{"id":9062,"date":"2011-03-12T22:51:37","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T03:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/?p=9062"},"modified":"2011-03-13T22:38:56","modified_gmt":"2011-03-14T02:38:56","slug":"rose-ho-reporting-from-nikko_2011-03-12-chuckking-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/?p=9062","title":{"rendered":"Rose Ho Reporting from Nikko_(2011.03.12)- Chuckking out"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>I am chuckking out to the train station now to check out the train service as well as to grab a bite in my favourite UCC Cafe, one with style and flair and brewed coffee &#8230; 1 p.m.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>Before I go, can&#8217;t help but send a word on the emergencyand disaster readiness of Japan&#8230;.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Disaster-ready<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Japan is pretty disaster-ready.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">In our hotel room in Tokyo, tiny as it is, there is a flash light.\u00a0 Now that disaster has hit, I carry my own torch in my shoulder sidebag instead of in the knapsack to facilitate easy retrieval.\u00a0 A lot of places are out of electricity when disaster hits.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The EXIT sign in my family guesthouse is large and bright.\u00a0 \u00a0The green leon signboard is 2 feet by 1 foot.\u00a0 Even in the dark, there is no way to miss it.\u00a0 There is one upstairs and downstairs in my host\u2019s house.\u00a0 My host showed me the way to the outside thru these exits.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">There are places around town designated as emergency or disaster shelters.\u00a0 I spotted a number of these in Tokyo including the Ueno Park.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">When the LAN lines and cellphone network are jam-packed, there are special numbers one can call to deposit and to retrieve messages.\u00a0 In this way, family members and people can continue to communicate with each other to convey their own situation.\u00a0 \u00a0Now with Internet, there should b e more of these facilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Everyone who carries a cellphone (at least here in Nikko) will be sent messages of upcoming disaster warnings.\u00a0 In this way, one can tell if a strong quake is hitting or not.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Police are out at work to keep order and guide people to shelters.\u00a0 \u00a0At the Nikko train station, some volunteers who speak English were present yesterday to communicate with those who do not understand Japanese.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Relief forces are out at work immediately.\u00a0 According to my host, railway companies work overnight to inspect train lines right after quakes to ensure services can resume as soon as possible.\u00a0 This is on top of the government emergency service units out at work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">People are accounted for as soon as possible and statistics are tallied.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The Prime Minister calls meetings and issues instructions (can\u2019t understand Japanese but guessing from the TV screen) at the earliest possible time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Their houses are built to withstand quakes (from TV shows I watched before).\u00a0 My host also told me the highrises in Tokyo can withstand strong quakes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Are there more?\u00a0 Could be.\u00a0 But so far, these are my observations and experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Someone asked me if there is something Chinese can learn from Japan.\u00a0 This emergency and crisis management is one.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">I hope\u00a0&#8220;our fellow countrymen&#8221; who visit Japan won&#8217;t\u00a0steal the\u00a0torches from the hotel rooms &#8230;&#8230; or in their own hometown when the latter&#8217;s hotels are so equipped!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">(The shake goes on&#8230;.happening as I press SEND!!!)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">(More from Tokyo&#8230;hopefully&#8230;..or from the wi-fi coffee shops near the train station!)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am chuckking out to the train station now to check out the train service as well as to grab a bite in my favourite UCC Cafe, one with style and flair and brewed coffee &#8230; 1 p.m. \u00a0 Before &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/?p=9062\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184,96],"tags":[126],"class_list":["post-9062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japan-earthquake","category-travel","tag-rose-ho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9062"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9088,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9062\/revisions\/9088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wykontario.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}