Tokyo (Narita) – Fukuoka

AirAsia Japan operates 2 daily flights on the busy Tokyo (Narita) – Fukuoka route. The morning JW 8541 service takes off from the Japanese capital at 0700 hrs, arriving in Fukuoka at 0900 hrs where it returns as flight JW 8542 at 0925 hrs, landing back in Tokyo at 1115 hrs. A midday flight, JW 8543, departs at 1140 hrs to arrive in Fukuoka at 1340 hrs. The jet then operates flight JW 8544 at 1405 hrs for a 1555 hrs arrival in Tokyo.

Tokyo (Narita) – Naha

The carrier is also targeting the leisure market to Okinawa, with a daily flight to Naha beginning tomorrow. Departing Tokyo (Narita) at 1550 hrs, flight JW 8665 arrives in Naha at 1850 hrs. The return flight, JW 8666, takes off from Naha Airport at 1920 hrs and lands back at Narita Airport at 2155 hrs.

Tokyo (Narita) – Sapporo (New Chitose)

3 daily services will be offered between Tokyo (Narita) and Sapporo (New Chitose). Flight JW 8521 departs Tokyo (Narita) at 0745 hrs, arriving in Sapporo (New Chitose) at 0920 hrs before returning as flight JW 8522 at 0945 hrs, landing back at Narita Airport at 1120 hrs.

The midday flight, JW 8523, is wheels up from Tokyo at 1145 hrs and touches down at Sapporo at 1320 hrs, with the return JW 8524 service departing at 1345 hrs and arriving in Tokyo at 1520 hrs. In the evenings, flight JW 8527 takes off from Narita Airport at 1635 hrs, arriving in New Chitose International Airport at 1810 hrs. The aircraft returns as flight JW 8628 at 1835 hrs, touching down at Tokyo (Narita) at 2010 hrs.

AirAsia Japan’s domestic services will complement the international flights of affiliate AirAsia X and All Nippon Airways. The airline has ambitions of regional expansion in the near future, with services to South Korea in its sights.

For more information, visit www.airasia.com.

Workers have a right to a safe workplace. The law requires employers to provide their employees with working conditions that are free of known dangers. OSHA provides information, training, and assistance to workers and employers. Be aware that in our industry manufacturers are deceptive. They want you to buy their products, and will customize class’s in order for you to be presented with their latest and greatest lotions, powders, soaps etc.  I was talking with a very very bright gentleman of the next film “Beautiful LieS”. He said a statement that really hit home to me. When a professional buys a ticket to a hair show such as “Premier, NAHA, Cosmoprof, etc” why should they buy the products there, if they can find the products in a commercial outlet. The major manufacturers have given up on LOYALTY TOO YOU and SELLING EXCLUSIVE products to the business professional in our industry. I would not even give a current hair show the time of day. I can see their products in a store. I thought our products supposed are supposed to be exclusive, and only sold in salons. Come on! And do you really know what ARE the ingredients you are using in your salon products? And most of you products you use in the salon for Hair coloring, Keratin treatments, Permanent waves can be purchased by the consumer. Where did our exclusive go???? The MAJOR manufacturers have sold us out. In this months edition of Brokenchair.com 90% of the products advertised in this magazine are found in the commercial sector or on the internet. Available to the consumer at their finger tips. Basically its the magazine of the “Brainwashed’. And the topics of literature in the magazine are the same ol, same ol! Be responsible everyone, and be the change The Real Beauty Industry needs. Change in this industry has to come from you! Then others will see you as a role model and you will set the standard for others.

Walk the Walk everyone!

Take back your industry!

You will see the latest in industry magazines everyone,”How To” of the layered haircut with a Ombre color or join Farouk’s Dream Team, Learn client consultation. But not touching on the politics of a industry broken by Major Manufacturers. 

They dont want you to know, what they know, that you dont need to know. See this is what they want you to know, ”Keep the Young Dumb, and don’t worry were looking out for you”. “We are your legal representative of the Beauty Industry as the PBA.ORG would say, REALLY?”  Take it upon yourself to know your products, and all the ingredients in the products. Your customers health and yours is very important. And I would not like to see anyone gain an illness because the greed of a manufacturer cannot be controled. If you work in a salon go to the owner and ask for the MSDS sheets of the products you use for your salon services. Know what you are using. Its your body. And you get only one go around in this lifetime! You are all very, very special people. And you cannot be replaced.

