Mar 25, 2011

Earthquake Diary 28

 This is a line of people waiting at the Daruma Drugstore. The system here is that they set and opening time and then give out 200 slips of paper with a number and the store's stamp on them. The slips go not to individuals but to family groups. Once the specified time is reached they let people in 20 groups at a time. You were asked to stay for only 15 minutes but there was no limit on what you could get.
 This was one of the best sights I have ever seen. I looked out our living room window and saw these trucks  with workmen in the elevating workstations. They were checking the connections on each pole. It meant that we would soon be getting electricity again.
 Here is a closer look at them.
 The next day we went to Izumi Chuo and got in line at Ito Yokado. The line was very long but not outrageous.
 After a while, at about 9 a.m., a man came out and announced that they would start selling stuff at 11 a.m. They asked the line to move away from the building (to the right in this picture that was taken after the move). Everyone moved without problem. Then they roped off an area. You can just see it at the end of the building. Soon employees began bring out cart loads of goods.
 This is a picture of some of those carts. They later moved these carts of fresh fruit over against the building.
 This picture shows the first customers going through the line. The fruit carts had been moved and now the carts at this place contained candy, potato chips, and snacks of various kinds. These were limited to one pack per person.
This about 10 minutes after they let customers (the people carrying the blue shopping baskets) into the shopping area.

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