One week later.

As I am sure most of you know, Tokyo is in power saving mode now since there is a shortage of power (because of the nuclear situation), and I think it is taking a strain on everyone that I have talked to. Everyone knows that the blackouts are necessary, and that in order to keep things going the trains need to run less, but it is still understandably causing many headaches.

I want to show you some pictures of Shibuya, one of the parts of the city that is known for it's electrical day/night display of lights and jumbo TV screens. 

Before:

(source)

After:

(Source)

Having been to Shibuya on many occasions, seeing this picture is a little unsettling since I'm used to the bright lights of the Tokyo night-scene. It's almost like the life has been sucked out of Shibuya. 

I am beginning to feel like all the energy has been drained out of me as well. I'm not in Japan right now, but since last Friday I have been obsessively following Japanese news sources. Since western news sources have been either behind on the latest news, or so sensational that I get angry reading anything they have to say, I have been sticking mainly to Japanese sources. I feel especially sick of American news, focusing so much on the nuclear situation and forgetting about the people freezing and hungry left in those evacuation centers of the north. I guess it's all about what makes better news right? Makes me so ashamed.

I have not been sleeping well either. I have been staying up later than my usual bedtime in order to watch the live ustream of the morning/midday news in Japan each day (I usually go to bed around 12:30 but some nights I have been staying up till 2am). I mostly do it because I want to catch the live press conferences given by Edano (chief secretary), Prime Minster Kan, the safety dept., and TEPCO. Since there is so much chaos going on in the reporting, I just want to be as well informed as I possibly can. I have also been reading a lot of articles and sharing those on my facebook. I do that because I have people who I am friends with who don't know where to look for this kind of information, and also I want to provide for those who may jump to conclusions by what is just being reported by American media. I also have been following a few reliable twitter accounts. I think it is good not to trust one source 100%, even what the Japanese government saying. Just the other day Edano made a mistake in reporting a statistic during a press conference and had to be corrected. What I am saying basically is that it is good to compare many different sources instead of sticking to just one, this also keeps people from overacting and then panicking.

But being this news crazy has started to take it's toll on me. I check the news in the morning right when I get up, I check it many times through out the day, and then I watch the live ustream into the night. While it is good that I am on top of everything, I am bordering on crazy obsessed woman now. It is understandable that I want to know what is going on since I have my host family and many friends living in Tokyo, but I think I need to start cutting back. I am feeling mentally exhausted and I am not even there. I don't think I can really just ignore what is going on though, especially with the nuclear situation still being critical, so I am just going to start slowly cutting back at the obsessive checking through out the day.

Next week my friend Anna who I am moving to Chicago with is coming on Tuesday. Wednesday we are going to Chicago to stay with friends while we apartment hunt. We are really hoping to find something within a week because Anna has jury duty at the end of the month. So a much needed distraction is coming, but I will just be trading one headache for another really. Here is hoping we find a nice but cheap place. Cross your fingers!