OSHA will continue to conduct inspections in response to complaints and/or referrals. Workers may file a complaint to have OSHA inspect their workplace if they believe that their employer is not following OSHA standards or that there are serious hazards. Employees can file a complaint with OSHA by calling 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) or by printing out the complaint form and mailing or faxing to your local OSHA area office. Complaints that are signed by an employee are more likely to result in an inspection. 

OSHA can help answer questions or concerns from employers and workers. Contact your local OSHA office if you have any questions about a product that you are using or its material safety data sheet (MSDS). To reach your regional or area OSHA office, go to OSHA’s Regional & Area Offices web page. 

Hair salon owners and beauty schools can contact OSHA’s free and confidential on-site consultation service to help determine if there are hazards at their salon and work with OSHA on correcting any identified hazards. On-site consultations services are separate from enforcement activities and do not result in penalties or citations. To contact OSHA’s free consultation service, go to OSHA’s On-Site Consultationweb page or call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) and press number 4. 

Salon owners and workers can also request the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, at no cost, to help identify and correct any health hazard in the workplace through its Health Hazard Evaluation Program. Contact NIOSH at 1-800-CDC-INFO [1-800-232-4636].

Was uns im Vergleich zu China als erstes aufgefallen ist, ist die schon fast Zen-mässige Stille. Auf der Strasse kann man ohne Probleme miteinander flüstern und im Restaurant sind wir mittlerweile oft die Lautesten. Diese Ruhe hat aber ihren Preis. Am deutlichsten zeigt sich dies bei den einheimischen Mangos. Eine günstige Mango ist für 8 Fr. zu haben, wenn es etwas Spezielles sein soll, gibt der Japaner aber auch gerne mal 30-70 Fr. pro Frucht aus. Die Ananas sind hingegen günstig, und man wird ebenfalls ausführlich beraten. Um die optimale Ananas für einen bestimmten Genusszeitpunkt zu finden, werden sie minutenlang fachmännisch beklopft und berochen.

Nachdem wir uns beim Schnorcheln einen kleinen rückseitigen Sonnenbrand zugezogen hatten, hielten wir es für besser, uns in tieferes Gewässer zurückzuziehen. Wir machten einen Tauchkurs, bei dem wir neben den unzähligen bunten Fischen und Korallen eine Riesenschildkröte, 3 Meter grosse Mantarochen und eine 5-fach tödliche Meerschlange sehen konnten.

Aber auch ohne Sauerstoff-Flasche am Rücken macht das Meer Spass. Beim Schnorcheln gibt es unendlich viel zu entdecken und die schönsten Strände sind wegen der Sonnenphobie der Japaner oft menschenleer.

Da jetzt ein Taifun auf die Insel Ishigaki zusteuert und dort 7m hohe Wellen werfen wird, verliessen wir diesen Ort schon einen Tag früher. Morgen wird die bisher längste Reise unseres Lebens zu Ende gehen und wir fliegen über Peking, Hongkong und Quatar zurück in die Schweiz. Vielen herzlichen Dank fürs Mitfiebern und bis bald!

$100,000 Commitment to Help Raise Awareness & Stop Domestic Violence

(L-R) Steve Sleeper, Executive Director of PBA with Rhoda Wilson, CEO, Great Clips and Kim Schottler, Director of Industry Relations, Great Clips at the 2012 NAHA Awards Ceremony accepting the $100,000 sponsorship check for Cut It Out.

The Professional BeautyAssociation (PBA) and Great Clips® are proud to announce a strategic partnership and a $100,000 sponsorship of CUT IT OUT, which with the support of salons, spas, schools and beauty professionals is dedicated to raising awareness and stopping domestic violence across the U.S.

Announced at the 2012 North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA), Great Clips® will become the Premium Sponsor of CUT IT OUT. Their financial commitment will enable PBA to create a new CUT IT OUT website, provide ongoing outreach, print and maintain collateral materials, and develop additional marketing initiatives aimed at educating beauty professionals on domestic violence. Great Clips® will also promote CUT IT OUT to their nationwide network of more than 3,000 salons and 30,000+ stylists, further aiding the programs visibility and giving women and men access to information on how to seek help.

“Domestic violence continues to be an issue for far too many women and men. Great Clips is proud to promote CUT IT OUT and hopes that the connection our customers have with our stylists will enable those in need to safely seek help,” says Kim Schottler, Director of Industry Relations, Great Clips®.

How You Can Make a Difference Through CUT IT OUT:
Create awareness by displaying the complimentary CUT IT OUT materials, which include posters and individual safety card kits, in your salon, spa or school. Display locations can include front desks, individual work stations, changing rooms, or restrooms. Materials are available in English and Spanish and can be ordered free of charge from probeauty.org/cutitout.
Provide CUT IT OUT education in your salon, spa or school, by inviting your local domestic violence agency to present the CUT IT OUT program to your team.
Take action in your community and “Adopt-A-Shelter” by holding a fundraiser for your local domestic violence agency and the CUT IT OUT program.

