March 12 update

Everything is still fine in Kobe. We spent the day cleaning the house and doing laundry. We went out to Cafe Kei for lunch and I had one of my friends over for dinner. Russell went to band practice in Osaka and will have a concert near Kyoto tomorrow. Of course, we also had the TV going all day.

The big news today was the explosion at one of the power plants. The reactor was not damaged and the new plan is to cool the reactors by passing a bunch of sea water through them. The process is expected to take two days. The update on the explosion claimed the cause was unknown, though many people are suspicious that the cause must be known. The evacuation radius was increased to 12 miles from 6 miles around the power plant. Another uncomfortable sign.

All of this is concerning, and we are keeping a close eye on it. We are 400 miles away, so the chance of a serious threat to us is very slim. I will post more tomorrow if I hear anything.

I know our family in particular is very worried, but please don't worry about us. We are all worried about the north of Japan, but we have been totally unaffected down here.

Here is a post by another foreigner living in the same region as us.

http://bibliophilia.typepad.com/writing-like-a-shark/2011/03/japan-in-the-midst-of-crisis-a-foreigners-perspective.html