Tokyo really is almost normal now. There are still power cuts, and the trains are still running at about 70–80% capacity, but when I went in a convenience store to find Pringles for Mayuki last night, it had lots of bread, as well as still having some other empty shelves, so distribution seems to be working again.
In another sign of that, I ordered some Thomas the Tank Engine books for Mayuki (and the complete Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it’s a modern televisual classic and worked out to about 35p an episode) from Amazon UK on the 16th. They arrived here on the 19th. I can’t help suspecting that that’s faster than they deliver within the UK. Anyway, it was very convenient, because it meant that they were here for my break while Yuriko and Mayuki went to Nagoya for the weekend, so I was able to relax while watching Buffy. It really is quite well-written, even in the first series, and I’m told it gets better. It might well take me seven years to watch it all, though.
I did another internet lesson with my student in Fukushima prefecture today, and she offered to send me batteries. Apparently, batteries are not in short supply there. I turned her down, of course; we do have enough, and the idea of people in the disaster area sending emergency supplies to those outside is just silly. But she could make the offer, because the postal service is working again, and parcel deliveries are apparently due to start today or tomorrow. As I mentioned before, she’s inland, so no tsunami damage, but some areas of Tohoku are starting to recover from the disaster.
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