“PBA is grateful to Great Clips and all the salon and spas involved for their continued support of CUT IT OUT. Together we can use the power of the beauty industry to help those suffering from domestic violence,” said Steve Sleeper, Executive Director of PBA.

Beauty professionals can learn more about CUT IT OUT and request display materials at www.probeauty.org/cutitout.

Hair by Dimitrios Tsioumas, winner of the highest NAHA honor, Hairstylist of the Year
Las Vegas, NV (July 22, 2012) – The North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA), a Professional Beauty Association (PBA) event and the most prestigious photographic hairstyling competition in North America, is pleased to announce the winners of NAHA 2012. The winners were recognized July 22, 2012 during a star-studded ceremony held at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. More than 3,000 beauty professionals attended, along with more than 35,000 viewers from across the globe who tuned in to watch the live steaming broadcast on hairdesignertv.com, to celebrate the honorees in NAHA’s 13 distinct categories. NAHA’s top honor, Hairstylist of the Year, was presented to Dimitrios Tsioumas, from the Mizu New York Salon in New York, NY. Tsioumas, who also took home the 2012 Contemporary Classic NAHA, has won multiple NAHA honors over the years.

The NAHA 2012 winners in their respective categories include:

Master Stylist of the Year
Edwin Johnson
Cutting Room Creative, Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Hairstylist of the Year
Dimitrios Tsioumas
Mizu New York
New York, NY

Newcomer Stylist of the Year
Sal Misseri
Ladies & Gentleman Salon & Spa, Chicago, IL

Salon Team of the Year
Lunatic Fringe Salon
Salt Lake City, UT

Editorial Stylist of the Year
Neeko Abriol
Salon Sessions Studio Pasadena, CA

Student Hairstylist of the Year
Cassandra Monteyro
Aveda Fredric’s Institute
West Chester, OH

Make-Up Artist of the Year
Jeanne San Diego
R Rated Hair
Upland, CA

Avant Garde
Nicholas French
West Hampton, NY

Contemporary Classic
Dimitrios Tsioumas
Mizu New York
New York, NY

Haircolor
Chad Demchuk
Drexel Hill, PA

Texture
Jasmine Gibbs
The Cutting Edge
Brooklyn, NY

Salon Design
Square Colour Salon + Spa
Las Vegas, NV

Salon MBA
Gila Rut Salons
San Diego, CA

People’s Choice Award: Newcomer Stylist of the Year
Nick Hemsley
Lunatic Fringe Salon
Salt Lake City, UT

Awards Ceremony: This year marked 23 years of the NAHA Awards Ceremony. The event featured five artistic presentations from, NAHA 2011 Hairstylist of the Year Eli Mancha, artists representing the Proctor & Gamble Salon Professional Brands, Cloud Nine Hair USA and Aveda. A tribute to Vidal Sassoon was also included to honor the work and legacy of the man who did so much to advance the art and profession of hairstyling.

In addition, Great Clips® presented a $100,000 check and a commitment to PBA’s CUT IT OUT program, which raises awareness through salons, spas, and beauty professionals to end domestic violence.

Special Honorees: Entertainment journalist and host of E! Network’s E! News and Fashion Police, Giuliana Rancic, was presented with the PBA Beautiful Humanitarian Award for her work with charitable organizations Bright Pink, Operation Smile, Dress for Success, Mercy Home for Boys & Girls in Chicago and the Children’s Miracle Networks. Rancic also hosted the 2012 NAHA Awards Ceremony.

Judging: NAHA continues to draw from a diverse and internationally renowned list of hairstylists and makeup artists from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and Switzerland, to judge the competition. Judges included Vivienne Mackinder, five-time NAHA award winner, founder of HairDesignerTV.com, and editor-in-chief of MOD magazine;Tabatha Coffey, author, stylist and host of Bravo’s Tabatha’s Salon Takeover; Nicholas French, renowned UK stylist, author, and speaker; and Damien Carney, prominent beauty industry educator, founder of hairstyling academy Damien Carney London, and NAHA finalist along with many other top hairstylists from around the world! Via a blind entry process, entries were narrowed down to five finalists per category, and one winner in each category was chosen.

New for 2013: NAHA is introducing a new category for 2013. The “Men’s Hairstylist of the Year” must master current men’s commercial, contemporary and wearable styling trends. This award will honor a stylist who displays the most proficiency in the designs and techniques used in men’s styling and grooming.

