2:58 PM - Good site for list of relief organizations working in Japan. This link came from the US Embassy. For people wishing to contribute, this looks like a good source. Relief for Japan
2:07 PM - The embassy has just changed their travel warning to tell people not to come to Japan and urging US citizens in Japan to leave. That is a big change but has gotten no coverage. Before, they simply were facilitating the exit of people who wanted to leave, but their position was that leaving was not necessary. So far, no explanation of this change and although I'm on their emergency notification list, no e-mail update indicating any change at all. This kind of poor communication is about he last thing anyone needs right now. If there is a change in status that should necessitate US citizens to leave, it would be nice to know what the basis for that is. But to fob off a major change like that in some unheralded travel update is really unhelpful and just adds to the anxiety. DoS is dropping the ball.
11:10 AM - It has turned sunny and is getting warmer. Electrical outages canceled.
7:36 AM - It is a cold, gray day here this morning. A quick scan of the news shows no increase in radiation but little progress with efforts at Fukushima to get things under control. The situation for us here in the Tokyo area looks like it will be unchanged for some time. Mostly we're inconvenienced right now with train service reduced and lines for staple goods. Getting gas for vehicles remains a problem. But otherwise we are fine. Metropolis Magazine is publishing radiation levels at this site Tokyo radiation levels and I'll be checking it regularly.
The people in Fukushima, however, are still not getting what they need and temperatures up there are low. The exclusion zone and gas shortages seem to be the problem. Good report here by NYT Fukushima residents here and here by (surprisingly) Al Jazeera. Fukushima relief problems
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