Waking up to the news of 3.11 was a shock to all of us in America, and the earthquake's tremors have resonated into areas that will have impacts in society long after northern Japan has been rebuilt. The nuclear reactors were labeled as "earthquake and tsunami proof," and I'm sure most people accepted that as fact. However, the ensuing nuclear crisis has all but destroyed people's faith in nuclear energy as a safe and viable means of providing electricity in an earthquake-prone nation--so much so that reactors in other parts of Japan have been temporarily shut down. While most of Japan may have been prepared for what to do in case of an earthquake or even a tsunami, many people may not have even considered what could happen in the case of an electricity shortage.
The trains shutting down, people having to walk 10 hours to get home, the shelves of convenient stores completely bare -- these are scenes straight out of a horror film about a natural disaster. Indeed, the Japanese media has been full of such images for decades -- films like Godzilla, TV series like Ultraman -- Tokyo is decimated time and time again only to appear new again in the next film or episode. An article in a Japanese version of "Newsweek" talks about these "Tokyo Disaster Fantasies" and how they have "obsessively imagined Japan's destruction, mirroring the country's real-world vulnerability." Indeed, Japan is so used to these images of destruction and reconstruction that some people feel they can not help but be stoic in the face of the current crisis. But, few may have imagined the wide-scale energy shortage what will descent on Tokyo as the mercury in the thermometer continues to climb... it will be interesting to see how energy consumers respond, and how Tokyo prepares itself for an electricity shortage going forward.
The trains shutting down, people having to walk 10 hours to get home, the shelves of convenient stores completely bare -- these are scenes straight out of a horror film about a natural disaster. Indeed, the Japanese media has been full of such images for decades -- films like Godzilla, TV series like Ultraman -- Tokyo is decimated time and time again only to appear new again in the next film or episode. An article in a Japanese version of "Newsweek" talks about these "Tokyo Disaster Fantasies" and how they have "obsessively imagined Japan's destruction, mirroring the country's real-world vulnerability." Indeed, Japan is so used to these images of destruction and reconstruction that some people feel they can not help but be stoic in the face of the current crisis. But, few may have imagined the wide-scale energy shortage what will descent on Tokyo as the mercury in the thermometer continues to climb... it will be interesting to see how energy consumers respond, and how Tokyo prepares itself for an electricity shortage going forward.
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