NAHA is also changing the nomination rules for the Make-Up Artist of the Year award. For the first time, applicants can submit their own entries without being nominated by a hairstylist. This will open up the category and encourage make-up artists not affiliated with a stylist or salon to showcase their work.

NAHA 2013: Applications are available at www.probeauty.org/naha.

Thai Smile Air

Government officials, invited guests and media joined Thai Airways executives and passengers on the inaugural flight of new regional subsidiary Thai Smile Air this morning. The carrier will initially offer double-daily Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) – Macau flights, with domestic services to Chiang Mai, Krabi, Phuket and Surat Thani to follow.

Flight TG 750 takes off from Suvarnabhumi International Airport at 0745 hrs, arriving at Macau International Airport at 1130 hrs before returning as flight TG 751 at 1215 hrs, where it lands back in Bangkok at 1400 hrs. The afternoon service, TG 752, departs Bangkok at 1640 hrs and arrives in Macau at 2025 hrs, turning around to operate flight TG 753, taking off from Macau International Airport at 2115 hrs and landing back at Suvarnabhumi International Airport at 2300 hrs.

Thai Smile Air is flying the route with its newly-delivered Airbus A320 jet, configured with 12 (domestic) or 16 (international) seats in Smile Plus short-haul business class and 156 Smile economy class seats. In the former, passengers can look forward to the middle seat being kept unoccupied for more space and a complimentary hot meal service onboard, while a light snack and beverage will be available for the latter. Each flight will also offer a selection of food and beverages for purchase.

For more information, visit www.thaismileair.com.

Jetstar Japan

A joint venture between Qantas, Japan Airlines, Mitsubishi and Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation, Jetstar Japan commenced services on Tuesday 5 months ahead of schedule with expectations to boost domestic travel in Japan, which has been dominated by incumbents All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines until recently. The airline is moving fast to establish a foothold, beginning with multiple daily flights from its base in Tokyo (Narita) to Sapporo (New Chitose) and Fukuoka, followed by Okinawa and Osaka (Kansai). A further 2 routes connecting Osaka (Kansai) with Fukuoka and Sapporo (New Chitose) will be introduced from late August 2012.

On the busy Tokyo (Narita) – Sapporo (New Chitose) route, flight GK 111 departs the Japanese capital at 0820 hrs, arriving in Hokkaido at 1000 hrs and returning as flight GK 112, taking off from Sapporo at 1030 hrs and landing back in Tokyo at 1210 hrs. A second morning flight, GK 113, departs at 0935 hrs for a 1115 hrs arrival in Sapporo, turning around to fly back at 1145 hrs as flight GK 114 and landing in Tokyo (Narita) at 1325 hrs. In the afternoons, flight GK 115 takes off from Tokyo at 1610 hrs to land in Sapporo at 1750 hrs, while flight GK 116 is wheels up at 1840 hrs and touches down in Tokyo at 2020 hrs. The evening service, GK 117, departs Tokyo (Narita) at 1830 hrs, arriving in Sapporo (New Chitose) at 2010 hrs, before returning to Tokyo at 2040 hrs as flight GK 118, where it lands at 2220 hrs.

Jetstar Japan will initially operate a fleet of 3 Airbus A320s, expanding to 24 aircraft within the first few years to serve a domestic network that will supplement international flights from affiliates Jetstar and Jetstar Asia. The carrier follows Peach Aviation, a unit of All Nippon Airways, into the country’s low-cost travel market, where competition is expected to intensify next month with the arrival of rival carrier AirAsia Japan.

For more information, visit www.jetstar.com.

A few weekends ago, Sara and I took 年休 for a three day holiday to Okinawa! We arrived to a flower-adorned Naha airport at 11am and caught a connecting flight to an island called Miyako. As soon as we arrived in Oki (can I call ya Oki?), we were very aware of how different it was to the rest of Japan. It’s like its own tropical country; humid, full of exotic plants and everywhere we went on Miyako was lined with sugarcane fields (people don’t exaggerate- they are everywhere!). We were met at the airport the レンタカー company we were renting a car from. The guy that met us was sullen and silent with a loud Hawaiian-like t-shirt. After getting Sara’s name he led us to his car and drove us off from the airport without saying where we were going. There was another guy with us, too, in a shirt and trousers. The colours around us were vibrant against the grey sky (we managed to pick the stormiest weekend for our beach-holiday!!) and I started to feel nervous as we drove past battered shops and abandoned car parks full of cars left to be covered with grass. OMG, were we gonna be stranded somewhere, why hasn’t this guy said anything, why is the suit guy sweating so much WHAT DOES HE KNOW THAT I DON’T?!?!?!

