Decisions

The past few weeks have been a transient blur, with our family of four going from Japan to Singapore to Thailand, back to Singapore, then to Japan and finally, taking a 12 hour flight back to Detroit and another puddle jumper over to Portage. As everyone knows from my previous blogs(if you have read them) and the news, Japan has experienced an unimaginable double natural disaster, and to go along with that, is experiencing a nuclear plant that is completely unstable, with what seems like no end in site.

Four days after the initial 9.0 earthquake, after days of non-stop aftershocks, we decided to leave Japan early for our already planned Spring Break trip to Phuket, Thailand. Our initial trip was planned for a few days later, meeting up with Greg and Missy (Scott's brother and his wife) for the last week of their Asian vacation. Luckily, the four of us had booked a 2 bedroom condo at the Marriot Mai Khao Beach club for two weeks already, so all we had to worry about was switching up our airline tickets. We are so grateful to Scott's company for taking care of us, helping us get out of Japan and also giving us the time to try to figure out what our next move will be. We spent 11 days in Thailand, hoping and praying that things would settle down in Japan while we were there and we would feel comfortable flying back to Japan and getting back to our life. However, while we were in Thailand, the Fukushima-Diaichi Nuclear Power plant continued to be unstable, with several blow ups, fears/reports of higher radiation (including unsafe tap water for infants in Tokyo), radiation leaks, as well as many vegetables having higher than safe radiation levels. It is now about 25 days after the disaster, and the power plant issue is no where near stable or resolved.

We are no closer today to having a final decision than we were while we were in Thailand. Our want is to go back to Tokyo on April 14th (we currently have plane tickets booked for that date). That is what the girls want- they both want to go back to school and be with their friends, doing their normal routine. That is what Scott wants- he needs to be physically "at" work to be effective and set a good example. That is what I want- I would like to take part in some way with the relief efforts- be productive, help at the evacuation centers that are all over Tokyo- contribute to the situation, rather than watch it on TV and feel so helpless. However, we also need to weigh the potential issues and hazards with going back to Tokyo at this point. For one, the nuclear power plant issues really make both of us uneasy. All reports say that nothing is reaching Tokyo in terms of radiation levels at this time. But, being that the issues at the power plant aren't even a little bit under control, whose to say that will remain the same? The fear of the unknown, and the fact that we would never forgive ourselves if we came back and then something happened health wise to one of our girls is making this decision extremely difficult. For two, we are not sure what the new normal will be. Quite a few of our friends are not coming back to Tokyo- some until the fall, others not at all. Three, Maya's school, ASIJ, is on the rolling blackout list for TEPCO. School currently starts about 1 hour earlier than it did prior to March 11. Maya had to hop on the bus at 7:30am everyday for school, and now, she will need to get on the bus at 6:50 everyday- that is one LONG day for a 2nd grader. Currently, her class has only 9 kids out of 21 back- the Elementary school has about 290 kids there, and 250 kids who have not returned yet. They have minimal heat (use it first thing in the morning and turn it off for the day- to save energy to help with the energy issues)- so the school is cold, and the teachers are taking the kids outside as much and as often as they can to keep them warm through the school day. I am also extremely uncomfortable thinking about putting Maya back on a bus for 45 minutes each way, each day. I do not know how I will feel about my kids being away from me- I guess that is something I will have to just gut out and see if I can handle it. I thank god daily that they were with me during the quake- it has definitely minimized their fear of going back. That being said, Maya is alone on that bus- yes, she knows a lot of kids, but she has no sibling with her. She is such a softie that if something were to happen again, I would be afraid for how that would affect her in the long run. The trains, though running full routes, are not running full schedules (not as many trains) and are running without lights on. We are told that most provisions- at least for now- are not too difficult to get. Milk seems to be the least available, but they say we can get water at Costco, fuel seems to be back to normal and the grocery stores, as long as you get there early in the morning, have food. The energy issues show no signs of letting up, and they are predicting a huge issue once summer comes and the heat/humidity skyrockets.

Our current options are:
--The girls and I stay in Michigan for the remainder of the school year/summer, while Scott goes back alone or commutes back and forth for the next 5 months. Then return in August for the start of the school year.

--We all go back and hope for the best- Scott goes to work, girls go to school and I try to figure out a new normal (we now have no visitors coming to Japan, so my Spring is wide open).

--We don't go back at all and Scott commutes for the next year. This one is not really an option- we will have next to no family life, and I just can't imagine spending so much time without him around.

This decision is not going to be an easy one. We love living in Japan and have a time frame in our heads of how long we will be there, getting the most out of our experience. We definitely do not want our experience to end like this- with a scary earthquake/tsunami, an evacuation and a feeling of helplessness.

I do want to end this Blog, for those of you reading, by asking for you to do two things- pray and donate what you can to the relief efforts. There are over 28,000 people missing or dead, and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced, living in shelters, sleeping on floors and having no where to go- this includes kids, elderly and every age and income bracket you can imagine. This is an industrialized nation- these people are just like us- hard working, with homes, families, cars, clothing- and now they have nothing. There are reports that the Insurance companies are going to go belly up, and will not even begin to be able to payout to those affected by these disasters....

The list below are organizations that will directly help those affected by these disasters, and are reputable and recommended by The American School in Japan, where Maya goes to school. Please help if you can- it doesn't matter how much- every bit will help.

Second Harvest Japan, a Tokyo food bank sending up food and supplies (http://www.2hj.org)

American Red Cross Hands for Japan Fund donations matched by ASIJ Alum Andrew Ogama '90 (htttp://www.crowdrise.com/handsforjapan)

Japan Red Cross
(http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/l4/Vcms4_00002070.html)

Habitat for Humanity Japan (http://www.habitatjp.org/enblog/2011/03/donate_to_help_japan_earthquake_and_tsunami_victims.html)

JANIC a group fund for NGOs working in disaster relief including Doctors Without Borders and Habitat for Humanity
(http://www.janic.org/bokin/matomete14.php) [Japanese]
(http://www.janic.org/news/japanese_ngos_are_taking_action.php) [English]

Donations to NGO funds through Paypal
(https://www.paypal-donations.com/pp-charity/web.us/campaign.jsp?cid=-12)