Ready or not! Morning has come, whether we slept alright or not. Here in Hiroshima, more than 700 miles from Sendai, we aren't experiencing aftershocks through the night, but the devastation and unknowns are constantly on our minds.
We spent yesterday at the Peace Memorial Museum, learning about the A-bomb and its after-effects, seeing bodies gruesomely damaged, and learning about radiation levels and how harmful they can be. That was probably not the most settling way to spend the day, in between watching news reports of unfolding events in Fukushima.
In less tragic news, we've enjoyed some good food here in Hiroshima. Jim has really liked yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick), and we both had Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki for the first time. I thought it was very good, though different from Tokyo-style, which I'm used to. The bakeries provide great comfort food. And as if the ADD-type symptoms we're probably all experiencing weren't enough, I drank several cups of tea (with caffeine) yesterday. We also toured Hiroshima Castle, and enjoyed the huge snowflakes falling as we walked around the city.
We were up a couple times in the night, checking English-language news sources (who were in the middle of their daytime, and thus posting more frequently than they do during our daytime).
Exciting things are happening with the relief trucks our team and the PCJ are sending up. I have been posting news here at the Aquila Report.
We don't know what we will do today ... or tomorrow. I called the hotel in Hakone where we are to stay tonight. They are open, but are experiencing rolling blackouts, during which time the rooms aren't heated. We most certainly will not be going to Saitama (western Tokyo) on Friday to see my cousins, as trains aren't running, they're having problems getting gas, and one of their sons yesterday had a fever of 104 and was diagnosed with influenza.
Pray with us for wisdom about returning to the Tokyo area. There is so much information out there, some of it conflicting.
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