Of course I was just being paranoid and we drove ten minutes down the road to one of the many car rental places and were given a lovely little car we named Lady Cubert (in honour of Sara and Stuart’s Q.B.). From there we set off to find lunch. It was still raining and we wanted to go somewhere to sit and decide what we should do if we couldn’t do the beach-ridden schedule we had planned.

We found a place that served curry in the shape of Miyako. How novel! The restaurant was beautiful, very stylishly decorated with netting and marbles and corals dotted around the seating areas. The staff were really friendly and showed us a few cool places we could go from a magazine and the curry was cute (kinda watery and not very filling though L). By the time we left the restaurant the sun was out and we excitedly drove to the north of the island to see one of the huge bridges connecting a smaller island. By then the sun was blazing and it was really humid so we whacked on sunscreen then parked by the bridge to admire the view. The sea was incredible!

We were really lucky with the sunshine so we crammed as much outdoor stuff in as we could. We picked the biggest, whitest beach we could find in the magazine and then drove to the wrong one…

Which turned out brilliantly for us! We thought we’d see what this one was like and if we didn’t like it then we could just try for the big beach again. Turns out we could snorkel at this beach for \1300 for as long as we liked. I thought that was pretty good anyway but it is actually much cheaper than anywhere else on the island! Lucky! It was my first time snorkeling because I’ve never been convinced that one could just breathe through a plastic tube- surely the water will just get into your mouth when you try and breathe in and then fill up your goggles?! But as usual, Japan gave me the courage to try something new and I loved it…! We saw loads of tropical fish and a really dangerous sea snake (didn’t find that out until afterwards though which is kind of a good thing!). The clown fish were very sweet and had a good look at us and there were these white fish with pink bits that sort of hung out with us as we swam about.

After snorkeling we drove to our hotel Kyowa… which was not nice. We booked our holiday through a travel agency so they sorted the hotels etc out for us so we didn’t know what to expect but that place wasn’t good. Very old, smelly, dirty and the AC in our

room sounded like it would burst into flames at any moment.

tasty 高い steak!!

You can always get a quick impression of a Japanese hotel from its foyer. I know that sounds obvious but all the money seems to go into making that look pretty so the rooms will always be slightly less awesome in comparison. This one was particularly shabby so we weren’t surprised at the crappy room with towels that were yellow to conceal stains. It was only for the night though so it was fine!

We went to an American steak place that evening and it was so tasty. The restaurant was done up like a ship and we could cut up the steak ourselves (in Japan, steak usually comes pre-chopped up!) and it was terribly lovely and fancy and la-di-dah! J By then we were exhausted and went back to the hotel to crash out.

Day 2

The next day we woke up to rain. A lot of it. Sara ran out to bring the car round to the hotel entrance so I could run out with our luggage and throw it into the back of the car. We stopped at a コンビニ called Cocos (never seen one in Saga) and it had a bakery stand so I bought a ham and egg sandwich :3 That’s one of the few proper breakfasts I’ve ever had in

Japan, unless I eat fruit or an onigiri, the choice is usually sugary creamy stuff from conbinis…

The rain hammered down relentlessly. We drove towards the south end of the island thinking vaguely that we might check out the lighthouse there but we could hardly see a thing through the rain. Water gushed off the sugarcane fields turning pavements into muddy rivers and we crawled along the road so as not to damage the car. Even so, I still really enjoyed checking out the Okinawan scenery in the safety of a car with air conditioning. As we reached the end of the island, the rain cleared up and we excitedly jumped out of the car hoping it would clear up like it had yesterday. We went for a walk through a ‘nature reserve’ but other than bugs, small birds and a lot of weird plants, the only animal we saw was a cat. Before that slight anti-climax, it was like we were in Jurassic Park or something, aka, very beautiful in a scary, why-are-these-plants-so-weird-and-prehistoric-looking way

Clouds hung over us still but the rain had stopped so we rushed off to the big white beach we had looked for yesterday. When we arrived, it looked like this…

Tide in plus heavy rain meant it wasn’t quite what we hoped it would be from the magazine but the sea was still that incredible blue so we stubbornly went for a swim anyway. After we had dried ourselves off a little in the car we went to find somewhere for lunch and came across this lovely little French-style shop plus café that sold chicken Panini! The lady who worked there was really friendly and helped us find an onsen on the map- her boyfriend was an ALT that lived on Miyako and she said if we ever come again we should have an ALT get-together! We didn’t have time by then as we wanted to get our clothes washed in time for the flight back to Naha that afternoon so after lunch we bundled our clothes in a coin laundry then went to an onsen while they dried.

