[sustran] "Everything's different"

[Ian Perry]

“Everything’s different”, are the words of my Japanese friend in Tokyo to
describe the current situation there.


When I lived in Tokyo, I’d adjust my watch not by other clocks, but the
train as it arrived at the station platform.  Only twice in the year I was
there was my train, which ran on 8 minute frequencies, not bang on time,
being 4 minutes late on both occasions.

Today, my friend tells me that the trains are chaotic.  They run not to
timetable, but to the amount of available energy they have, and trains are
also subject to the rolling blackouts, closing lines for parts of the day.  My
friend, who on the day of the quake spent 3 hours walking home (probably it
would have been two hours or less walk for me) is working half days due to
the lack of trains.


A fellow employee has like many Japanese started cycling.  One lady at my
friends’ office spent 4.5 hours cycling to work on a newly purchased
bicycle, though my observations of Japanese cyclists was when I was
overtaking them whilst walking... so the distance might not be so great.


My friend says that bicycles are too expensive for her to purchase, but many
did purchase bicycles to get home after the quake and bicycles can be seen
on the streets cleared of tsunami debris.


Petrol is being rationed where it is available, oil refineries have been
devastated as well as the nuclear energy supply.  This is making driving
difficult.  I’m informed that the car plants that make the Prius and other
“green” Japanese cars are no longer functioning and the Just In Time (JIT)
supply chain is in ruins.  This affects car assembly throughout the world,
so expect to see less new “greenwash” vehicles on our streets once the
stockpiles are gone.


But... before you think that this will boost bicycle sales, Shimano, the
world’s leading supplier of bicycle components/parts is Japanese.  Although
based in Osaka, it is possible that some of their components are made in the
affected region of Japan, and if not, their production is likely to be
affected by the lack of energy.  Shimano has such a massive market share
that we are likely to see changes in the bicycle market over the next
months.


What is clear is that Japan will not have so much energy for many, many
years as it did before the quake and tsunami.  In all aspects of life,
changes will need to be made to live of what can be produced safely, though
Japan is “blessed” with the possibility of much geothermal energy.  If Japan
redesigns itself as it did intercity rail in the 1960’s we could see some
fascination innovations.  Interestingly, the Maglev train might be part of
the solutions, apparently requiring less energy to run than trains on rails
and this summer, the trains will not be "ice-cold".  People will be moving
much more in high humidity without air-conditioning.


Trains, cars, the fishing fleet that provides so much food to the nation,
famous neon signs, escalators, moving walkways, the levels of electrical
gadgetry are all affected (phones, heated toilet seats, etc.) and levels of
air-conditioning are all affected.  Even in 2003 Japanese office workers
were being asked to turn off their air-conditioning as Japan did not have
enough energy to run everything people had purchased and wished to use.  Even
in 2003, Japanese people believed Japanese nuclear power plants were
dangerous and they had a poor reputation for safety and had tried to cover
up a number of incidents... though a sloppy UK newspaper has only found
concerns from 2008.


As we witnessed in Christchurch when a newly discovered fault destroyed that
once beautiful city we do not know much about this planet.  Hopefully the
Japanese will take into account what we don’t know and what we don’t know we
don’t know when rebuilding their infrastructures and systems.


*The one thing that is clear is that the streets of Japan will be very
different following the recent events and we may be able to learn many
things from them.  *


Ian