Guest's visit to Tokyo, Nagoya, Gifu, Takayama, Shirakawa-go,...

My parents and I have been traveling around Japan between April 10th and

23rd. (And I live in Gifu City).

Some information on the areas we went...

TOKYO... N'ex had just started services again. We had absolutely NO TROUBLE

with any train/ subway delays/ route closures because of 'blackouts'. Though

we were mostly using main routes.

Nagoya

We actually felt several earthquakes while in Tokyo! We had some big shakes

in our hotel (sorry, not booked through JGH!), but they felt 'stronger'

because we were on the 10th floor, in a new building that is built to sway.

We also felt several as we were in the depa-chika (department store

basement) in Ginza. They announced (in japanese) the earthquake warnings...

several STAFF and general public came over to us and asked if we understood/

were ok (very touching!).

Many of the conbini (convenience stores) still had a limit of 3 small or 1

large water bottles purchasable per person. (to avoid un-necessary

stock-piling).

Many subways/ train stations had only half their platform lights on, still

plenty to see by, and a little more relaxing on the eyes! Many stations had

also turned off most of their escalators off.

We'd heard that many of the large TV billboards/ neon lights were off...

however, while we were there most were on... just as normal...

Oh, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observation Deck was

closed...

Nagoya, Gifu, Takayama/ Shirakawa-go, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka (other places we

visited) were all 'business as usual', no power saving or anything

special... if you didn't know better you'd have no idea of the disaster in

northern Japan! They've generally calmed down now, but there have been lots

more people out on street corners collecting donations for Red Cross and

other charities to help out... (and alot more donation boxes on shop

counters).

While there are definitely alot less foreign tourists, there is still lots

of domestic tourism. We were in Takayama for the second day of their

festival, and there were heaps of people. Kyoto was full of people,

especially japanese school groups (and we saw more foreigners in one day in

Kyoto than in the whole two weeks elsewhere!). I was in Shirakawa-go again

last week (May 4th) and it was packed with people.

Actually this spring has been pretty cold, so the sakura where a little slow

blooming in many places, and I guess people haven't really been getting out

as much... things are picking up again and more domestic tourism is

happening. I noticed alot of the smaller, local spring festivals were

cancelled in April; but the big events are still on, and people are looking

to regain more happiness.

Locally around Nagoya/ Gifu I have noticed that shelves are generally fully

stocked, there is no shortage of supplies. ... the only shortage I've

noticed is some cigarette brands... but that doesn't bother me!

We noticed in the more tourist places (Ryokan Shimizu in Kyoto; info center

by Asakusa in Tokyo etc) that the japanese people were even more welcoming,

and grateful that we foreigners were still travelling to their country; it

was very sweet!

I actually haven't really heard anything lately about radiation levels

around the country; I guess there are no major concerns from the Fukushima

nuclear plant for people outside the evacuation areas. At least the

government/ world are thinking about/ investigating the safety of other

nuclear power plants (my nearest in Shizuoka is going to be shut down

hopefully... a good idea, considering they're still predicting a massive

quake to hit the central japan region; an event that is 'overdue'!).

SO, come back to Japan everyone... life goes on as usual! ... it's kind of

nice at the moment, because some places are a little more peaceful, less

crowded... but on the flip-side, you miss the experience of the crazy

crowds... although, then again, Osaka was mad... the station and

Shinsaibashi shopping areas were packed!

Hope this has been a little help, please feel free to email with any

specific questions and I'll attempt to help with my knowledge!

Regards

Charlotte Newman