The sullen man in the loud t-shirt drove us back to the airport and we arrived in Naha in the early evening and had dinner at A&W which Sara was very excited about; she could get free refills of root beer so she drank about three pints!! Then we set off in search of our hotel, not expecting much because of the previous one and because it had ‘Castle’ in the name- I don’t trust grand hotel names… So when we found our iPhones pointing us towards a very grand-looking hotel with a swimming pool and a posh ground floor for weddings, we refused to believe it until we were shown to our room. Yay! It was very fancy and comfortable and the air conditioning sounded fine.

Weird police guy dotted all over Miyako- forgot to mention him!

Day 3

The reason the hotel has castle in the title is because it’s situated near Shuri Castle that we went to the following morning. Shuri Castle is so different from other Japanese castles, really worth the visit. It’s like a “European castle and a Chinese castle had a baby” as Sara described. It had thick, coiling stone walls of grey and red and the main courtyard was striped so that the people that would gather there could sit in perfectly straight lines. There was also a tiny ‘godswood’ (yay, Game of Thrones!) that looked really cool, just a bunch of trees in a tiny square of wall where the Emperor would go to pray whenever he was going to leave the castle.

We went on a tour inside the castle and saw the throne room which was all red and gold.

After the castle, we went to a market place and bought haribo and checked out the fish market full or huge crabs and blue fish. Then we shoved in a quick but delicious lunch of taco rice and rushed back to the airport and flew home!

I really enjoyed our trip to Okinawa. The people we met were really friendly and it was cool seeing all the Shisa everywhere. On Miyako we learnt about these gods that look like sugarcanes that come down for a mud festival and do good stuff for people. It all seemed very raw and folklore-ish, probably because of the vivid landscape and the smell of beaches and sugarcanes. I really felt like I had gone to another country!

Emily x

When it comes to radiation in Tokyo I quite honestly have absolutely no concern whatsoever. I realize that this may not be the interesting answer that some of you were hoping for but it is my answer regardless. In fact I have absolutely no concern for radiation or food safety in the area of Tokyo. To be completely honest and terribly boring that is really all that there is to say. Why do I not have concern? Well, why are you (some of you at least) not concerned about the amount of radiation which you receive going through a full body scanner like the ones now used in the US or the amount of radiation you then receive going up in a plane and flying cross country and/or across the ocean. I really think that it all comes down to asking yourself the right questions.

If there is a harmful amount of radiation in Tokyo (and I am not saying that there is) it would not be enough to kill you on the spot because there are thousands still living, working and visiting the city daily so it’s a matter of what long term risks you might encounter. Maybe there is a chance you could get cancer. . . . . ok. There is always a chance that you can get cancer. Cell phones, tattoo ink, fried foods, microwaves, motorcycles, car engines, preservatives, smoking, breathing in polluted city air and plastic bottles (just to name a few) are all some of the things that can also cause cancer and we are consumed by these things each and ever day not to mention the things that could kill us on the spot like car accidents. The question then becomes where you are willing to draw the line. Are you willing to possibly not experience something amazing because there is a little off chance that it could end badly? For me the answer is no. I am not willing to not do something because of the off chance that in the lottery of what we call life I might just pull a card which could give me negative health risks. The same goes for food and food safety. I know what foods to avoid just in case and I know what foods I am going to enjoy. I also know that there is as much higher risk of me getting sick from food that is not cooked properly than there is from me eating something that happened to be irradiated. Again it comes down to what risks you are willing to take.

My real concern while I am in Tokyo. . . . earthquakes. I know that there have been a great deal of earthquakes still happening in the central to northern part of Japan and this causes some concern for me. I want to make sure that not only am I safe but so is my mother who is not used to the feel of the ground shaking under her feet. I have taken real life preparations for this installing various applications which detect earthquakes on my phone as well as having a plan for what to do in the event that there is an earthquake and tsunami during the time that we are in Tokyo. Again does the fact that there are still earthquakes concern me, yes but will it change my plans to travel to Tokyo, no.

Ultimately you only live once and you can choose to sit in the house or you can go and see the world.

Over the course of the evening we really did not experience much wind nor did we experience much hard rain. I say this because my house if built like a house of cards and when we get rain or wind you can hear it clearly. There were two large gusts of wind that we had experienced over the course of the evening which had been surprising because with a category three it seems that we should have had more wind and rain. Either way it is a relief that we did not experience more wind and rain because it made today’s clean up much easier. After going out and inspecting the outside of the house there doesn’t seem to be much damage at all. The all famous palm tree which is often referenced in my storm videos seems to be fine.

