good morning. it’s april 11th which is exactly 1 month after the
tsunami hit. want to know what’s going on? well, the news probably
won’t report it because their time is occupied on the fukushima
plant. speaking of the plant, i heard it’s leaking out deadly levels
of radiation again and somebody is keeping it a secret. i’m up here
in iwate and my counter is reading radiation up this far. yeah, up
this far. do we wear masks anymore? do we wear raincoats anymore? do
we stay indoors anymore? no, no, and no. radiation is invisible and
that’s the scary thing about it. you just seem to forget about it. i
look less at my counter, and the numbers going up doesn’t bother me
anymore. i’m actually happy when it goes up because it means it
works. sounds stupid, but i’m not joking.
as for the damage. i’d say 10 years to clean up. there are cars
stuck in trees, there are boats 3 kilometers inland, there is oil
everywhere you go, there are debris on both sides of the roads
everywhere you drive, there are towns completely leveled, there are
houses, cars, wood, big matson containers, and everything you can
think of floating in the ocean. if only one city got hit, i’d say 3
years to rebuild. but city after city is demolished. we pretty much
drove the whole coast and i’ve seen so much damage, and heard so many
heartbreaking stories that make a strong man cry. but we don’t have
time to be emotional and we can’t break down. that’s not what we’re
here for. i’ll save that for a day when i’m all alone recollecting my
thoughts. i know it will hit me then like i’ve never been hit before.
i haven’t been taking as many photos recently because everything looks
the same. and looking through my lens magnifies everything 100x which
is too much to grasp.
we had an awesome dinner last night. finally some juicy steak! well,
hawaiian steak we call SPAM. every bite of my instant noodle, every
bite of anything i eat tastes 100 times better than i thought. it’s
snowing on the mountains around us, probably 1 degree, but sleeping in
the car is ok. we’re down to me plus 2 others now with our van almost
empty. going to drive down the coast and hand out more supplies. the
people are so appreciative here. we pulled by a fishing port
yesterday and helped the fisherman pull the debris out of the water.
it felt good to do hands on work. i’m thinking that my next mission
will be to help more.
well, it’s time to move. gotta look for a gas station, and a 7/11
that’s not destroyed so we can start our day with a healthy meal.
need the power to keep going.
as for emails, please understand that i don’t have time to respond to
all of them. but i read every one and your support is keeping me
strong. in this past 6 days, my life has changed. i hope to become a
better person, and hope to appreciate everything i have a lot more.
we’re planning to head back to tokyo on wednesday. there, i will
think about the next mission as things change here by the day. there
are enough supplies up here. what do do next? i’ll find out in a few
days.
please enjoy your life, please don’t complain about small things, and
please pray for the families that lost lives, and still can’t find
their loved ones.
better get going. have a nice day…
