Earthquake Diary 47

 Friday, April 1st
 Considering the overall situation here in Japan, I will not even attempt to make an April Fool's joke.

Today my wife and I went to our doctor's for our twice a year check ups. On the way home, we discovered that the Green Mart supermarket was open so we stopped and bought coffee beans - twice as many as we normally buy. We expect that the price will go up soon, both for national and international reason. Also the bread store was open so we bought sweets for tomorrow morning.

We called my daughter and set up meeting in Izumi Chuo and then went out to get the bus. Our luck was incredible. There was a line and just exactly as I attached myself to the end, the bus came.

Izumi Chuo was like heaven. The Starbucks coffee shop opened for the first time since the quake and we were the third ones in line. It was like the nectar of the gods.

Things are really getting back to normal, at least the new normal that will probably last for years. Many stores are still closed but more and more are opening, at least partially. Also, the spring high school baseball tournament has started in Osaka and is now taking up much to the TV time, rather than the stream of pictures of the destruction of Tohoku.

I just realized that I did not explain the last picture yesterday. It is a driving school that is on the other side of the river near the Yaotome station. As I walked by there was a work crew doing something on the inside of the building. It is becoming more and more apparent that many of the buildings that appear okay on the outside have substantial amounts of damage on the inside.

The following pictures were taken a few days ago.

This is a shop that specialized in bottled water. On the left side, with a counter around the corner, it also has a shop that sells takeout rice balls wrapped in cooked meat. It brags that it is a B-class restaurant. On this day they were selling stuff from the front door, rather than from around the side.

 Straight ahead is the station at Yaotome. The road is blocked off and a sign says that you can not go through the underpass at the station.

 This is the same crane you can see in the last picture. Apparently some of the large panes of glass broken and fell and also much of the ceiling inside collapsed. The newspaper said that the tracks were bent near the station but it did not say exactly where.

 This is usually a through road, a main thoroughfare, but it is completely blocked and there are workmen all over the place.

 These are the stairs leading up to the ticket machines for the subway (above ground here), but they are blocked by a temporary cloth screen.

 This is a few meters south of the station. I do not know what the problem is but they have placed these blue plastic tarps all the way to the next bridge and have a sign saying that there is no entry because it is dangerous.

 This is the line in front of a supermarket that we never go to. It is small and fairly far from our apartment. Izumi Chuo or York Town are better places for us.