Before I close this post I do want to thank all of you out there who had sent me and my family well wishes to stay safe over the course of this typhoon. It is incredibly kind of you. For those who showed concern know that we are well and there is nothing to worry about. For those of you who had wanted to see typhoon images and damage and the wrath of Guchol, I am sorry nothing exciting happened. Thanks for reading!

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Now that this is out of the way let’s talk about what a typhoon is and what you should expect if you are here in Okinawa. To make it as simple as possible a typhoon is a wind storm which usually comes a long with rain although there are times when it doesn’t and let me say that is an incredible interesting storm to experience (which I did the summer before last). They are incredibly easy to prepare for and are very survivable unlike some of the storms that you may encounter in the US or other countries. They are categorized according to the power of the wind that is traveling with the storm. There are tropical depressions and tropical storms which are the very basic warnings that there may be a typhoon on the way and then there are typhoons category 1 through 5. Category 1 is predicted to have approximately 90 mile per hour winds where a category 5 have winds over 156 miles per hour. All are possible and about 3 or 4 years ago we did have a cat 5 over here (which is also known as a super typhoon) but again you can prepare for these storms. In the case of this particular storm we are looking at winds to be approximately 130 miles per hour.

Being that you now understand what a typhoon is (roughly) let’s talk about what is necessary to do in order to prepare for this type of storm. The first thing that you are going to want to do is ensure that you have enough supplies to get you through at least 7 days. These foods should be capable of being eaten with little prep time and should also be nonperishable. I understand that this may be difficult and therefore might not be as healthy as what you are used to but trust me when I say it is important to ensure that you have these foods. I am sure that there are some people out there who feel that 7 days is too long but the fact of the matter is that there are cases when you may be without food for this amount of time and so you want to be prepared. There was one storm a few years ago which had sat over us for 4 days and once it finally went away there was still over 24 hours before the roads were safe to drive on again and about 48 hours before the stores were open again. For some families, including my own, typhoon food is nutritious and as healthy as possible but I also take the advantage of getting some fun things to keep morale up because the fact is when you are in the house for more than 3 days non stop without being able to leave it can be difficult to handle and sometimes oreos are welcome. Of course it is also important to ensure that you have water available also. In some cases it is a good idea to ensure that you have the bath tub filled as well as bottled water.

There is also prep that needs to be taken care of outside of the house. When we have a storm, especially one cat 4, it is important to ensure that everything is taken into the house and/or storage rooms. There are also other helpful and interesting ways to put your outdoor items away like putting them in a car of van or in cases where you can not bring them in the house or put them in a secure area you can tie things down. Personally I feel that tying things down is not the best option because with steady winds of 130 to 140 miles per hour a cord is not necessarily going to keep things in place. I cannot stress how important it is to pick up your outdoor items. Any little doll or screw driver can be deadly during a storm like this and it is so important to ensure that you have taken care of your items in order to ensure that your assets are protected as well as the assets of those around you.

Overall preparing for a typhoon is relatively simple and can be done within a few hours (and your yard will look wonderful in the process so talk about a win win!). The most important thing to do, however, is to stay focused calm and do not worry about the storm. If you are going to focus energy focus it on the preparation and the rest of the storm will be a piece of cake!

Currently a category 2 the storm is expected to hit us in 96 hours at a category 3.

It’s Friday and a quick check to the weather forecast this morning shows that the typhoon season is showing no mercy this year. We are already into our 2nd storm of the year. This is Guchol and although the storm is still very much south of us the projections say that it is expected to hit us here in approximately 96 hours which. The storm is currently a category 2 (as of 2:16pm Friday June 15 2012) and is projected to come at us as a category 3 if it does not pick up any speed in the coming days.

This is an interesting storm because not only is it scheduled to hit us head on which is something we tend to have the ability to avoid but it is going to be coming at us from a different angel than we are used to. Of course this does not seem as though it would cause any more problems however at times when a storm comes from this way it could mean that there is slightly more damage because of the direction of the winds. Either way Okinawa will be ok. As I have said before Okinawa is built for typhoons although when a storm does come from this direction you start to see some things moved around like you wouldn’t necessarily expect because of the change in direction.

I will be posting more as I hear more information and as I see more. Thanks for reading.

