A song for Japan / Still not sure what to do

My wife is a singer/songwriter, she's struggled with me through the past two weeks as we try to make smart decisions without information, whilst waking every 2-3 hours to take care of Joseph. This is a song she's written for her schools to carry out to the evacuation centers and sing to those who have lost everything. First public performance will be this Saturday at Saitama super arena.

She was asked to write this by her students 4 days ago, did, and two later she and Joseph got on the train and headed back to Tokyo to meet her staff and record it. Last night she came back to Kobe, pram in one hand and luggage in the other I think it's an 8 hour round trip from our house. While in Tokyo the water was too dangerous for her to drink and feed Joseph. It's a lot of energy to expend, especially when you've been living in an uncertain state out of a suitcase for ten days already. Last night after getting back she was too tired and stressed to keep down her food. Huge effort love, you put than you have in the tank into this, would that it lifts Japan's spirits in some way.

As a family we're not ready to go back to Tokyo. The water is still not safe and we read today that there was a leak at the plant. My work will be operating from normal on Monday, only myself and a couple of other families with small children will be operating remotely for the next week, although I think it's going to take a lot longer than a week to get through this now. I thought it was tough for me, I have a friend with a 4 month old son, his company threatened disciplinary action for any staff not in their seats by Monday morning.

A week in Nagoya, then Kobe, next Osaka. We are tired but safe, compared to hundreds of thousands of others we have no problems.

From far away looking back

My family and I have been in Kobe city for two days.

Where we are is gorgeous. Kobe is far from Tokyo, work rented a great hotel and it feels positive to be contributing with others in my team in a "work environment". This may sound foreign or insincere to some people, but you are what you give to your customers, whether they be your children, audience, internal colleagues or paying clients and when that is taken away from you without it being a choice of your own it is tough to adjust. Maybe it is post-disaster relief but this is my current choice of bread-winning and I'm happy to have it back. Over the previous week we had been in Nagoya and while it was a massive relief to be away from Tokyo after everything which happened, it was very hard to to move forward on anything with NHK reporting what reactors were on fire in the background and my wife and child 10 feet away in the same room. Here we have space and a rhythm again.

Now the tough decision, when do we move back to Tokyo...

This morning at 10am my wife and two month old son boarded a train to Tokyo for an overnight trip, due back in Kobe tomorrow evening. She has worried staff to meet with and decide if business can be continued, and the mother of all charity events to work towards. At 3pm today the power plants have power again, cooling systems were coming online and the world is rosy. My work plans on reopening in Tokyo on Monday and we'll be laughing about all this by Wednesday. At 4:15pm I read a report in Japanese that radioactive iodine had been found in the local water supply at 2 times the maximum recommended level for infants. At 4:45 pm I am agreeing on the phone with my wife that neither her baby are to have a shower in Tokyo, she is not to drink water or wash the baby's bottle, nor is she to prepare any food washed in tap water. Her mother has already made dinner, how? What with? Can she eat it and feed the baby?

Apologies to the impartial scientists among us, but to have a conversation with your wife about whether or not it is safe to give your baby a bath, or for your wife to to eat and then breast feed the baby is something I never want to have to do again.

Please excuse me for being melodramatic here. I buy into and admire the Japanese stoicism in the face of this crisis, it's one of the reasons I love this country. The thing is, my baby's total weeks on earth measure in the single figures whilst the result of our decisions will play out over tens of years.

What I wold like to see is someone from Tokyo University honestly say "here is what the risks are but if I had a 3 month old child she would be in Sydney by now", because that is what I'm sure they are thinking. What does "no real harm" mean? Is it some kind of half-danger? Will your kid only get half-cancer in 30 years if he drinks the water today? We are trying to make emotional decisions based on objective facts with no historical precedent. This is hard.

So sorry work, and sorry folk back in Tokyo. We love Japan as much as you do, we feel the same hurt when we see the scenes from Tohoku, and we will do whatever it takes to put this country back on it's feet. We feel awful that our respective clients are doing business in Tokyo while we are 500km away. However Nanako and I cannot and will not place Joseph in any kind of risk when we have the means to do otherwise. We will stay in Japan, do our best, and return to Tokyo as soon as we are convinced it is safe. Please don't ask any more yet.

on the move again

Work is setting up a BCP site in Kobe to continue with operations while Tokyo is under rolling power-cuts. Nanako, Joe and I will go to Kobe on a bullet train on Monday and link up with some other people from the office and their families.

It will be good to be back doing some semblance of normal tasks, but I'm not excited about taking my wife and baby on what amounts to a business trip. However others with families are coming so I hope the partners and children can settle somewhat.

An observation I'm sure is being made all over the world now - in Japanese business and political culture it is not polite to give direct answers or statements. It works in business because your counterparty is playing the same game and understands what you are committing too (normally later there is an email exchanged to make sure both sides understand the commitments made), and it does avoid conflict.

However that breaks down when the counterparty needs hard information immediately to make a decision. The authorities are still cloaking statements with "I think", "I'm told", "possibility of", "a good chance that" and hence people have made the decision to leave. "I'm told there is little risk of radiation reaching Tokyo" doesn't cut it I'm afraid.

The Japanese are fond of disparaging Americans for being too forthright in their opinions and statements, yet what they wouldn't give for someone in authority to explicitly state what is happening, what the plan is, what the risks are and what other options are available.

Some links about the Earthquake/Tsunami

About the Tsunami -

Before/After pictures:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm

Live Footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpuLlIrUYsI

Photographs of the tsunami aftermath:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/8385237/Japan-disaster-30-powerful-images-of-the-earthquake-and-tsunami.html

We are safe

I'm copying a friend's idea and putting updates in this blog because a lot of people I know are not on facebook. So here goes.

We are safe. Our house did not get knocked down. Tokyo is a long way from where the Earthquake and Tsunami hit.

If it had just, and I hate to use that word considering what people in north Japan are going through, been an earthquake, we would still be in Tokyo and getting ready to do our part in the recovery. However the ongoing drama at the power plant convinced us to relocate inland to Nagoya for a week. Specifically:

1. The situation is not yet under control and has no precedent
2. We have a 6-week old baby
3. If the situation deteriorates, it would be impossible to get out of Tokyo with an infant.

Simply put we had a choice between waiting and trusting the experts, or getting to a place where we can keep working, are in touch with Tokyo and have leeway to move further.

So the three of us are now at a weekly apartment in Nagoya city. When I bought the shinkansen tickets on Tuesday there were seats available, but by Wednesday people were packing into the "free seating" (first come first served) cars like sardines.

Is anything bad likely to happen? No.

Is is possible that fallout would reach Tokyo? No.

Do I feel better for having my wife and child away from the city? Yes.