one of his company's branch offices so Ishii has headed up to Tokyo to help her daughter and little granddaughter until he gets back.  Before she left, Ishii clued me in on planned power outages that will roll from one area to another so that as much power as necessary can be diverted to hospitals.  She also warned me to expect train service to be disrupted.  I will miss Ishii.  We'll surely share a few chuckles about that brother of hers the next time we meet.

And then there's our friend, Dr. T:

My wife, I and everyone else who matters to me did not suffer from the earthquake and tsunami.
Of course, 15 medical doctors including me and three stuff members who attended to the meeting at 21st floor of a high and new building near the Shinagawa station were frightened during the earthquake. After the terrible meeting (Editor's Note: Dr. T loathes meetings) we could not use an elevator and went to the 1st floor using emergency steps.  I slept on a cardboard like a homeless in the Shinagawa station because I could not catch a train and a taxi to Yokohama.

Please come to see me tomorrow afternoon. I will tell you my miserable experience in the clutter room. (Editor's Note: Just last week I teased Dr. T that his office is so messy it could not possibly look any worse after an earthquake.)

The trains aren't running so I hope I can find a taxi driver willing to take me to Yokohama this afternoon.  I am desperate to hear the details of his miserable experience.  I am desperate to get back to Japan after four straight days on this base.