The latest on Japan from Shux Wun

I recently reached out to everyone I build with via email with a life update detailing some of the beautiful events that have aligned for me of later.  In return, I asked them to fill me in on what's been going on with them.  A good friend of mine Shux Wun who has been in Japan since I left almost 2 years ago filled me in on what the transition as been like for him and those surrounding since the recent earthquake.

DJ Sarasa, Shux Wun, A Homey, Mr Free

Well, following the biggest natural disaster in world history a few months ago here, things got pretty difficult. I lost a lot of students (not perished, just stopped taking lessons) and lost video clients. People were not focused on the extras, just their immediate needs and watching their pockets closely. Aside from losing over 20,000 people to the tsunami there are tons of people who survived but now have no home. Then to add to that, so many people who were unaffected by the quake and tsunami but forced to evacuate their cities due to the radiation in their areas... so needless to say, it's a bad situation for a lot of people here still.

Tokyo was virtually unaffected, however, the initial fear of radiation affected everyone here. I left Tokyo for awhile and stayed in Osaka, as did thousands of others who were unsure about the actual reach of the radiation. The government here did a very good job of keeping their people in the dark about everything, so a lot of people decided to either leave the country or go farther south until further notice...
I left because within the first two days after the quake I found out that all the foreign embassy offices here had moved their locations to Osaka... so what's good for them is good for me I figured. Also, all the convenience stores and supermarkets in my area got completely wiped clean of dried foods, because we were facing electrical blackouts and our refrigerated foods became a problem. People panicked, hording and whatnot, although in a much more peaceful manner than what would have happened stateside... nobody was robbing and stealing to get theirs here, from what I know of. However, the greed was blatant although more polite.  I bounced south and Osaka was perfectly fine, no problem finding food and nobody seemed concerned about radiation.

After a bit of research it was realized that the radiation levels were very minimal in Tokyo (but that doesn't include the thousands of gallons of contaminated water dumped into the ocean and potentially affecting our seafood). I returned to Tokyo and things back in the neighborhood were better at the supermarkets and whatnot, but still a very tense feeling in the air about what we all are really facing concerning the radiation. Upon more research I realized that even if there were radiation affecting us, it wouldn't be a health risk for another 15 or so years as something like cancer may develop, but that would be the extreme case in being exposed to a high level on a daily basis. As of now, even American and other foreign experts are reporting a "no health risk" situation for this region. So, I feel a bit better but not completely at ease... but enough to keep me here I guess. :)


If you're interested in seeing more...Shux put together a few videos as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5kX6Ifu0sc  (March 14th 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-aH4zfXLYY (April 3rd 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EvR7qU9MYo (April 23rd 2011)


Keep Japan in your prayers!