Venturing out in Black-Out Kofu

Today’s electricity shut-down started at 3:40 PM. At 5:30 PM, I went out to Kofu station by bike.

Traffic lights are normally off.

However at the busy corners, lights were lit now!  This will reduce the accidents.

Station was lit inside and trains were coming.

Escalators stopped.

At the station, I asked about the seat reservation and found out that one can reserve seats only on the day of travel because the train schedules are fixed only in the morning.

Takeda street at 6 PM.

Sidewalks were lit by the car lights and the light of the full moon.

I dropped by on campus.

It was dark.  Nobody works.

I came back about 6:30 PM.  The electricity was still off.  At 6:45, it flew to ours.

About Muravej

Hello! I am a scientist running apartments in Tokyo and Yokohama. If you are willing to live in Japan, please get in touch.
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4 Responses to Venturing out in Black-Out Kofu

  1. AdelaideBen says:

    So how is Kofu going (and more importantly yourself and Katya)? It seems things are still quite calm there, despite the exodus of people from Tokyo (have you noticed any more / less people in Kofu)?

    Hope the blackouts aren’t affecting life too much – rather than being an annoyance. You could of course view the blackout at night to be a good reason to turn those candles into an opportunity for romance… trying to find the silver lining there somewhere.

  2. Muravej says:

    Kofu has not changed much. We live our normal life. A researcher from France left Kofu having been told by the government to move to the west of Japan.
    But totally, no big change in life here, as well as in the western and southern parts of Japan.
    Discontinuous supply of electricity is bad for the people using instruments for health treatments. Many factories have to stop manufacturing. This should give a damage on Japanese economy.
    So far, people are not in panic.

  3. AdelaideBen says:

    Hmmm – had written a long reply but suddenly lost it. Not happy! Anyhow, I was just going to ask if you knew how things were going at Fujigoko or Hakone after the earthquake. We were originally going to spend 2-3 days around Nikko (mid April), but that might not be the best idea. Then I was thinking of going to Fujigoko instead – until the earthquake the other day in Shizuoka….

    Perhaps Kofu’s not a bad place (you haven’t had too many earthquakes have you?) Actually, we’re sort of seriously looking for somewhere that we can spend 2-3 days after the T-chan’s brothers wedding (in Tokyo) that won’t be affected by potential power outages.

    I can imagine that may people just want to get on with their lives. To forgot (even if only for a moment) all of the pain and suffering that’s happened (and is still happening). The world, but Japan in particular, needs a holiday. I can easily imagine the sense of relief when this calamity is finally over – like the rain after a drought. I hope that time will begin soon.

    By the way – if you want, send me a line on my Kontactr link to exchange emails.

  4. Muravej says:

    Fujigoko and Hakone areas were hardly damaged as well as Kofu, although some events for visitors, like a film festival in Hakone, have been canceled. For those places, electricity is provided by Tokyo Electric Power Co., thus you may possibly experience some scheduled blackouts at least during the weekdays.
    You are very welcome to Kofu, Ben, but frankly speaking, Fujigoko and Hakone areas are more recommendable for sightseeing in general. We can talk about your schedules. I will get in touch.
    I wish you a wonderful, safe trip to Japan. Say hello to T-chan and K-kun.

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