One lasting effect on me from my post-quake (March 11, 2011) experience is that I never allow my toilet paper supplies to run low. Now, the moment I open a new bag, I make sure to pick up a second one. The inexplicable TP hoarding that followed the quake has convinced me that I need to keep certain essentials on hand in abundance. For greater Japan, the focus appears to be on other types of essentials, as this vending machine with but one choice reveals.
My husband and I both have noticed that there are immense amounts of water for sale now as compared to the pre-quake stock. We don't know if people ordered a lot and now it isn't selling or if they stock a lot because it is still selling well with the ongoing nuclear issues at Fukushima. The only thing I can say is that I have not bought one bottle of water since the quake. I may one day glow in the dark, or disintegrate into a puddle of goo from drinking tap water, but I'll be damned if I'll give into what feels like (hopefully) unfounded fear.
I really do hope that it is unfounded fear, I've personally never drank tap water because it has an aftertaste for me, and I feel like tossing my cookies, I honestly can't hold it down. I think I started drinking spring water or filtered water 20 years ago when I drank hard water once on accident down South...eww and it felt like my hair would never rinse.
ReplyDeleteI'm really concerned about the cesium factor, so we only buy veggies and milk, etc locally at the moment, with Sebastian being more insistent. Once the crisis is under control then we can really start to see what's really going on and what's at risk.
It's sad that a large part of Tohoku will be inhabitable.
I filter tap water in Tokyo to make it tolerable. I can't drink it straight, but I grew up with spring water and it's hard to deal with chemical tastes. I actually dislike bottled water as well, because I can taste the plastic bottle!
ReplyDeleteAnd I also hope that it is unfounded fear, but I guess only time will tell. :-(