This Is Japan
Explore everyday life in Japan
As everyone knows, Japan is very prone to earthquakes. In fact, there are an average of around 1,500 earthquakes in Japan every year. When and where they will strike, and how strong they will be, nobody knows. That’s why the saying for earthquake preparedness in Japan is Itsu demo. Doko demo. Which literally means Anytime. Anywhere.
Of course, this saying could be applied to all accidents and happenings. We never know when or where an accident will happen, nor how bad it will be, that’s why emergency response training and emergency preparedness are important.
Last week, I attended an annually held emergency preparedness workshop at a local park. It was organized by a few members in the community and staffed by volunteers. All the supplies, which consisted of tents, tables, tanks of propane, burners, pots and pans, plastic wrap, utensils, etc. were taken out of storage from the park shed where they are permanently stored. They were then set up as if an earthquake or some other emergency had actually happened, and the attendees were divided into groups.
One group was in charge of making and continuously stirring a giant pot of Japanese curry, enough to feed over 400 people. Another group was given pairs of rubber gloves and put in charge of making hundreds of rice balls, which they then covered with plastic wrap. And yet another group, mostly consisting of older women, was put in charge of giving lessons on how to cook rations of rice for hundreds of people.
The technique for doing so consisted of placing individual portions of rice in plastic bags with an equal portion of water, squeezing the air out of the bags, sealing them shut with tape on which each person wrote his or her name, and then placing them in a pot of simmering water for 15 minutes, after which the heat was turned off and the bags of rice were left to continue cooking in the hot water for another 30 minutes or so.
As the food preparations came to completion at different times, people were encouraged to eat when they could, something that isn’t typical of eating in Japan. The old man in charge of the event reminded everyone that in a real emergency situation, nobody has the luxury to wait, eat together, or say itadakimasu as a group like is typically done in Japan (Itadakimasu is a word of thanksgiving that is usually said before eating in Japan).
He also told everyone that no matter what the emergency, if they were working to help people, they needed to smile. Regardless of how bad the situation was, the first thing a volunteer worker should do, he said, is smile. Then, from that smile, he continued, one should act, which is a notion that I have found to be fairly common in Japan.
How about you? How do you prepare for emergencies? What do you think is important as an emergency worker, a first responder, or just a community aid?
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.
Even emergency Japanese food must taste absolutely delicious
Lol😂
Rice balls are always surprisingly good! And the curry here is beloved by many.
In my area we store dried fruits and anykind of dry food possible..we dont have that many emergencies but at rainy season theres is a slight chance of extreme flooding..thats why evrything we store is dried..
Flooding can be scary. Where do you keep the dried stuffs, in your house?
In the highest place we can find.. for us cabinets in second floor..
To keep it away from the high waters. I see.
Setting up workshop for emergency preparedness is very nice and will help in time of emergency.
Yes, it is. Understanding the motions and movements, and knowing where to go and what to do really help a lot when and if a person finds himself in an emergency.
For some reason, I took emergency preparedness more seriously a few years ago than I do now, but we still keep water and water purification supplies, food (long-term storage food), wind-up radio and lighting, etc in back packs, ready to grab and go. It's all at home, of course, so if I'm at work when the earthquake hits...
It's nice to see a prepared community. In the U.S. we'd all wait for the Red Cross or FEMA.
I actually don’t keep an emergency pack prepared and ready, but I make sure to have a few supplies and know where they are. For me, just taking the time once a year to go through the motions and talk about where to meet up and think about how we can get to the meetup spot is the most important. I’ve always found that combining motion/movement with thinking/talking/learning really helps me to remember things when I need to.
I’ve been meaning to get some of those wind up (friction?) flashlights for years. Those are the best.
I like that there was a focus on smiling. I bet American first responders don't include that in their training, at least not as prominently. Do they have water stored in containers or do they filter it for this drill?
You know, I didn’t think to check where the water came from, and I don’t think it was even mentioned. To be honest, half the time I was chasing my kids around trying to get them more involved.
I know they had a regular tap spicket in the park with a hose on it, and I’m pretty sure they were using bottled water to mix with the rice. I wonder if they had a filter in the storage shed with all the other supplies or if the organizer brought one.
During the big earthquake in 2011, a lot of focus was placed on using and donating bottled water. I’m going to guess that maybe not many people have portable water filters here. I’ll ask my wife after work if the man who led the event mentioned anything about them.
Yes, the smiling thing can be very important for psychological moral and for calming people.
bottled makes sense given the radioactive seawater. you need a little more than a filter to drink that.
That’s an entirely different thing to think and worry about.
even a small emergency desalinater runs like a $1000 or more.
This "Anytime. Anywhere." earthquake preparedness looks very interesting, especially when cooking is involved :), and it's so well-thought. It reminds me of my living in Chile, another country very prone to earthquakes. I didn't experience any training there about earthquakes though. Once when I was working in the office, there's a small quake happening and everything's shaking a bit. All the foreigners were screaming, but the Chileans were very clam, hehe.
Earthquakes are very strange. If you aren’t used to them, they are really scary. Once you become accustomed to them, though, most of them don't bother you at all.
Occasionally, though, you get a big one, and you know the difference immediately. Those are scary. But people here tend to know how to respond. The early warning system that they have here really helps with that.
True! And I guess people in Japan and Chile also have tons of experiences in building earthquake resistant architecture. :)
They definitely do. That helps a lot.
Better be ready for Godzilla attacks too
Of course. We have yakitori skewers for Godzilla attacks.
How useful! The curry looks fabulous, I must say... as do the rice balls! speaking before dinner, I am... maybe that's why.. lol
That will make any picture of good look good:) Just don’t go to the supermarket when you’re feeling like that. 😊
Haha... so true - I always end up with things I don't need... lol
It's great to work for people!
I am not prepared for my emergency. I think it will be hard for me to survive in any bad situation!
It is nice to do this sort of thing from time to time. Talking with people and planning for what you would do in these situations is important. Do you have anything like this where you live?