Well, we have reached a milestone: almost one week has passed since the catastrophic earthquake that shook Japan last Friday. It's been a rough one, too, with one thing striking after another on top of repeated tremors, but I think things are finally settling down. Television seems to have returned, for the most part, to general broadcasting, stores (at least in this area) are open at regular hours, people are going about their usual business, going to work and school, grocery shopping, etc.
The only lasting effect has been something of a food panic similar to what you find in Florida before and after a hurricane; all non-perishables are really difficult to find. I went to the store today to restock, particularly on bread and cereal, but both of those things were almost completely sold out except for the more expensive kinds. So I had to settle for paying 40 yen more than I usually do for bread (130 instead of 90) and buying the really junky (but cheap) cereal at the shady supermarket instead of the good (but expensive) cereal at Max Value. Also sold out were ramen and prepackaged bread snacks. I suppose people may also be concerned about the power outages, but it's only for two three hour periods at a time, so it's not need to get to panicky. In any case, I expect things to improve as time goes by, and maybe by next week I can get my cheap bread and decent cereal again. :)
I myself have calmed down a lot. For a while I was at my limit and ready to go home, but seeing life go on around me reassured me that I can stay here. Many things would be complicated if I were to go home, and I wanted to stay here for a year anyway, so I'm fairly certain I will stay. I just hope they don't really postpone the start of classes, because I will go a little bit crazy. haha.
That's it for now. Keep a lookout for future updates! I'm hoping I can still do that trip to Kyoto at the end of this month. :)
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