Election Season

It’s election season here in Okinawa and although I have no idea what anyone is running for and of course I cannot vote all I can report to you is that I really cannot wait until it is over. Now, I realize that many of you might be asking yourselves what problem I could possibly have with election season. Maybe this is because in your country you have different practices than they do here in Japan. Let me explain. Here in Japan the candidates do not call on the telephone or run TV ads (as far as I know) but rather to broadcast what they are going to do if you elect them they purchase these vans, put loud speakers on the roof and drive around town. This would not be so bad if there was only one candidate nor would it be bad if they were not emergency siren grade sirens. Generally speaking each of these candidates at least has one of these vans for each route. For example I know that there is one route that comes up past my house (as it does everyone else’s house) and then another route that goes down by AEON Big Express down the hill from me (You can see it in the sunset blogs that I post). So imagine that during the day and evening about every 20 or 30 minutes you have one of these vans driving past your house with the volume on these loud speaks saying the same phrase over and over again. “TOKASHI, TOKASHI, TOKASHI, TOKASHI, TOKASHI,” . . . . . “OYAMA OHIYOUGOSAIMASU TOKASHI TOKASHI” Goodness it makes you want to rip your own head off. The biggest problem that I have, however, is that right outside by house is a parking lot and they will park the vans there and broadcast as loud as they can so that it can reach the entire OYAMA area. Seriously I am not kidding. Because I am up on the hill I assume that they figure it’s the best spot. Problem is that it is so loud that you have to shut all of the windows and even then you can still feel the walls shaking.

There are not many things in Japanese culture that I think are just inconsiderate of the people around them but this is the one that I can truly say I do not think is appropriate. The reason that I say this in particular is not because of my experience with it but because the Japanese are always so quiet and considerate of others. As it is in my neighborhood you could hear a pin drop and we have a lot of older people as well. This is all put aside , however, during this election time.

AEON’s New Operating Hours 

Here in Okinawa AEON is one of the largest shopping centers with the best prices around. For the most part AEON has everything that you need. From groceries to furniture to CD’s to books it’s a one stop shop. Until recently the hours were 0900 (or 1000) however there has been a recent change in the hours which will now allow shoppers to begin at 0700. Of course this does not mean that all areas of the shopping centers will open early but at least the grocery part will be open so that more people can complete their shopping before work.

I am personally really excited about this because doing groceries early is a very great advantage especially here in the summer time. I am looking to taking advantage of this. During the summer the earlier I can get out the cooler it is and the less difficult it is to get my grocery shopping done. I am excited about this.  Unfortunately this will not be something that is permanent and it will change with the end of the summer in September. Until then I am sure that many will benefit from this change.

Stolen Manhole Covers 

Some drivers skills were put to the test when they realized that there were manhole covers stolen in the Naha and Tomigusuku areas of Okinawa this week. In a span of 4 days 36 manhole covers were stolen causing traffic accidents and a lot of frustration. Luckily I was not one of the people who had encountered this and it is a very good thing because I am not sure what I would have done if I had accidentally driven into a manhole which was open.

This story was interesting to me because personally I understand how heavy these manhole covers are and I can not imagine how a person could in the middle of the roads take some of these manhole covers. The reason that I say this is because the roads here in Okinawa seem to always be full of some sort of traffic especially in Naha. I am not sure if there has been any update in this case but I am interested to find out what the person would have done with the covers.

World War 2 Cave Found in Montobu

As many who are familiar with Okinawa know this small island was the battle ground during WWII for a battle known as “The Battle Of Okinawa”. Although it has gone by other names as well such as “The Typhoon Of Steel” the facts still remain the same. Of course there are very many resources out there discussing the details of the battle but I will only go over one which is relevant to this story. During the time of the battle the Imperial Japanese Army had civilians (some Okinawan others Korean) carve out tunnel systems (also referred to as caves). This tunnel system was carved by hand with very limited tools. Over the course of the battle these tunnels were used for the Japanese military to move through the mountains to evade the American military. Of course the story continue, however, this is where I am going to stop our history lesson for now. In the southern part of the island, where a bulk of the tunnels are and were used, you can even visit some of these tunnels.

Unfortunately many of these tunnels are no longer safe to visit because they are no longer structurally sound, however, in Montobu recently a tunnel/cave was found which is in immaculate shape. Currently the is research being conducted to find out who was assigned to this area which will be exciting to find out.

It is always interesting to find out when more history is uncovered here in Okinawa. Of course there are always sad stories that come along with war times, however, I like most of the Okinawan people feel that it is important to ensure that the past is not forgotten so that you can learn from the past. What I found fascinating was that there is a 74 year old man who remembers these tunnels being constructed. That in my opinion is amazing.

THANKS FOR READING!

Naha Dragon Boat Festival